I would have said that in the past also, but I still cant forget that one....Dont get me wrong, I hope he does come back and do great, but he will have to show me now, instead of me assuming he will come back and ball
I still believe in TMac's ability to be one of the lead players on a championship team. I still believe in TMac's ability to get healthy and motivated. I don't really believe he'll ever be the old(young, I guess I mean) TMac, but it's pretty unreasonable to believe that and it's not really what we need. But Tracy has shown me enough flashes this year that he's still got an exceptionally high skill level and can be the best player on the court in any given night. At this point in his career, he won't be the best out there every night, or even every other night, and hell, most nights he prolly won't be the best. But I just keep believing that his knee is still bothering him most of the time but every once in a while this season he's seemed alright for a game and has played spectacularly. Too soon we forget that he'll pop up out of nowhere and drop a triple double on a team. We don't always remember that he can still rain that jumper when he's feeling good. Plus, TMac's by far the best playmaker the Rockets have and when ya go a couple of weeks without seeing him play, we don't remember all the sweet little dishes he makes to get easy dunks for players like Landry or Yao that really get them going or the way he'll find Shane, Ron, AB, or R/W-afer for the wide open threes. No one else on the Rockets makes his teammates better as well as Tracy does and no one else can create the easy hoops like him. Even through the injuries this year he's been able to set people up. Still though, we do need him to be more than a better-creating version of Alston if we wanna win it all. And something's obviously not right with him right now and he's not giving us what we need. But this ain't new. It's not new at all. Seemingly every year there's a stretch where Tracy seems uninterested or is unhealthy and everyone starts wondering if he's done. Then we get close to playoff season and he's either magically healed or just suddenly gives a damn, but regardless he ends up bringing the intensity and skill set we need. He'll rehab the knee, it may take longer than he wants or the team wants or we fans can stand, but based on his history, it'll prolly end up a non-issue in May and June when it really matters. And that is fine by me, we're good enough to get to the playoffs and prolly have a respectable seed without Tracy for a significant portion of the season and we're definitely a contender if he's ready to go for the playoffs.
Maybe the real problem (behind the knee) is with his strength regime before all this happened? He's always looked weak to me. Maybe he doesn't have the discipline to hit the weights hard?
Anyone who overdoes the bashing of McGrady is a douchebag and not a "true" Rockets fan. Sure, if he is sucking it up like now, he should get criticized, but this forum is overdoing it big time. T-MAC PLAYS FOR THE ****ING ROCKETS! Theres alot of "fans" who hate him. Either your with us or not. Hes on our time, so you gotta ride with what you got. Cut him some slack, he played his heart out last year, he will be back..
Isn't that sad, though? Of all the dozen or so superstars in the league, we get stuck with the one whose best effort comes and goes, and we have to hope that he'll turn things on again when the playoffs roll around? I mean, I love the guy's other-worldly talents -- which only makes me hate his actions that much more.
i totally disagree. tracy deserves everything he is getting and more. cmon man, you think the bashing tmac gets from us, or the houston media in general is bad? heaven help him if he played in NYC or philly. he'd be skewered about 20x worse. and i would say that anyone who is a "true" rockets fan, a fan of the team, a fan who respects the culture and class of this organization, those fans should be ashamed to support a player like tracy. he does not represent what this organization is about. he's always looking for the shortcut, he has a sense of entitlement, he doesn't want to put in the work to earn what he gets. F that S. he doesnt deserve to win, and that's why he hasn't won. tracy is the turd sitting in the box of chocolates that the Rockets are trying to sell me. he needs to go. for everyone's good.
Because I have a few friends like this. You know the ones, they get on your nerves, they do stupid things that make you roll your eyes in disgust, they think they're the SH** when they're just like everyone else, but they're still your friend out of (1) loyalty, (2) they have their good points, (3) you don't want to give up on them. So I still believe in him based on past performance. But if he doesn't deliver this year, I'll be more and more skeptical. As long as he wears the Rockets uniform, I'll do my best to give him the benefit of the doubt.
i disagree. yes his actions of late are unacceptable. yes he has inner turmoil that needs to be resolved and yes it was hurting the team. but like persian said, this guy has played his heart out last season and seasons before. hes the primary reason we went to as many games as we did with Utah in the playoffs. maybe that passion is streaky at times. but to completely write him off and say he doesnt represent what this organization is about is unfair. maybe true at this time, but you cant sum up his entire career as a rocket that way.
He always does the workout/conditioning routine every summer. Obviously the surgery messed up that schedule this year, but I don't know (and nobody really knows) the details of that. How much he was committed to it, whether he did slack off, whether he had personal issues that also interfered etc. is up for debate. What we do know, though, is that his decision to return to the court early was a bad one. The "try to help the team get off to a good start" decision was a bad decision. The subsequent "shut it down for three weeks to get back in shape" was a good decision at the time. Coming back early because the criticism was getting under his skin was a bad decision. "Let's try doing one game of back-to-backs" was a HORRIBLE decision that really screwed a lot of things up. Just a whole lot of poor judgment and decision making all around. The Rockets and McGrady are doing the right thing now, for sure. Let's just hope it turns out well in the end.
I believe in Tracy McGrady. I'm no TMOF but until he is no longer in a Rockets uniform, I will believe in him and hope the best for him. He's done a lot for the organization that can't be erased by not showing up in Toronto or whatever perceived shortcomings he's shown this year - mentally or physically. I will hang in there with Tracy and the rest of the team until all hope is gone. To me, that's what it means to be a fan.
Whats sad is Les is paying a guy 20 mill or whatever he's making to, essentially, play in the playoffs. That does not make sense financially; 4 years with nothing to show for it.
you are assuming that tracy was a hardworker in the past, and that this is all a recent change. not true at all. tracy has always been the kind of person to coast on his talent. ron even mentioned it earlier this year. tracy isn't, has never been, and will never be about putting in hard work. you know why his body is breaking down at such a young age? he doesnt maintain it. you know why he's lost so much athleticism? he doesnt train right. he is an entertainer, who happens to play basketball. he's a diva. he's cher in a basketball player costume. this is the first year that his lack of discipline is causing major problems, so the temptation is there to say this is the first year he has really slacked off. which is totally untrue. this is just the first year its catching up to him like it is. it's been coming for a long, long time, and he completely deserves it. the rest of the team deserves a better leader than tracy. and they know it too.
As a T-Mac fan, but Rocket fan first, I do b/c I don't think this team will have any real success without his talent. The only other option being getting some kind of talent for him in return. Wafer has been great as of late, but I'm hardly ready to appoint him as a replacement to McGrady. At least not yet.
I believe years of injuries to both Tracy and Yao have made them all a bit frustrated. Hopefully, they have a decent seed come playoff time and they are healthy enough to go. If not, goodbye someone... and it won't be Yao.
