Well for one, they shouldn't be letting you use momentum when you're lifting, which is what tmac's trainer allowed. I think they definitely need to incorporate nutrition and not just training to a program...they should be actively involved, even if you're running on a treadmill they shouldn't just leave and come back when you're done. They should be paying attention to your lifting and running form, especially if you're a beginner. Most importantly though i think they should make sure you're ready to do the workouts and not just throwing you into a program. Medical history, risk factors, etc. Check for muscle imbalance and what shape you're in to begin with.
I agree. yao has made tremendous strides from a physical standpoint sice coming into the league. you can't deny that. and any trainer that figures a way to keep foot bones from breaking in the extremely big guys will make 100 million dollars because training has nothing to do with it. also, grover ain't doing anything but riding another jock. he hand picks who he want to work with because he worked with jordan. I COLULD HAVE TRAINED JORDAN!...,and i am an accountant. He doesn't work with guys who really need work
I'm sure the multi-million dollar athletes who need to rehab will be lining up at your door any minute now... By the way, Grover does alot of work with NBA prospects and up and coming NBA players as well.
It's nice the T-Mac FINALLY seems motivated. For whomever was arguing that Tracy has put in hard work in the league historically...well, yeah, 10 years ago. Or when he gets traded to a new team, etc., etc. Which isn't an uncommon perspective, or even one I can fault him for. When there is some kind of extra motivation - going from scrub to multi-millionaire star, joining a new team, playing in a contract year, he's definitely motivated. The stigma that has followed him, though, and appears to be true, is that he isn't motivated beyond that, which means he isn't motivated to WIN, at all costs. So, good news is this is a contract year for him, he's at as low a point in his career as he's been in a while, and seems to be motivated again. Bad news is that Grover, or whomever, (i) if your injury prone, you're injury prone, and (ii) if you don't have that EXTRA motivation, you don't have it. So, in regards to the first point, he can work out all he wants, if he comes back and gets hit the wrong way, he's more likely to suffer another back sprain, knee, shoulder, whatever injury than someone who isn't injury prone. As a 29 year old somewhat injury prone pick-up player, I know this to be true. I don't have their access to athletic resources, but regardless, every year I get older and it gets harder and harder to keep the aches, pains and bruises away. In regards to the second, a healthy, on top of his game T-Mac isn't exactly a no-doubt Hall of Famer, anyway. Yes, I know he won a scoring title, BUT he has never been a super efficient player. In his best years he shot 45.7% from the field...which is at Kobe's career average and is worse than every year of Lebron's career except his rookie year. He was good in the Allen Iverson era of volume shooting, a talent diluted league, where it's historically been hard to find winning combinations with those types of "superstars". And that point has been proven many times with Tracy - from the constant game by game heat-checks to his inability to get out of the first round. He's never been motivated enough beyond the basics of get my contract, get my points, have fans like me to truly make himself a better player and make his team as good as it can be. How would a healthy TMac even fit into the Rockets current squad? Would he. Etc, etc. I wish him the best of luck. I think a healthy and happy T-Mac, for as many games of the year as possible, is the best thing for the Rockets, especially in regard to trade potential - but I'm not even sure about that anymore.
well, the way i see it, tmac's trainer always trained him for "explosion"....that's why tmac's always throwing around heavy weight and not using proper form...now of course that's not the proper way to train for explosion, but i think that was the goal. So that gave him some muscle gains but the average guy at the gym probably gets comparable gains. It's not enough for him to just put on muscle, he needs strengthen his body as a whole, so it's strong as a whole, not just a stick figure with muscle here and there. He's never trained his twig legs well enough to get them better protected. He's also got scoliosis, and i dont see his trainer taking that into consideration. With grover's past experience with physical theraphy, i expect him to take that greatly into consideration. His workouts are aimed at making sure the body is overall on the same page, which tmac's has never been on.
I just don't understand why NBA players who have more money than they can ever spend would not take a paycut. If I was a muli-millionare I'd tell Les " Look Les I have all the money in the world. Use some of my money and go get us that final piece so I can have something all the money in the world can't buy, A Championship ! "
Interesting... I wonder, if by some miracle Mcgrady comes back in great shape and is at the top of his game and helps us to be one of the top few teams in the league before the trade deadline...what do we do with him? At his best he will always have health issues, there's a huge possibility that he's only going all out for the next contract...AND his trade value would be at an all-time high.
morey will be very smart with this IF tracy does come back and plays well for us. i think essentially he will still want to trade tracy b/c then not only will he be an expiring contract, but he's playing well. we may be able to get some good players for him. but again, i wish if we do trade him, let it be known and trade him in the offseason so all the drama/distraction/and even potential hope of him coming back and playing well will be gone. let's stick with the team we have now and move forward. i'm sure tracy will come back and play well and play well on another team, and we all should wish him luck.
How is this thread not 5 stars? If you like Mcgrady then you should feel confident he's gonna come back with a chip on his shoulder and have something to prove. If you're a Mcgrady hater then you should be glad to know that at least he's upping his trade value. Ericka Dampier put up 12ppg/12rbp/2bpg in his contract year as opposed to his career numbers of 8/7/1.5 which is really consistent with all his other seasons. Whether he's motivated by money or not (who isn't by the way) is irrelevant. What matters is this is a win-win situation for us. If he comes back and plays anywhere near the 04-05 Mcgrady we've gotta be the favorites for a Championship. If he comes back and isn't healthy or doesn't look good at least you know he's coming off the books for sure and we're not re-signing. Another scenario is we can move him by the deadline if we have a good opportunity. Mcgrady may be working hard for selfish reasons but those selfish reasons are going to make us the ultimate benefactor for once.
that's the iffy part. if he comes back to his all-nba form, teams will clamor all over for his help (probably contenders) along with his expiring. morey will be faced with the dilemma: should i mess with this since tracy is so focused in finally, or do i trade him now before he gets injured or just leave next yr for another team with a better offer and mess up a potential championship run? again, more distractions. the team should just try to check him out during his training and practices and see how he does.
Very astute post.The distraction part is more of my fear then anything else going into the season, not knowing if Tracy's is or isn't going to play and when. As far as value goes the rockets could probably get more for him at the trade deadline then in the offseason, but as far as chemistry ie.(distractions, drama ect.) it may be more prudent to trade him in the offseason and just move forward like you have pointed out. I feel for Tracy, he's been dealt some bad luck in his life and we all handle adversity differently, but I think a change may be needed for both him and the rockets. Sometimes these things work out for both sides and I hope that happens in this case.
i do feel he'll come back and play REALLY well. i won't be surprised if he makes all-nba 3rd team next year (1st or 2nd is out of the question). i really don't. the distraction that tracy will bring is the spotlight back onto him b/c if he plays well, he remains our most versatile player. the distractions will be "trade rumors, can artest go back to playing 3rd/4th fiddle, will tracy keep his ego in check now that he has played well and so on..." furthermore, tracy's comeback will be a HUGE national story next year. his first 20 games will be extremely magnified and his first game will probably be on national TV. again, these can be positive or negative distractions, depending what's your take on it. i prefer ZERO distractions though. ppl may think if tracy plays well and we trade him midseason and get good players for him. but when tracy plays well, he does A LOT for our team. and that's going to be hard to replace.
So you think he can make a come back and be better than Brandon Roy? Because you said all NBA 3rd team and we all know who will make the first two teams. I think thats going to be tough he would have to play somewhat like he did in 04-05 to have a season like that. If he starts the season playing really well which will lead to the Rockets winning at the same time I think it will be pretty dumb to trade him before the deadline and mess up everything. I agree with you on if their going to trade him just do it in the offseason.
why not?? Remember the voting system is a joke so McGrady could even be in the 1st or 2nd team as well. Its a popularity contest. don't forget that
brandon roy averaged 22.6ppg, 5rpg, 5apg and that was his best season. just before this season, tracy put up 21.6ppg, 5rpg, 6apg on 2 injuries. again, grover has proven to change people's careers in terms of health-wise and focus. so i expect tracy to come out ready to prove people wrong and that he still belongs. and to tracy, by belonging means top 10 players. and if motivated, yes i think he's still better than brandon roy. playmaking alone puts him at least on that level.
I have always thought that if the rockets trade Tracy that they'll never get equal value back for him for what he brings when he's actually healthy. In my eyes he's the most talented player to ever wear a rocket uniform (Dream included). But the combination of an injury prone Yao (who has missed 93 regular season games in 7 seasons as a rocket) and T-Mac (who has missed 113 regular season games in 5 seasons as a rocket) is just too much of a gamble for me to take. A new direction may be necessary.
Yes that may be true, and heres the thing I don't think Tracy is that popular right now maybe in a bad way. 1st or 2nd lets be real Kobe is going to make 1st no matter what. Then you have Wade making 2nd, Tracy would have to played out of his mind to even come close to making 1st or 2nd. I would really like to see that happen, but I won't count on it.
