If there is anything that would motive the old boy, it just might be that big contract coming to an end and wanting another one.
Tracy McGrady hasn't been let down by his attitude, he's been let down by his health. There was a lot to criticize about his leadership and decision making in how he handled his injury last year, but this leap to portray him as some kind of lazy, uncaring player is complete garbage. Nobody can develop his game from being a bench player to being All-NBA without hard work. Nobody.
Now that I think about it last time he was in a contract year 04-05 he was healthy and beasty. Maybe we can get one last good year out of him after all. But then again a contract year didn't motivate Francis...
Why does everyone assume TMac wants another big contract? I feel he much rather takes less money to join a contending team like the Spurs or any other elite team. How many of those teams that can offer Tmac big money, have a legitimate shot at winning a ring in the next few years? While more money is always nice, I think Tmac would take playoff success over big money this time around. I think his real motivation is his crappy play this past season. He let many people down and hopefully next season he plans on making up for it.
During the playoffs, Yao mentioned that TMAC was a "talent" player... he mentioned that everyone else on the team needs to work super hard to squeeze out and maximize their talent, whereas guys like Kobe, Lebron, Tmac don't.
This guy Tim Grover seems to be the real deal, trained Jordan, Kobe, and D-Wade to name a few. Mac must be serious to have this guy on his payroll.
Can the Wizards get Ricky Rubio or Blake Griffin? : What would a deal look like? Chad Ford: I don't think they can get Griffin, but Rubio maybe. it would likely cost them Javale McGee. If the Wizards can't get either guy, I expect them to trade the pick. A few teams like the Knicks, Rockets, and Mavericks have real interest. i've heard rumors of the mavs offering to take on such contracts as etan thomas in exchange for non guaranteed contract of stackhouse if it nets them the #5. or if the wix don't want cap relief but rather talent, howard or terry could be involved. i don't think the rockets can match such an offer. however, who knows what the mavs are really willing to offer? maybe taking some bad contracts off their hands with tmac's expiring isn't such a bad thing if the player we want is there.
you're completely missing the shifting connotations of the terms between the context discussed in this thread and of the one from that quote. yao's statement is within the context of a game - untalented players have to work harder to produce while talented players like tracy can just get by with minimal effort. the context of this thread is offseason preparation and you don't develop the ability to shoot pull up jumpers going in either direction or hit turnaround fadeaways from the top of the key without extreme dedication to your craft.
I think Tim Grover is one of those people who also implement good work out habbits. This guy knows what he is doing. There is a reason why athletes like Kobe, Dwade and Jordan went to this guy. I wish Yao instead of sitting in Shanghai would spend time with Tim as well. Dwight is also one of his clients and just look at him now. I wish the Rockets would just get this guy out of Chicago and make him the Rockets official trainer. He gets these guys back into shape and they stay in shape. If les is going to spend money this year maybe it should be to get this guy on our staff.
McGrady + Landry for Arenas + Butler + 5th pick. I literally think they would do anything to get out of Arena's contract.
Why does everyone assume players who make a lot of money are going to be so willing to take a significant pay cut? How often does this happen? When was the last time it happened? I want an example.
Shaq was offered $125 mil by the heat, but Shaq asked them to lower it to $100 mil. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&id=2123211 Barkley took a pay cut to get Pippen to sign.
