[GRANTLAND] Bill Simmons: The Unfortunate Tale of T-Mac

i was mocking the tmac haters who keep suggesting he had a good enough supporting cast. hence, the roll eyes.

 

Interesting. The perfect team for Tracy would be the Knicks at that time and JVG.

 

Oh, yeah, the 93 knicks were idiots.

We knew that already, right? :grin:

 

again if you stress reading comprehension every time. Take time to read those lines.
A player who is called unselfish, reluctant to face conflict with coach or management, would definitely not TAKING A TEAM HOSTAGE.
Unless there are hard feelings between both and that is no fault of either side. That just happens. Business.

Or Adelman was not the right coach for him. And Morey was not really 100 percent behind Tracy who had been on the decline when he got his job as GM.

JVG being a TF (Tracy Fan) among others

Doc Rivers, Jeff, two of the smartest basketball minds talking and Simmons writing it.
If those are your TOFs, then it's good to be/to have been his fan.

Conclusion: He failed but with sweet memories

 

They were but the point was building around the talents of a superstar who was not a leader. You could argue Lebron was not the best leader, still a good leader until he took his talents South.
Wade was a leader, Kobe was a selfish leader.

Someone who is a sensitive player like McGrady, Bosh or Gasol(maybe soft), they need a tough team.

 

The only thing more depressing than McGrady's career fade is the inevitable Tinman vs. the world sh!tfest about his legacy.

 

I think TM does not understand it is not about his legacy only.

All that matters is that the best NBA coaches, the best players (Kobe, Durant, Paul and Lebron) and couple of good writers and basketball minds do give him credit for being a very good talent and very unselfish, overall a good TEAMMATE and NO CANCER most of the time.

There are of course his passive attitude and questionable decision making off the court that were the bad.
I guess a lot of guys could not be objective. It was Tmac or the Rockets in the end.
It rarely were the Rockets and Tmac. I don't see a problem with rooting and understanding both sides.
Building a team, rooting for a good player, and realizing it is time to part ways without hard feelings.

 

This was an extremely insightful article; but all I got out of it was Morey knows his players and what to put around them.

Simmons (very briefly) says the 08 team was probably TMACs best bet to get out of the first round.

Chuck Hayes, Ron Artest, Scola, Lowry (still young, new)*, Yao, Battier and Deke could all be considered leaders of that team. Daryl knew that McGrady wasn't a natural leader and tried to load up the roster to compensate. If only he was healthy... This makes me excited for the Harden/Howard years.

 

Great article.

 

Great article. I'm not convinced TMac is deserving of hall of fame. If I had a vote, and was voting now, he would not be on my ballot.

Great moments from him, no question, but many not so great also.

 

You are using the word but do you even know what it means?

 

Maybe he means that T-Mac may still play for a few more years in China or something and there will be room for one more piece on his legacy as a player when he hangs up his shoes for good?

 

Zing. Nice call out. Word misuse alert.

 

Great article by Simmons. Borderline for Hall of Fame, but I think he'll get in eventually.

 

Great article, but maybe a little too kind on McGrady. If he was not a natural leader, why would he appear on national television saying "It's on me."? Maybe he was just a poor leader.

I think not getting to the second round was 50% his fault and 50% lack of better teammates. We really should have beaten Utah and Dallas.

Regardless, TMac is still my favorite all time Rockets player (and yes, I did see Dream play), but I believe Harden will surpass him this year as my favorite all time.

 

T-Mac's career in one word... Tragic.

 

So there will only be one more piece written on T-Mac??


Edit: Dammit. A dozen other smartasses got there first. GRRR!

 

Excellent article. HOFer in my book, 09 season notwithstanding.

 

Yes I have sufficiently made an ass of myself today.