Yep I agree, our defense was much better with JVG and Thibs behind it. It translated on the road also, I don't know why JVG can't come back and help Adelman. It's clear Adelman has helped our offense but our defense has taken a hit and the only reason it's good now is because of Battier and Artest. When these guys were in and out of the lineup we barely played any defense.
Only in the regular season. If you looked at the Dallas and Utah series, both teams shot above 50 percent in both game sevens. JVG cheats the offense to gain on defense.
Adelman doesn't rely on tricked out schemes as much as JVG for defense. JVG used to double team more, and he always forced Yao to run more and cover his man beyond the post area. Adelman has a different philosophy, which I think is more sustainable through a long playoff run. It is also less susceptible to matchup difficulties.
The author didn't mention the opponent. I think the Rockets would have won the series with or without McGrady. I also think we would have lost against Utah with or without McGrady. That doesn't mean there aren't certain things about the way the current roster plays that I don't like better than what I used to see. All of his points are still valid. I don't think our team is better right now because of it, but I definitely think we have more potential to grow because of it. If they could take the current team and add a significant skill to the roster with Mcgrady as the bait, then I think we are better off. If we were very lucky, I think a trade like Denver made for Billups could net a similar result. Worst case scenario, we just get more depth.
Man if I could give Eddie some "green" I would.....terrific article. And I think that people also need to realize that most teams who would trade for Tracy aren't doing it to get Tracy....They want his expiring contract. I'm guessing that most teams who will be willing to trade for him aren't even interested if he comes back at all next year. They want to dump some salary which should work out to our benefit and plug some holes which will probably knock us out of this whole 2010 sweepstakes biz) and have a $24 mil Tracy McGrady stimulus package next summer. I'm all for that if we can significantly upgrade our talent next year. The big three (Lebron, Wade and Bosh) are pipe dreams and a lot of teams will end up paying out the butt for slightly above average talent after them. legend215
Hoopshype Writes about T Mac and the Crossroads http://blogs.hoopshype.com/blogs/johnson/2009/05/01/crossroads-ahead/ if already posted lock it The Rockets entrance into the second round of the playoffs will probably end the Tracy McGrady era in Houston. The Rockets could never get out of the first round with McGrady and now with him sidelined for the season, they are headed to Los Angeles to face the Lakers. I am a huge McGrady fan and personally feel he is one of the top 20 players in the NBA when healthy, but the problem for the Rockets is that he has not accomplished what they just achieved against a very good Portland team. McGrady put up great numbers in last year’s playoff series against Utah (27ppg, 8.2 rpg and almost 7 apg), but they still lost and in Houston they want wins. This year’s version without McGrady produced all-around contributions and created more weapons to solidify a first-round win. It probably will force the Rockets to shop their star next year. There are four areas the Rockets improved in without McGrady. Better cohesion McGrady dominated on the court, but off the court as well. Although the Rockets have Yao Ming, McGrady still had the spotlight on him 24/7 and I felt because of it, he tried to do too much – thus diminishing the skills of his teammates and especially Yao Ming. The Rockets now seem to co-exist with one another. They seem to relish in the sight of not having to expect one player to produce huge numbers for them to win big games, which becomes a devastating weapon to have moving into the second round against the mighty Lakers. Better defense Ron Artest has been one of the best defenders in the league for a reason. He does not need help to guard his man. This alone takes a lot of pressure off the rest of the team, knowing that Artest is self sufficient. This allows Rick Adelman to gamble and double other players like Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum and he will be doing it with more aggressive/physical players like Shane Battier and Luis Scola. What does this have to do with McGrady? Well, because of Artest’s ability to defend and score, Adelman can keep the diminutive Aaron Brooks on the floor and surround him with players that are very good defenders and can score in double figures as well. Better ball movement This might be the most important reason why McGrady might not return. The Rockets seem more fluid on offense now that McGrady is on the sidelines. The ball moves and does not stick, which used to force teammates to stop and stare instead of moving. Adelman would rather have the ball stick in Yao Ming’s hands on the post than McGrady’s on the perimeter. He would rather have a high-percentage missed field goal in the post with Ming (54 percent shooting) than a well-guarded perimeter shot by McGrady (41 percent last year and 38 percent this season). Better offensive structure Balanced scoring has allowed the Rockets to concentrate more on defense and not depend on one player to score in order to win. This in itself will cause the Lakers problems in the second round. Who would have thought Scola would be the Rockets’ top scorer in the first round at 17 ppg. The best part is the Rockets had six players scoring in double figures against Portland and Ron Artest was taking only 15 shots per game compared with the 24 shots per game McGrady took last year in the first-round loss to Utah. The beauty of this is that there are three players taking more shots than Yao Ming. But it’s all based on the fact that Yao Ming was the big worry defensively for Portland… And will be also for the Lakers, which will allow Scola, Brooks, Von Wafer and Shane Battier to become threats. This article was not written to diminish the McGrady era in Houston or blaming him for the Rockets’ faults in past years. He was giving them what they expected and it did not work in Houston like it is in Cleveland with LeBron James. The greatest players in history have been humbled for dominating the ball and critics have pointed the finger at them. Michael Jordan was called selfish and a ballhog until Phil Jackson convinced him the triangle offense was better suited to win a championship. Rudy Tomjanovich convinced Hakeem Olajuwon to trust his teammates and pass it out of double teams instead of turning it over trying to beat it. When his teammates started knocking down three-point shots with regularity, it gave him more one-on-one matchups in the post and earned the Rockets back-to-back championships. Shaquille O’Neal allowed Kobe Bryant to take on a bigger role, especially in crunch time, during the Lakers’ three straight championships. The problem for McGrady is that all the good things have happened for the Rockets without him on the floor and he never got the chance to be the one who made the adjustment. Now the question is… Do the Rockets want to see if he understands the adjustment he would have to make next year and do they want to deal with it?
While the author makes convincing points, I just don't see how the Rockets can part ways with Tracy until 2010, which means we have to bear one more season of him. Trading a 23 million dollar asset that has more wear and tear than a Thai prostitute is going to be very hard to do especially with Isiah Thomas now at FIU. What I see happening is that Tracy will be a Rocket next season and if he isn't back to what he was before or if he doesn't make the Rockets a better team, he will be gone in 2010.
I'd like to see if we can take advantage NOW in the down economy and get a star player to replace McGrady instead of waiting until the highly competitive 2010 off season.
already posted (today)...so much action in the GARM that it has already been pushed to the third page lol http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=167751
It won't be difficult at all. Some team will get $23 million in salary off their books next summer if they trade for him. The difficult part will be finding a trade that upgrades the Rockets and gives them financial flexibility down the road but Morey seems to be one of the best in the business at doing that. I don't know if he will be traded this summer but he will be gone by the All Star break next season. We have seen the last of him in a Rockets uniform no matter what.
This was a great article that really hit everything on the head in a way so many people in the sports world, media and fans alike, seem unable to. Well worth reading.
Agreed. His contract could be a great asset for a team looking to get into the 2010 FA sweepstakes. Trick is will those teams have anything to send us for that money.
Entertaining read, but there were some pretty important factors he didn't consider. One was that Yao was not available in the playoffs, explaining T-Mac needing to carry the load. Two was Utah owns us and is a horrible matchup for us. This year we played an extremely inexperienced team that we matchup much better against. If we had to play Utah again this year, it would've been another first round exit.
The Rockets played .750 ball when Yao and McGrady played. It's not some kind of mystery. A healthy McGrady is an asset. He wasn't healthy this year, was out of shape and became a distraction as he went in and out of the lineup. The question for next year will be what kind of value does he have around the league. He's done as a Rocket.
Give me a break. You don't think that if we would have had a consistent (including a healthy Tracy) lineup all season, we wouldn't be a better team? That's asinine. Tracy wasn't the only inconsistent starter in our lineup early on. Shane Battier was hurt. Ron Artest kept going down. Every time it seemed like Tracy was FINALLY going to be able to get some rest, he would be forced back onto the court because somebody else went down. By the time All-Star weekend rolled around, Tracy was too broken down. He had nothing left at that point and he shut it down... which was the right move, in my opinion. He handled the situation in a poor manner, but not so much as to justify everyone blaming him for everything (which people on this board are doing...). Our team was finally graced with good fortune (with the exception of Landry being shot... that was awful) in terms of injuries, and all of a sudden, it was Tracy's fault all along? Give me a break. We had a lot of problems early on in the season... and while Tracy's injuries/lackluster performances certainly contributed to them... you gotta believe a healthy Tracy would have been able to contribute a lot more on both sides of the court every game. That's just my two cents.
I agree with this point I think our passing of the first round had more luck to it then we will admit. If we had to play Utah I don't think we would have won. They have more then enough talent to neutralize Yao (Boozer Okur combo that we know oh so well) and Artest is useless against Utah over a 7 game series. Which leads us to our massive problem, the PG Position which came out strong for us but then became a liability some games. I'm going to see how Brooks plays against Fisher, it will be interesting to gauge our future. If we win the series so be it, but if we lose we can take out of it how our PG tandem will work
