[Chron] McGrady, Rockets send mixed signals on return

He is screwing the organization by going behind their back.

The organization may indeed be hiding something, but they are the ones footing the bills and making the decisions.

Do you not see how this could get ugly, and take the spotlight away from the guys that are on the floor now, and working hard?

I concede I do not like McGrady, as I believe he is a whiner....he whined in Toronto and fought with his coach, he whined in Orlando, and called his teamates scrubs, and they questioned his work ethic, and now he is whining again in Houston.

He gets run out of town everywhere he has been, for a reason, talent is not enough without the mental capacity and focus to get the most out of it.

And at the end of the day, in a year we are not really contenders, I would rather develop Ariza and Chase than play a guy who will 100% be gone by next year.

The focus should be on the players on the court......and I can even understand Tracy being frustrated, and maybe a little scared as he sees Chase and Trevor playing well......and he wants to prove to the world he is back, that seems to be really important to him....which is more than half the problem.

DD

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

Dont know if anyone has said this, but to me it sounds like Tracy KNOWS he isnt going to be cleared until after his MRI. That being so, he wants to look like he really wants to get out there, making himself look better to potential teams for next season. If he appears to have the heart of a competitor still, it will help his stock in the offseason.

 

The Rockets are in full control here, so I don't see how he is screwing them. They decide when he returns, no matter what his opinion is publicly.

Wouldn't it be fair to say that the organization is screwing him if he was ready to play, and they chose to keep him out simply because they want to develop the younger guys? This is his contract year after all, and he's not going to have many opportunities after this season to prove himself.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but Mcgrady didn't get run out of either Toronto or Orlando. He left Toronto as a free agent and asked for a trade from Orlando.

He may have had issues with his teams but that didn't mean they wanted to get rid of him ASAP.

 

No, because the organization is run by MATURE people who are looking out for both the organization AND Tmac's interests.

The organization saw how many times Dr. McGrady was back and how it caused a massive rift in the clubhouse and defocused the team, and they want to do everything they can to make sure it does not happen again.

The organization sees the big picture, Tracy only sees his picture....and his history of "I am back" should tell anyone that the organization is right.

This is why I think he must go, even when he gets back he will be out to prove he is back and that is not conducive to winning or playing the team game, IMO.


DD

 

I think you should talk to Orlando fans. I think they would say otherwise.

 

If he wants to play so bad and prove he deserves a new contract next year, then why doesn't he just rescind his current contract later this afternoon and sign up with another team as a free agent tomorrow morning

 

He told Toronto he would not sign there, and forced Orlando to trade him.....and it looks like he is up to something similar here in Houston.

It is all about him in TMac world, which is why a lot of Rocket fans want him gone.

Because at the end of the day when the going gets tough, he will protect himself above the team....

DD

 

Some of us . . . . .

Rocket River

 

"Playing the team game" has never been the real issue with McGrady, despite what his detractors have insisted. Listen to the coaches, listen to the management, and its pretty clear. McGrady's problem is bringing the effort on a consistenet basis. And being in a contract year, it is reasonable to expect better effort from him this season.

 

You cannot be sure of anything because history does NOT repeat itself every time. I will eat major crow with double cheese.

 

1. Portland's broadcast team are haters for claiming McGrady was limping
2. Bucher was a liar for tweeting about McGrady was limping
3. Wojnarowski Spears have no credibilty. They're fabricating these "alleged" McGrady claims.
4. Feigen is a mouthpiece and a hater for posting that Rockets source are surprised.
5. Morey and the Rockets are evil and only care about the insurance money.

 

BRILLIANT It took you 5 sentences to explain what this thread has taken 10 pages to express lol

 

So how is that getting run out of town? He basically ask to leave the cities that he played for.

It doesnt really matter what he say at this point, if he comes back and perform like he have been working his butt off this summer. I would welcome him with open arm. If not, we have Ariza and Chase back there ready to take his spot again. So dont make a mountain out of a molehill.

 

At this point TMac is nothing but a distraction and negativity. We need to move on from this tired crap.

 

Very well said Durvasa, Tracy is the only true playmaker on the rockets team and he's a very unselfish player. The point about his lack of effort at times has been my biggest problem with him. When he brings it he's a top 5 player in the league.

 

Well that to me is part of the team game, moving off the ball hustling etc....


Anyway, we shall see what happens.

DD

 

If DM doesn't want him back, it makes sense that they'd say there's no timetable. That could be one possibility.

I don't think he'd ruin the chemistry - we saw this was the case a few years ago.

However; if there is trade talks with another team, it might make more sense to delay things. If that is the case, T-mac saying he is ready to return isn't all that bad for DM since it makes him more of an attractive target.

 

durvasa, forget about trying to have a logical discussion with DD here. You might as well spend your time buying Texas lottery tickets.

The fact is that McGrady's return/rehabilitation is way ahead of schedule. Even the Rockets say so publicly.

We also know that McGrady feels like he is ready to return to the basketball court today, if the Rockets will let him. But the Rockets are determined to not let him back on so quickly. There are plausible theories as to why -- an upcoming insurance payment, etc. but frankly those are purely conjectural with no shred of backing evidence, so it does not make sense to rely on them. As of now the only clear reasons to me the Rockets are playing this game are that

1. They've been through this situation last year when McGrady felt good, they put him back on the court too early, and it turned out to be disastrous for everyone involved. (And on this point: the Rockets, McGrady and the fans were all at fault. McGrady certainly mishandled the situation, but the Rockets were in the wrong for failing to properly evaluate his health, and subsequently for allowing the mess to continue with roster volatility even when it was clear that he was not fit to play. The fans, fickle and memoryless as they are, castigated and berated him for being a quitter when at first he didn't play because he felt he wasn't fit to, and then castigated and berated him for being a quitter when he tried to play and couldn't, and then castigated and berated him all the more when he finally decided to put a stop to it himself. But that's another point.) Now the Rockets justifiably want to be sure that he is ready to handle the rigors of an NBA season, and like I posted in the other thread, "went full speed at practice" is not the same thing as "participated in a full practice", which I don't think has happened yet.

2. The whole control thing. Morey and Adelman determined to not let McGrady call his own shot this time after last year's debacle. "You play when WE say you can play."

I do agree with those who suggest that if this continues for too long, McGrady could have grounds for a grievance -- if he is in fact healthy and capable of playing and the Rockets for their own reasons won't allow him to play, then he has a legitimate beef with them. Of course, many here wouldn't side with him as we value the Rockets' interests over McGrady's personal interests, but that is irrelevant: McGrady should look out for his own interests too. I know it is hard for him to sit on the bench in street clothes every night, watch his teammates play at a high level and beat everybody's expectations, and then think back to the days of the 22 game winning streak and just get frustrated over not being able to be part of the fun despite being healthy.

As for this current situation, I think this has been way overplayed at this point. Really. The bottom line of the whole situation is -- McGrady wants to come back and play, and the Rockets want to make sure everything is right before he does. This should still turn out to be a win-win situation for everybody. All the brouhaha over an email he sent to Yahoo sports is frankly unwarranted -- to be honest, we don't know exactly how the "November 18" date came about, and the Yahoo writer said he "confirmed", indicating there was a prior source. I could play DaDakota here and concoct a storyline: one of AW's sources at TC tells him "he looks pretty good, it seems like he'll be ready to go this week on the road trip...perhaps the 18th." AW writes T-Mac, "is it true that you'll be returning to the lineup on the 18th?" T-Mac thinks that the organization has finally made a decision to bring him back, and excitedly answers "Yes!!! I am so excited to finally get back to the court." and even makes it try to sound like a good PR communication. Cue media fiasco.

Of course, I'll be the first to point out that the above scenario is complete conjecture (unlike DD, who would not hesitate to proclaim his scenarios as truth and repeat them like mantras for weeks and months until enough people have accepted them as universal truths). My view of this is that while certainly interesting as another chapter in the ever unfolding soap opera that is McGrady's career, this really isn't worth the noise people are making around here so far.