a) the rockets are of course better when they don't have to rely on injured players to be a huge part of the team. b) there won't be a bandwagon when march comes around.
The following line from the blurb, kind of contradicts the title of this thread: "Of course the Rockets would be better off with a healthy T-Mac,..."
Not really because T-Mac is not healthy. ESPN and many others actually said the exact same thing last year when Yao went down and we were still winning games. "They're offense looks much smoother. They aren't being held back by a 7'6 stiff. They run more. ect. ect."
I doubt that. A fully fuctioning, 100% healthy T-Mac, yes this team would be better. But McPastry is always somehow hurt.
Doubt all you want, but the guy doesn't play team ball, he plays me ball. The team is better off without him. He is a great expiring contract for the offseason....and has made his bed in Houston...let him now rot in it. DD
Artest doesn't fit with TMac. A healthy Artest > a healthy TMac because of the defense & the shooting percentage.
That doesn't matter when T-Mac's 100%. Me-Mac's fine back when he could shooting ~45% and getting to the FT line constantly. I will take his selfish Orlando self ANY day of the week on this Rockets team, chemisty problems be damned. But that is of course impossible because he's just not good enough to play selfishly anymore.
T-Mac doesn't play team ball? So I guess Me Ball helped the Rockets win 22 straight games last year. This is hilarious. When T-Mac does pass the ball, fans b****. "Oh, we didn't pay him 20 Million to pass the ball." But when he starts taking shots, "What a selfish ballhog. Pass the damn ball!" At least keep it consistent.
It is not about passing the ball, but way to take a nice shallow look at it. It is about when you pass it, it is about allowing your TEAMATES to be the faciliatator and not making all the decisions yourself, it is about MOVING without the ball, it is about trust. TMac has never trusted others to make the important decisions and that is the primary reason his career in the playoffs is crap. Because other teams know this about him and willingly let him get comfortable making decisions for 3 quarters, then clamp down on him in the 4th. Tracy's style of game makes it a disaster for the team in the playoffs. Tracy is his own worst enemy, if he could learn to trust his teamates and play off the ball more and MOVE HIS BUTT on defense and offense he could win in the playoffs, but this year, he is going to get a front row seat at a winning team in the playoffs, without him. Halleluejah !! DD
22 win streak doesn't mean anything if it gets you the same place w/out it. It will be hard to find anyone who says McBaby can't play ball with the best of them, whether its defense, offense, team play, ect ... The probably is he can't do it consistently. Year in and year out we make the same stupid blunders that have little to do with the skill of the team and more about the mentality. Tmacs consistency is on the lower end of the percentile scale. Until he can be consistent enough to get through a 7 game series, then him and his blind fan base can go elsewhere.
LOL - just trying to get through to people who don't have a deep understanding of team dynamics or leadership. A friend of mine (another poster on this board) just explained it like this: Tmac is like the talented guy at the gym who dominates the ball, but no one wants to play with him because they are not involved in games where he is playing. He shoots all the shots, makes all the passes, and then is lazy on defense, and blames everyone else when the team loses even though he had the ball the entire game. People that play on his team hate it, they don't play as hard because they are not involved in the game and know they are not going to get the ball. You avoid that guy, even though he is the most talented, because it is better to play on a team where everyone trusts each other, passes the ball, and plays together on defense and offense. That is the team that stays on the court, meanwhile the most talented player can not for the life of him figure out why he keeps getting beat by lessor players, and the more he plays, the more he tries to take over, and by proxy he loses worse each and every time. Oh, occasionally his team will win when he hits every shot, but by far and away, his team will lose because he doesn't play team ball, and people hate playing with him. That is Tracy McGrady..... DD
