[ClutchFans] The Day T-Mac Lost the City of Houston

I don't agree it was all on the team. T-Mac was also on board, I really think it was a mutual bad decision.

The credit for taking the first step to correct that is definitely with T-Mac though. I guess he kind of neutralised that good step by the whole tell the media first and coach second thing.

Anyway, water under the bridge folks...

 

He's referring to the fact that the team, the team doctor and some of the doctors TMac visited didn't believe microfracture surgery was the way to go? I don't think that allowed anyone to "run with the idea that TMac was healthy." It was easy to tell there was something wrong with him, it was just said (by medical professionals) that McGrady should rehab his way out of the problem rather than go under the knife.

 

It's pretty obvious people on these boards believed him well enough to play, given the kind of expectations he dashed....

Or haven't you heard? T-Mac SCREWED us over last year, man!!!1!!!111!

 

Good to see Tracy get some minutes last night -- if he plays well over the next few games he'll boost the confidence of hesitant trading partners and the Rockets will be able to make the move they've wanted to for a long time.

 

Yep, micro-fracture surgery is always a last resort especially if honest rehab (hard work) can be attempted first.

 

I haven't posted here much but I do enjoy reading what die hard Rocket fans have to say. I've been a season ticket holder for the Rocks since 1993 and have seen some great and horrid play. I can no longer hold my tongue on T-Mac and am compelled to comment.

My take on T-Mac is rooted in the belief that this type of player comes around rarely to any franchise. Even one with the best owner/management team in the league. You just don't get rid of a player like T-Mac. We need him to take our city to the finals and we need him healthy. He's human and makes mistakes on and off the court. So what? We've seen enough all star caliber play from Tracy to know he's the real thing. It's not a fluke that he's just that fricken good. It's REAL!

That being well established I find it distasteful to see articles (though well written and presented) like this dising a fabulous team mate that can take us to the next level. Featuring a horrible stretch of play/attitude from one game should not deter us from bringing back our best player and cheering him UP to his potential, not kicking him while he's down.

Enough trashing of T-Mac. He is our teammate. Let him come back and do his thing. It's Clutch's site and he makes some seriously valid points. I just hope his appetite for crow is as vivacious as his appetite for kicking players while they are down.

Hope this doesn't get me banned but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

Which, people conveniently forget, they also told Shane the same thing. Battier came out and said his ankle situation was very similar to McGrady's, but he rejected the microfracture option. He agreed to work through it on the court. He sucked it up and played, despite a lot of fan criticism over his level of play. McGrady did his half in / half out number and yanked the team around until mid-March.

McGrady Apologists, Solomon included, love to play the helpless injured victim card and ignore that he dealt with a nagging injury worse than anyone in the history of professional sports, dragging the team down with him. That was the real issue.

 

This is ridiculous, frankly. You're acting like microfracture surgery is an enjoyable experience. I don't question that Shane had a better mentality and handled the injury better- frankly Shane is a very rare REALLY REALLY awesome and mature guy. But to act like McGrady didn't want rehab to work or something is just stupid.

 

The team gave Tracy all the choices, and options.

Tracy always was the one making the decision it is his body......no one can blame him for taking the less risky surgery.

Where the blame comes in is in the lack of ever strengthening the quad and trying the first option, he got the arthoscope, then never did the rehab, or did what the doctors said he had to do to make the pain go away....and...BIG SHOCK...it didn't.

Then, he finally decided to get the MF surgery (can't really blame him), and the communication lines were strained for the year.

DD

 

Then why did he come into camp last season fat?

 

Cause he thought his body was stronger than it was. You can't blame a young super star for thinking he was invincible. Obviously, he knows better now, and hopefully he's learned from the experience.

That's really the most important question. If he's learned the lessons he needs to have learned from the past year and a half, we can be a championship contender THIS YEAR. If not, there're going to have to be some shakeups.

 

What evidence do we have of TMAC taking *any* team to the 'next level'?
Before he came here. . . . The Rockets had lost in the 1st round to a team with 4 Hall of Famers on it.
A Team that was BETTER than all the playoff teams we have played since [Discounting last year . . 2ND ROUND WWWWHHHOOOOOWWWW]

He has NOT elevate this team to any 'Next Level'

We win a few more regular season games. . which I think would have happened even if the trade had not happened.

Rocket River
T-Mac. . . he is a dream . . . one not rooted in reality

 

Again, we're not going to start this again, but what happened last year had 0 to do with him not rehabbing. rehabbing and training are 2 totally different things. You and i have been through this before and its the same thing really. basketball players train, they don't workout to get ready for the season. When you cant train because you have a bum shoulder, then of course you're not going to be in peak form. As stated before, he shouldn't have never,ever,played before december last year. I agree with you it was handled sloppy and such, but that doesn't discount the fatc the doctors gave wrong advice as they have been wrong many times here in houston. Evereyone has a diferent pain threshold and different bodies.

 

How do you know he didn't do the rehab? Where are you getting that he never strengthened his quads? Maybe his Skillz lab videos were intended for the doubters that questioned his previous rehabbing. Please get off the quad strengthing, it may help support the body, but it won't fix a damaged knee. Seriously, all the training with his personal trainer, they just some how forgot to do leg curls?

 

I'll go by what 4 different doctors said over what you guys on a BBS say.



DD

 

lol good point.

 

Link please. I have kept up with this whole scenario and I don't recall 4 doctors saying he didn't do his rehab or neglected to strengthen his quads. I do recall videos with his personal trainer being shown of TV and T-Mac was busting his tail.

 

So he was a "young superstar" in his 12th year in the league? That's your excuse for him letting himself get fat after knee surgery?

I can't comment on what his rehab was like because I wasn't there but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that he slacked in his conditioning. I would imagine he is smart enough to know that putting on extra weight is the last thing you do when you just got your knee operated on. Now knowing he slacked on conditioning it isn't really a stretch to think he slacked on his knee rehab too.

This team isn't contending for anything this season. Sorry but it's not.

 

Yeah, you were probably one of the douche bags nodding their heads when my fat friend barkley called us the worst team in the NBA, too.

You think that T-Mac injured his own knee, apparently to spite YOU... okay... put down the pipe and back away from the table....

 

Very well written article. As a rockets fan for all of my life, it was embarassing watching a man get paid 15+ million dollars stand around and not hustle,try, or even look injured while a scrub getting paid 150k is about to faint from exhaustion.

I have bittersweet feelings about his return. I hope he does extremely well, but then I hope that we ship him out of here and say good bye. In the end, I think that all rockets fans want a player like Dream. He was the consummate professional, and he even played while fasting. He gave everything he had till the very end. I will end with this question. Do you think that t-mac would play a game if he was fasting?