Morey has expressed that he feels that Tracy is one of the best when healthy. So don`t tell me there isn`t some belief there. I believe Morey will give Tmac a shot until trade deadline. If Tmac executes and plays semi elite, than Morey will most likely keep him unless an over the top deal is proposed or even accepted, like a Danny Granger.
Maggette sucks, trust me I've seen enough games of his. He's owed nearly $40m the next four years, a ball-stopper and while he gets to the line, he takes alot of ill-advised jumpshots, and frankly he's a poor jumpshooter. Then consider he does nothing else but score, a mediocre defender and poor ball-handler and play-maker. And he also has injury problems, with his contract, lack of all around game, and inability to consistently hit jumpshots, he's a poor fit, and someone we should NOT consider.. I'm sure a player of that selfishness also went there for the stats and playing time as well. Money was the most prominent factor, but his own selfish agenda played a part as well.
The guy shoots 46% from the field....he averages over 1.4 points per shot, which is around the BEST in the NBA. But people say he sucks...yeah....I think a lot of people are going on reputation rather than actual production. DD
Glad he is on our team.....awesome !!! Not sure how that is anywhere near relevant to this discussion but...WOOOHOO !!!! Tmac and his 1.16 pps over his Rockets career is pretty telling....in his lack of efficiency. DD
While it's what was quoted was true to an extent... There are other factors that should be factored in. Whats worse than the 'reality' of T-Mac is your love for Maggette.
DD, I like the way Maggette plays, but with his injury history, I just dont know if he is worth going after, especially at 10 mil a year. The guy is just always hurt. Surely if we are going to deal TMAC, we can get better pieces. If we make a deal with the Warriors, I'd like to see Monta and Turiaf included. Brooks/Lowry/Barry Ellis/Wafer/Barry/White Artest/Battier/White Scola/Landry/Chuck Yao/Turiaf That team has got a bit of everything. Defense, offense, shooters, stoppers, penetraters, High IQ guys (and some low ones just to balance it out )
how about watching him play sometime? im in SF so get the warriors game all the time and he's simply not a winning basketball player. i went to a warriors game and you rarely see them talk about corey (and he put up pretty good stats last year). i rather take stephen jackson shooting 41% from the field rather than corey shooting 46% from the field.
and yet he's all-nba every year before this year (05-06 was injured half a year) and top 6-7 MVP candidates.
it should be. but the way you describe tracy in years' past was like he's a scrub. and winning is a TEAM thing. tracy wasn't the ONLY reason we didn't win. but i'm sure you he's the MAIN reason to you though. like i've been saying, you always post you don't care about the past and only the present. fine. your reasons for wanting him traded are pretty fair (esp. considering his last year's play). but yet you bring up the years when he did play well as reasons for the team's failures and why we should trade him also, which is unreasonable and unfair.
DD is a numbers guy, t_mac1. He's got his numbers. Like everybody else does. You know why I don't lend a lot of stock in numbers, particularly in an athletic competition? Because numbers don't tell you enough of what you need to know. Numbers are rigid. They don't move and they don't forgive. There's no luck or chance or guts or effort or anything that binds teams together to win that numbers have anything at all to do with. See, I believe that teams win with a synergy that you don't need numbers to build. I ask people this question a lot about the Rockets' title teams. Basically, what was it about those teams that made them champions. All the easy stuff comes up. Hakeem, who was hall-of-fame bound anyway, became all-world over that span of time. Guys who were castoffs and rejects and unknowns became known when the time came. They were tough and strong and poised and resilient...you know, the usual. Then I ask them this—did Hakeem make his teammates champions, or did Hakeem's teammates make HIM a champion? Everybody says the first thing a "McGrady apologist" like me spits out is that it's McGrady's teammates' fault that the Rockets couldn't get out of the first round the last few years. It's always somebody else's fault but McGrady's. McGrady's teammates weren't the stars. They were the role players. They did the best they could. They weren't supposed to beat anybody. That was what McGrady was here for. If he was any good at all, McGrady would have found a way to win ONE time in the postseason by now. I rarely argue with anybody who harbors that opinion, t_mac1. All they're doing is proving that they believed that junk that all you need is one guy, and trying to dredge up anger to hide behind when it doesn't work out the way they wanted it to. The definition of a fan. Kenny Smith over on TNT doesn't let a show go by without getting that misty look in his eye when talking about those Rockets teams he was on. He never lets a chance pass where he tells the little story of how he would always tell Hakeem that if a defense didn't double-team him, they were disrespecting him. And how Hakeem would fire back that if anybody left Smith a wide open jumpshot, then they were disrespecting him. They counted on each other. They depended each other. And they each had to do their jobs. I was amazed, by the time the Rockets were winning their second title, how Hakeem went out of his way to praise his teammates. He gave them all the credit in the world, because Hakeem knew he couldn't have been a champion without them. Se, t_mac1, I'm one of those guys who remember "Akeem" Olajuwon. Talented. Tempermental. Selfish. I remember "Akeem" telling more than one reporter that he wasn't going to pass the ball to people who couldn't hit shots when they were wide open, if he shot a better percentage than them and he was double and triple-teamed all the time. I remember the only people who wanted "Akeem" in town by the end of the 1992 season were Rudy T and Carroll Dawson. Numbers, other than the final score, don't tell you a damned thing about how close or far way you are to winning in this league. The guys you step on the court with tell you that. I buy McGrady being a chucker if the only option he has is to pass to a 30-something%-shooting Rafer Alston, or a shoot-once-a-month Shane Battier, or a try-as-he-might-but-he's-just-too-small Chuck Hayes, or Luther Head....and I'll stop right there. Nobody's going to hold those guys accountable, or expect a thing from them. So why should McGrady trust them? He's going to catch hell no matter how they lose. Because he can't win without teammates who are good. And I betcha more than a few people look the other way at those other guys' numbers, just to make sure nobody gets the wrong ideas about why the Rockets sucked. See? I just "apologized" for McGrady again. What were the Rockets thinking, not running more plays for Luther Head or Kirk Snyder or Stromile Swift? There's been more than enough here to win with. If McGrady couldn't win with them, than he wasn't going to win with anybody. You know what you do with facts, t_mac1? Exactly what you want to do with them. It's all in the numbers, you see. If the number of good players I got are more than the ones you got... ...but who's counting, anyway?
I don't think Maggette knows what winning is. You keep bringing up how winning the most important thing and dog Tmac for his failures but never mention winning(or lack thereof) with Maggette. I actually like how he drives to the rim and gets to the line but I wouldn't want him on the Rockets because of his injury history, his contract, and selfishness.
i'm a #s guy too, but i add those #s WITH the play on the court. i mean, take a look at the #s of stephen jackson v. corey on the same warriors team. corey only averages 5 less points in 8 less minutes of play, but shoots a much higher %. but if you watch them play, stephen jackson has a much bigger impact on the court than corey does b/c of his playmaking, defense, and ability to run the pick and roll. #s don't say those things. i wish DD would use his league pass and watch some warriors games. dude can't create one damn lick and imagine with him AND von AND ron on the court at the same time. as a rocket fan, you would be throwing things at the TV all day. the topic of tracy is a delicate one. i've admitted i respected what tracy did in his first 4 years here. he battled through injuries, took a team that is admittedly not very talented after him and yao to top 4-5 seeds in a highly competitive western conference, and he always showed up in the playoffs DESPITE injuries. but last season was a TERRIBLE season for tracy on and off the court. so i'm fine with fans criticizing tracy b/c i did myself (he was beyond scrubbish and was a horror to watch at times on the court when he did play, and off the court, you want to slap him for some of the things he said). so if he's traded, i would still wish him the best b/c one bad season is not going to erase 4 seasons where he did pour his heart out for this organization for the most part. i'm not those bandwagoner fans who always look at what you did for me lately. if he's gone, i wish him good luck to wherever he goes. and i've stated this also many times: hakeem IS arguably the best 2-way player in the history of the NBA. jordan was the only one you can argue, but i don't think he was as dominant as hakeem defensively. and there's a reason hakeem shared the MVP trophy with his teammates. you cannot win in this league by yourself. it's been proven over and over again. it's unfortunate we couldn't see what tracy could have done with this group of guys this past season b/c we FINALLY had the depth, balance, AND bench to go with our 2 stars. and if he retired right now, i know he would regret not playing much this season.
Burying Hakeem O-freaking-lajuwon to make McGrady look better? I've officially seen it all. And nice strawman. It's not that we're upset that McGrady's not getting the guys you mentioned involved. it's the kind of shots he's consistently forcing. If he would put the ball on the floor and try to get to the line (heck if he just took a couple of steps in and settled for mid-range shot instead of those not-quite-threes) he wouldn't draw anywhere near the amount of criticism he's gotten. Who knows, he might have gotten to the second round too.
You know what, just a great post. It is nice to know that someone other than Nelly and I see the HUGE difference in overall value, in winning conducive basketball, between Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggete. Your first paragraph shows me that you watch League Pass as much as I do. lol...... (I wish we still had Buike)
