and A_3po, check out mcgrady's stat when he is singlehandedly leading his magic team in the playoffs: 00-01 ORL 4 4 44.5 .415 .200 .816 1.5 5.0 6.5 8.3 1.8 1.2 2.00 2.80 33.8 01-02 ORL 4 4 44.5 .462 .313 .739 1.5 4.8 6.3 5.5 0.5 1.8 3.25 2.80 30.8 02-03 ORL 7 7 44.0 .448 .340 .773 1.4 5.3 6.7 4.7 2.0 0.9 3.71 2.30 31.7 u call that not great?!....my fuking ass!
those are better htan what kobe did THIS YR. again, tmac's status wont be as high until he wins. and he needs yao to be closer to shaq than what tmac has to do if we're gonna depend on these two alone. tmac has to do more, but all he has to fix is his jumper. yao has to do MUCH MUCH more. rebounds, blocks, passing, movement.... and i believe yao can get it done. if he's just 60-70% of the prime shaq, we can win w/ this tmac.
Can't we just chalk it up to the timing just not being right, I mean we all know Yao was playing at maybe 75%, tops. Tmac did all that one man could do, I agree with you completely on this, what more could we ask for? Well, I do criticize him for Game 7, I think if he really believed it was on him, he would have dropped 45 on the Jazz. But!!! There were still 3 other games where Yao didn't even show up! All in all, I don't think Yao was up to par more often than Mac.
I was thinking the same thing.....in my eyes Yao is " only" a star at this point of his career. Tmac ,to me, is a superstar.It sucks for Yao breaking his leg, He was on his way to becoming the player Tmac envisioned when he asked to be traded to Houston. As for the comparison to the championship Laker teams, I believe the Rockets would be one step closer to that mold if they can aquire Mike James.He is a Fisher type player.Rafer would be an excellant back-up.A problem I see with that is that the Rockets have so many guards already.For the Power Forward spot I would like to see a guy like San Antonio's Bonner or Pheonix's Burke....although Burke is up there in age.By adding 2 new starters in those positions it would automaticaly make us a deep team while giving some help to Mac & Ming. If Tmac can get all those assists with the supporting cast he has now, just imagine what he could do with those players. Our bench gets blamed for not contributing enough, well I think there are some players that are starting that are not contributing enough
no, tmac didn't do his usual playoff performances (i expected 30+ppg => i attributed to his pathetic jumper b/c i was satisfied w/ his penetration for the most part, outside of game 4) again, its not that yao was up to par w/ tmac or not. yao was playing against okur and milsap. not known defenders. and for the most part, single coverage. i mean, we all say he's dominant, but would dominant players be treated like that? would shaq in his prime got the defensive coverage yao got? would dream? would ewing? would drob? tmac at least faced decent defenderes, and an array at that w/ different schemes to try to stop him. yao was guarded straight up after game 2. and he still couldn't shoot over 50% (which is a MUST for a dominant big man), grab rebounds, block shots. 0.7 block shots??? now really, would u fear a center blocking 0.7 block shots? statistically, yao did good. but we wanted a superstar yao. not an all-star yao. if we wanted all-star yao, 2 yrs ago was good enough. but that's not good enough. but again, could be yao wasn't fully healed. so we'll see what he can do next yr. but again, i just wish yao would be 70% of shaq. and i believe yao's great work ethic can get him to that level.
b/c yao is he best center in the L and since he's basically the only legit center now outside of shaq, he is a superstar. and his worldwide appeal would make him a superstar since he's not off the court too. again, we're really close. i think since yao has shown growth and improvement EVERY year he has been in the L, he will improve next yr too. and again, i point to the role players. who made tghe game winning shot that allowed the lakers to win v. the kings in those yrs (or else they wouldn't) => horry. who made the gw v. the spurs or else they wouldn't win => fisher. can u imagine our role players making a big shot like that? i dont think so
not all of it, u said tmac did all that a man can do. i dont agree w/ that. 25, 5, 7 is substandard for his playoff averages. his avg coming in was 30, 7, 6. for the other parts, yes.
I didn't say Tracy wasn't great in those playoffs. He was possessed and he shredded the Pistons' defense like it wasn't there, especially in the 4th quarter. But we found out recently that version of Tracy is long gone. How did this get twisted around to where I supposedly dissed what Tracy did in Orlando's playoffs? He and Kobe were on the same level back then. Right now, Kobe has surpassed him.
uh kobe wasn't on tracy's level back then. u mean 21, 5, 4 is as good as 34, 8, 8??? for that one yr??? and right now, kobe's playoff stats aren't even on tracy's level of orlando either outside of points. 32, 5, 5. tmac did that 2 yrs ago. and tmac right now w/ another star is doing better statistically than what kobe did with shaq. so what's your piont? again, tmac shot 39% for his 25ppg. that's pathetic. and i dont think he'll shoot that bad if he practiced his jumper this offseason. he proved to me he can still penetrate, even v. this physical jazz D. so this offseasn, practice his J and he'll be back to dropping 30 like its nothing. w/ yao, he still takes the bulk of the shots.
I hate to say this, but on the 2-superstar level huys have to be dominant in alot of facets of the game. Believe it or not, but Yao isn't dominant in really anything. Before anyone calls me a Tracy fan, think about it. When Yao isn't scoring, what else does he do well? He's not a great shot blocker/defender and he's not a great rebounder or passer. As many people like to talk about tracy, even when he's not scoring, he's a playmaker,assist,and rebounder at his spot. People want to say or use the Shaq/Kobe model, but even when Shaq wasn't scoring he was rebounding and cut the paint down. Tracy does basically what Kobe does without the benefit of taking long stretches of resting. he has to setup everyone including Ming for shots. Kobe never had to do that. I've always thought there was room for a high percentage quality scorer out there, but many people on this board wanted limited spot up space the floor type of guys. sometimes during games, you need guys to make a play on their own and the Rox only have 1 and thats Tracy.
exactly. a superstar is a true superstar is when u can't score jack => u can still dominate a game. we can get by w/ tracy shooting 4-17 in the reg. season sometimes b/c he'll create, rebound, or plays D. when yao doesn't score, basically deke is a better choice. that's what yao has to improve on. his rebounding in particular. he has to get that to 12-13 per game. he has to start blocking 3-4 shots consistently. we need him to be FEARED. i mean, NO ONE drives on shaq in his prime. NO ONE. everyone wants to dunk on yao basically. he needs to change that.
I think his awareness and lack of stamina has something to do with it. If he could dominate for 37mins, the Rox would be in great shape. If he would watch Shaq lower his shoulder when he would come across the lane to get position instead of standing straight up would help alot also. We keep waiting and he is making progress, but this is year 5 and some of the things are still not coming across like dunking the ball when he's 2ft from the basket. How about keeping the ball high on a pass so derek fisher doesn't strip the ball. How about getting more than 11rebs a game. his tools are unquestioned,but i think what they see is what he is. Hell of a scorer when in the right position, area rebounder and turnover prone.
maybe he should dedicate the ENTIRE summer to his own game rather than playing for china. i mean, he should help himself before anything else if he wants to be a superstar. and it's really all things that can be fixed w/ repetitions. i mean, it's not a new skill we're talking about.
Did I say he didn't care Sam? NO I DID NOT. Think whatever u want. I lived in LA and followed the team closely during his time here. I actually like the guy and think he's a pretty classy act most of the time. But to infer that he just had more "will" than others would be ignorant. Phil Jackson was always disappointed with his work ethic and very mad that time he put off surgery on "company time". But then again you have in the past exhibited quite a fondness for stalking me on these boards and putting words in my mouth. ps - yer on my ignore list now so don't bother. i like arguing with ppl who are here to actually debate points, etc. that time you on the D&D where u posted just to naysay me was annoying especially when u admitted that you never even read the OP's post.
Love him or hate him, Phil Jackson would've been an ideal candidate to mold this team into a contender. Those personnel moves Will mentioned had Jerry West's and Phil Jackson's influence. The man is probably too old to look outside Jeannie Buss's Lakers.
LOL, the passion is cute but please remove the Rocket colored sunglasses. I never blamed T-Mac and Yao. They played to the most of their capabilities and were definitely not the reason we lost. Don't twist my words. We lost because our role players sucked. However, the discussion at hand is whether they are comparable to Kobe and Shaq and you are in denial if you think so. Saying our two aren't as good as those two is no insult. Shaq might be the most dominant ever and Kobe might be the 2nd greatest shooting guard ever. Tracy and Yao are All-NBA great players, but they aren't all time legends - that's not insult. And don't try to equate saying that Shaq and Kobe could have gotten it done means I think Yao and T-Mac are to blame. The point is that because they couldn't, it means we need 2 more legit guys. Everyone needs to wake up and smell the coffee. McGrady has lost more than a few steps and is no Kobe. He tried his best - I'm not blaming him. Yao, a legit All-Star, did what legit All-Stars do - he put 25ppg with single coverage. Hall of Fame centers - what you guys are trying to compare him to by saying they are Kobe and Shaq - would have dumped 40 and 15 on Okur single coverage. Sh*t, you guys think Hakeem would have let Okur guard him one on one? This isn't a knock on our guys so stop being so sensitive. They tried their best and they are what they are. This team's best chance right now is trading for Rashard (Battier), bringing back Bonzi with Adelman, and signing Francis. They can't keep running glue guys out there. They desperately need some NBA talent in the starting lineup.
again, compare kobe to tmac's stats when kobe had shaq to what tmac does now w/ yao. tmac is asked to do more than what kobe to do b/c shaq was THE most dominant player of our generation. it's harder to compare yao to shaq than tmac to kobe. i think this tmac of this series would win a ring w/ shaq. shaq was just that good.
i agree alot of what you sad cabbage. I remember on draft night everyone wanted Reddick i wanted Brewer and neither really did anything, but that was my point. In the playoffs, you need guys that can get their own shot. Now during the regular season that strategy works against some of the inferior teams, but in playoffs basketball it makes a difference. You cant have too many of those guy, but you need at least 2 maybe 3 and the rockets have 1, T-Mac. How many times did we see the structure get Harpring a good shoot or Girichek? How many times did Williams or boozer break down the defense? When yao can get single coverage and no go off for 35-40 the rox will lose. Why? because the only guy that can score now is tracy. When the knicks played the rox in 94 and singled hakeem, when he would started to score 10-12 points in a row, you felt like he could score 20 in a row if needed against 1 on 1. With Yao, you never feel that way and eventually he'll get tired of fighting for position and get pushed off the blk and shoot a bs shot. As bad as it seem, the Rox are only a couple of dependable players away from being in elite status.
This T-Mac with that Shaq? Maybe. I'm not blaming T-Mac for anything, but no way Kobe settled for the outside jumpers Tracy took all series long. It's a moot point though. This T-Mac and this Yao isn't in the same planet as that Kobe and that Shaq. End of story.
