???? How do you figure? Only twice in his career did he ever average as many as 15 points! He looked like he might turn it up a notch during his one playoff run with the Spurs, but he's never matched it since. At his best, he's a third option guy that can run the wings on a break. That's all he's ever been in this league. Way too many homers on this board overhyped him the past year. Evan
Wow! Good analogy. I think y'all are right. I have always thought that a good 70-80% of this team's plays are designed with McGrady somehow involved, but our recent performance makes me think that it's more like 80-90% of our positions in every single game revolve around McGrady's presence/abilities, and he's certainly most responsible for the performance of guys like JB and DW, who're not guys that create their own shots, but rather meant to be spot-up shooters and nothing more. I do agree that this team's entire system is pretty much dependent on McGrady's presence on the court, or otherwise the offense collapses to a halt.
How good is the team without TMac? Look no further than our current standing in the Western Conference.
Sura was the only swingman we've got that could effectively backup Tracy, IMO, and he's toast. We're in deep poo at the 3 spot. I think we'll have to make a move to get someone. It was nice to see Anderson start to find his shot in the last game, however. If he could just be adequate playing D and be the 3rd scorer, it would be huge. At this point, I'm not holding my breath, and the Rashard's of the league are going to just kill us.
Technically, he can't. Shaq and pretty much every center in the hall of fame depended on effective entry passers. Our center has several problems they didn't have though... 1. Balance and strength issues, so it's difficult for him to get into a comfortable position in the post with a defender draped all over him. 2. He doesn't have good hands. It's already difficult enough for him to catch normal passes. Naturally, it would be MORE difficult to try and catch passes while he's fighting for position. 3. We don't have accurate enough post-passers that can get the ball to exactly where Yao is comfortable getting it. 4. Poor lateral movement from Yao means that it's difficult for him to go out and reach for a poorly thrown entry pass with his bad hands, all the while continually fighting to maintain position despite not having good strength or balance. In other words...EVERYTHING has to be done perfectly in order for Yao to get the ball in the post. It's no surprise he tends to fumble the ball a lot.
A Rockets team without TMac is a little better than one without Yao, but not much. Remember the Magic of TMac's last season before his trade? After all, the same but older Juwan.
How Good is the Team without T-mac _______________ The answer to this question seems painfully obvious.