There's only one way this thread gets shut down and that's if McGrady comes out and busts his ass playing for the Rockets and chucks that stupid policy of playing one game of every back to back out the window. If he comes out and he's still half-assing it around the court in tonight's game this is only going to get worse. The sad thing is that given Artest's and Alston's statements to the press this board might not be the only place where it gets worse.
I'm not going to tell people how or who to cheer for. I've been a Rox fan since like 77 and I care a lot about them, but they don't sign my checks. When I get my weekly diesel bills, they don't sign those. When the trucks go to freightliner and I have to cough up 6k for injectors, les doesn't give me money for that either. Too many people act like they own or is being paid by the rox and they're not. I don't care what he does on the bench, I only care about what happens when healthy and in the playoffs. I don't care who is on the team when the team is winning either as long as they're winning. Tracy has helped this team win a lot of games. I mean when yao went down the past 2 yrs, if not for mcgrady, this team wouldve had 3 straight lotto seasons. Replace tracy with your favorite player in the trade deal forum, lose Yao for 34 games 2 yrs in a row and tell me if the rox make the playoffs. Redd,marion, carter, deng, wallace or whomever else would have given the rox a front row tickets to the nba lotto. So to me, I don't care what he does on the bench. I've never seen a team win a game because of the crunkness of the injured players.
it won't get shut down until he wins a playoff series. people talk about him last yr even after teh playoffs. so it won't stop. but he tried hard v. philly. and he wanted to play v. boston but adelman said no.
He tried hard for six minutes of the Philly game. And where did you hear that Adelman told him not to play in Boston?
6 mins eh? i'm sure you saw the better play in the 4th quarter when tracy came back into the game (his shot just wouldn't fall though but his effort was one of the reasons we nearly came back) if you had LP where we saw the boston's broadcast, the reporter said before the game started that there was a lot of talk that tracy was going to play in that game (and there were even reports posted, there was a thread about it that tracy was going to play), but adelman said he wanted to stick with the original plan of playing him on only one game of the b2b. so basically tracy wanted to play v. boston. adelman thought he should rest and sticks with the original. so he didn't play.
I think a lot of threads like this is because many people wish they were him. He's young,rich, and play a game for millions. You never see this many threads about a guy making 3m or so. Maybe if god wouldve blessed them like he did mcgrady, they wouldn't be so angry. There are a lot of things in this world to worry about than mcgrady cheering. Maybe when I go to feed and clothe the homeless people under pierce elevated, I should see how many of these energetic people want to meet me down there to see who should have complaints.
I would actually say McGrady is one of God's sick jokes. Put an immense amount of basketball talent in a 40 year old man's body. You can imagine how long his body could withstand his talent before it starts breaking down.
The sad part about this thread is not the fact that he doesn't try or is half-assing around, the OP was pissed because he wasn't cheering enough. But, yet again, another thread turned into hate T-Mac because he isn't giving full effort. I completely agree with most people on this board with his effort, or lack thereof, but can we stop changing topics midway through into an effort topic once again. Someone needs to just create a T-MAC EFFORT THREAD, that way everything about T-Mac can be discussed in there. Hey, maybe even Clutch can sticky it since this subject has been beaten to death, and then some.
No offence meant, but you got to be kidding right??? He is being paid the most on this team and he is expected to porform at the highest level, no matter if it is scoring, hustle...wat ever it might be. Thats what comes with a max contract. No body is complaining about Barry as much as Tmac because Tmac is getting paid to be our Franchise player, NOT a role player. It seems like this year he is becoming more and more like a overpaid role player...I love Tmac, but I am getting really worried right now.
McGrady is jalopy, and no matter how much his apologists like to make him out to be the victim of circumstance, the truth is he's weak mentally and plays little or no heart. It's really a shame.
What I'm saying is if you go a movie in which one of the high paid actors is th lead and the movie sucks, do people vent like they do against atheletes? They're all entertainers. When Costner made the flop waterworld or reeves made the day the earth stood still, they weren't good movies, the actors still got paid big money. Many of the people that complain 24-7 about atheletes have a sense of jealousy. People will say they're not, but they are. I mean some people go to college, graduate, go get a 9-5 job making 50-100k and work 30 yrs and get their gold watch. Guys in pro sports, especially basketball can skip college, make 3m a year, then get a max deal and make 17-20 million and people want guys to be god. I agree he should give better effort, but I'm not going to think the guy is a world changer just because he can make a jumper. He's not a role model to my kids nor do he affect how my bills are paid. Like I said, when I go to Pierce elevated to provide stuff for the homeless, I'm not thinking about the rox and tracy or yao. I'm just trying to give back because god has blessed me with the knowledge to get wealthy the traditional way and I give back. These guys are world changers nor will they solve your problems with your marriage or job. They're just men that receieves a kings ransom for a kids game. That's their gift, not yours, so live with it.
Its one thing to criticize a player based on how they are playing or how much effort they are putting out, but being critical of how they are "cheering on the team?" Come on now... How often do you ever see Shaq cheering on any of his teammates? He NEVER got criticized for that. Scottie Pippen was the same way, and he witnessed the greatest of all time on his team do some amazing things on the basketball court. Joe Dumars, never had any emotion. Robert Parish, same thing. It is okay to not have emotion. Some people just don't get excited about some things. Especially when its their job. How excited do we get if a coworker gets promoted?? Not very excited for the average person. If anything, you're thinking you should get it, and you might be a little angry if anything. If we were playing in the NBA, especially for 12 years, you've seen alot, you're not going to get excited in every game, especially when you are used to being the star and know you can't help. For Dikembe Mutombo, he appreciates the NBA, because that has allowed him to help his country in more ways than he could've imagined. I have parents who grew up in a 3rd world country, so I know how some people really do appreciate their jobs. Dikembe just happens to be one of them. But Tmac has done some amazing things in the NBA over the years, Slam dunk contest, emerging as a top 5 player in Orlando, playing with the most popular athlete in the world (Yao), playing in the world championships, winning back-to-back scoring titles. He's had his share of ups, but when the going gets tough, its hard to stay positive. Look at Kobe in 04-05, Wade in 07-08. For superstars, their egos will often take over their emotions before the team's success will. Its just natural to them. If yall remember, Dream had a big problem with his ego before Rudy T. came to town, same could be said about Jordan before Jackson coached him. A big strength of NBA superstars is their ego, but it can also be their biggest weakness when they decline as well. Tmac will have to adjust his game to his injuries. He will be okay if he can just heal up and strengthen his knee.
I don't know why that's so hard for people to understand. Kobe wanted out and ripped the gm, yet he's giving a pass. Oh did I mention the incident in Colorado and the snitching on teammates? MJ wouldn't even crack a smile when he was out in street clothes. I ve never seen the ml carr award given with a ring.
If he was only making 3 million he'd be a good deal. That's the issue. As it is he's playing like crap and he's soaking up valuable millions that could have been used to secure players who would be much more productive and make the team much stronger. I don't hate T-Mac but the guy has mental issues. Those mental issues cause soap opera drama in the locker room and frankly I think the team would be better off without the drama.
I'm not taking up for anyone, I'm just asking you, what was your feeling about tracy 2 yrs ago when Yao went down? Was he soaking up millions that couldve been used for someone more productive. What about last year when Yao went down for the end of the season and we were in playoff mode in January, was it the same thing then also. If the rox had 20 mil of his salary at the beginning of the summer, who would you like? I've been in locker rooms when guys couldn't stand each other, but they won. Men, unlike women can compartmentalize things for the greater good without emotions. Look at La with Kobe and Shaq. Guys understand that as long the other guy does his job, that's all that counts. Ray Allen don't care for Garnett a lot because of the f-bombs and mf's, but they play as a team. Most professional locker rooms aren't as close as people think. These are grown men living separate lives. Guys said they never saw clyde off the court. I think the locker room thing is over blown and there isn't a guy in there that thinks they're a better team without Tracy.
I agree with your point about compartmentalization but my experience is that guys who don't get along can still win by basically being polite and not talking to each other. When they do start talking to each other--by pointing fingers and calling each other out--that's when things start breaking down. As for T-Mac, this is a professional basketball team. If you're old or crippled and you can't produce you get sent to the glue factory and it doesn't matter what you did in the past. So far as fantasy trades go I would have traded T-Mac/Alston for Billups/Hamilton in a heartbeat.
