[ESPN] Five questions with Rockets forward Tracy McGrady

Exactly. What do people expect T-Mac to say? Want him instead to curl up into the fetal position and have the attitude that we have no chance without Yao? He's just being a glass half-full guy, that is all.

 

Could most other teams (especially the teams the Rockets just blew out recently) in the league agree with those things T-Mac said?

Also, lest we forget that Magic Johnson said a couple of months ago that either Yao or T-Mac has to go. I'm sure he meant that one of the two needs to be traded away rather than go down with a season-ending injury.

 

Can't disagree with anything TMAC said. It's all true. We are a much more UPTEMPO team than we were with Yao. That is a FACT. There is no question about that, and being faster has given us a better defense. Less turnovers, more passes, fast breaks. It's been fun.

 

I'm chinese too

You're a YAO hater,b****!

You make me shameful...

 

and you are an ass

 

If I am not mistaken, TMac also said Yao much more offensive presence than Mutombo.From defensive perspective, he said Mutombo is comparable to Yao if not better (which is true). Mutombo is 2nd in all time blocking and great rebounder so he has to be somewhat intimidating in the paint. I think when Mutombo is in the game, the game is not very fast-paced also unless Scola or Hayes or Landry becomes the C but saying so, Mutombo is more mobile than Yao.

 

Reading this thread, I have a very uncomfortable sense of hostility... it is like, back in the dark old days earlier in the season when we kept losing, and fans (supposed to be Rocket fans) went against each other and took turns hating on each of our superstars.

Sometimes it makes me wonder, if one calls oneself a Rockets fan, can't he or she love every one of our player just the same?

We are on a 17-win streak! History in the making! Lighten up people! Stop the hating and enjoy!

Go Rockets! Kick those puny Hornets' a$$!

 

You have the satisfaction of being right, don't listen to the ignorant masses....be true to your convictions in the face of the raucous crowd.



DD

 

t-mac tellin it how it is!

one thing that bothers me is that the mavs are really bad without dirk, but with dirk they're contenders. we're really GOOD without Yao, so shouldnt Yao elevate us to contenders? but in reality we're just a little better with Yao if at all. i still think we're better without Yao.

 

you are the delusion one that expects that whole team to sit and mop about how without Yao we are dead. This is NBA, we have done well in the past without Yao, we ARE doing well without Yao now. It's not like we are losing horribly and TMac said what he said.

 

yup exactly, its all the haters who turned it into "I am the greatest and I will carry the team by myself, the team is crap without me"

 

Tmac is right and wrong about this, Deke is still better than Yao defence wise, heck he's still better than almost every center right now defence wise; but again Yao can play 40 mins a game, Deke so far can play 12 per game, and Yao did pretty good in denfece as well, just not as good as the old man.
Yao does slow the team down, then again so does a lot of centers; good thing it's that a good team won't need to run like no tommorrow to win a ball game, not to mention that big guys rarely involved in a fastbreak.

It's not always a plus to have an ultra slow guy in your starting 5, but for more than a decade, every championship team has at least one solid post player in their team, with the exception of Bulls, which happens to have a god and his sidekick on their side. And right now, only D.Howard and T.Duncan can compare to Yao in offence, and Yao is arguably better scorer than these two.

 

So what do you expect the Rockets to do with Yao out? Are they supposed to post up Dikembe and get him 15-20 shots so the offense is the same as with Yao? How many times do you think teams will double Dikembe like they do Yao? Without Yao, the Rockets have no low post player. They are simply taking this into acount, and changing their style to give them the best chance to win. And give Dikembe some credit. This guy was defensive player of the year multiple times. Even at 41, he's still very good on that end.

 

You don't think Yao is our best player? Are you a Yao hater?

 

Yao at times maybe a better defender than Deke since he occupies so much space in the middle. With a good rebounding PF it should work fine. In the first half of Dal game we actually look pretty vulnerable in the paint. When people figure out how to avoid being blocked by Deke we have to go small. This might a a problem down the road.

The biggest problem of Yao's game is not his denfense. It's his offense. It takes too much time to develop and he also has too many TOs by himself and cause others. Other player also sacrified too much game trying to get him going. And his FG is not great for a guy with his size. I believe Yao's offensive role will be reduced after he come back. If we don't have to post him every time and keep opponent guessing, we are going to be the best team in NBA with Yao's scoring ability.

 

Tmac is not putting down Yao. He is speaking with tons of confidence right now in the eyes of the general media he needs to talk like this. I like his attitude...we can still win even without yao..is basically what he is saying. also he states that we are playing without our BEST player...and this time he isnt referring to himself! He isnt being arrogant, cocky, or anything else he is being a leader for his teammates telling them that we can still do this, the season is not lost, and all you disbelievers better jump on the wagon right now cause im taking you guys far enough to make yall a believer....i love it....great signs of tmac being the leader of this team of a group of a great bunch of guys with class who are all so humble...

GO ROCKETS!

 

You are right. He didn't even said the words "My teammates" during the interview after Dalas game. He said "with a roster like this".

 

You serious? If you dont think Yao is the best player on this team we become a Yao hater?? Sigh.. To me Yao is not the best player TMac is. Without TMac we are just a plain horrible team and without Yao as long as TMac is playing, we are a good team. Not elite, but good. The best player makes a team better, TMac does that and Yao doesn't. Its fact, proven last year and in this streak, we all know that, there is no favoritism here.

 

boohoo, he didn't say teammates only said roster, so he sucks and selfish. What about Yao when he called the team soft, after we lost a game where he had 6 rebounds!!!!!

 

let the man speak without being crucified.