Glad someone else isnt worried. We've only played 1 full month of the season, and out of that month, we had 1 game where everyone played. Give it time, hopefully Tracy will find out what he is looking for. The schedule in March is pretty tough, LA, phx, denv, NO, utah twice, SA twice. If everyone is healthy in that month going forward, we should get some great practicing in and will be ready for the playoffs. The majority of this season isnt going to be pretty, lets just hope by the end of march we will have our **** together.
Isnt it also obvious that many T-Mac lovers have been waiting for his "return", year after year. Get real. Everyone knows what T-Mac is about. He's had enough time to get his act together. Deal him and we will win a championship. T-Mac is soft. How can a soft competitor compete? But oh yea, theres plenty of games left and many more years to go...Lets just keep hanging on...yea right! T-mac=pay check collector. He is the Ahman Green of the NBA.
I really wonder why the Rockets supposedly turned down offers for him for Billups and someone else (Prince or Hamilton maybe). IF this is true it was a poor decision. This team needs some stability at the point as much as we need a dependable presence at what ever position TMac is supposed to play.
have you seen chauncey the past few years in the playoffs? he has STUNK it up despite being on a great balanced team. yes, it's nice that he would be playing every game for us and producing right now, but morey and the organization are thinking about the playoffs. and right now, chauncey is shooting only 41% for the season (including a REALLY hot recent streak to bring that up from 37%) so it's not like he's burning up the court. and they were giving us prince, who's not a shooter. and if you have him and battier, the artest wouldn't have been made. billups, battier, prince, scola, yao -> probably will just also have a ceiling of 1st round and out, if yao is playing like this. with tracy, yes, you have your headaches in the reg. season. but he does step up his game unlike many in today's game in the playoffs. if he has done what he has done, and artest somehow improves, this team has a higher ceiling.
how do you deal him and get a championship? tell me a scenario please. tmac does "return" in the playoffs. notice how every puts him down last yr in the reg. season and he puts up 27, 8, 7 in the first round? he was the best player on the court in that series. if we want to let tracy go, just wait until 2010 when there are actual superstars to go after. why make stupid trades now when even this tracy gives you the best chance than any other trade scenarios?
Im a Rockets lover, not a Tmac lover, but Im not a hater either. I cant speak for everyone, but I think alot of people that you would consider 'tmac lovers' know he isnt going to be as dominate as he once was. For me, I am hoping the possibility of a title this year will light a fire under his ass and he'll start to show signs of what we expect from an allstar. Will that happen? Only time will tell. If he wants a title, he needs to play the playoffs like it's his last season ever. If his knee hurts, play through the pain. There is enough time for rest after you retire. If he wants to rest till March, fine, but once he comes back he better play like there is no tomorrow.
Hola, all! First-time poster, long-time fan (of the Rockets). I love this place. Everbody's got an opinion. Everybody's right. And nobody knows each others' names. I'm not normally short-and-sweet with my posts, so bear with me here... I know Tracy McGrady is a kind of love-to-hate-him or hate-to-love-him type of player. That's fair enough. Whatever reputation McGrady has earned (fairly or unfairly), it's still his reputation. And it doesn't mean beans at the end of anybody's day. Amazingly, for a guy playing on one leg, with no guts, egotistical, greedy, selfish and lazy, Tracy McGrady is STILL one of the top 10-to-15 BEST PLAYERS in the NBA. I'm personally tempted to ask myself how a guy so dysfunctional manages to be so relatively consistant in his performances. Here's what I think the Rockets need: 1) Yao Ming has to be a center. And by that I mean he has to defend and rebound inside like someone of his size has to. I really don't care, personally, if Yao manages to barely score in double figures, especially with the talent he FINALLY has around him now. What the Rockets can't afford is to have Yao put up decent numbers, but not have any impact on the game. He in no way, shape or form should be getting manhandled by guys a foot shorter and 60 pounds lighter than him as regularly as he does. Can't happen. If it does, the Rockets aren't going to win. 2) Tracy McGrady. That's right. I said it. The Rockets NEED Tracy MCGrady. And surprise, surprise, they need the McGrady that he has been for most of his stint here--reliable, sometimes-spectacular, and consummately team-oriented. McGrady does sometimes seem to not seize games when he probably should, because his mindset since arriving in Houston has been to do whatever has been asked of him to help his team win. He has had to wear far too many hats for this team to be even remotely competitive, because of weak point guard play and a complete lake of wing players for one thing. Get some people that can capably handle playing NBA point guard, two-guard, and small forward, then you can give McGrady a specific role and turn him loose. Like everybody other star in the league who McGrady isn't as good a player as. It's not going to be about X's and O's. Rotations and playing time. Cheerleaders or mudslingers. Not for the Rockets to win. McGrady and Yao have to play, and play well. Playing hard is misleading and overrated. You play with determination and effort. With purpose and a role to fulfill. Your best players, believe it or not, need roles too. Probably moreso than anybody else. You can't ask them to do everything and expect good things to happen for your team in the long run. Just doesn't work. McGrady needs to probably focus on being a two-guard, especially playing next to Yao, just to give each other some room, no matter what offense you're running. Yao's got to be the biggest kid and play like it. Especially defensively. See how easy that is!...
The only issue I have with this is that we've never been out of the first round with McGrady or Yao. For all of McGrady's implied intensity and clutch play we still haven't seen the Rocket's get to the second round. I really brush aside all of this "wait till the playoffs" talk on this board when it comes to Tracy stepping up because the net result of that so far has been ZERO.
i think he does and will. the other night against the nuggets, he sparked our mini-run with his three blocks during that stretch in the second half. yao is always going to affect the game. he's always going to demand a double-team, it's up to the rest of the guys to get in place to get the pass from him. i think what we're seeing now is the affect of t-mac's uncertain status. adelman can't really prepare the team he will have out there when he's not sure who he will have out there. i'm really interested in seeing how tomorrow night plays out now that adelman and the guys have a couple of days to prepare with the players they know will be out there. i agree with this to an extent. i seriously think if mcgrady shuts it down for a month or so, we have the talent and depth to keep winning. as bad as artest has shot so far, i don't believe it's going to be a season long slump. we have him, yao, scola, landry, brooks and even rafer that are capable of putting up 20 points on any given night. i think once they really learn how to play together, it's going to be much easier for one (or more) of them to step up each game. that said, i want t-mac back in the worst way. we simply have a better chance with a healthy t-mac in the lineup. he wants to win, to me that much is clear. i'm just sick of this game-to-game bs. either play your way back into shape or take some time off and rehab it that way, but make a decision and get back out there whether it be next week or next month.
Finally some new blood that gets it. Stop whining about a system not tailored for it's players and whatever other excuses you may have. Our highly paid players need to MAKE BUCKETS. End of story. The greats who win rings, don't do it b/c of some system. They are plain playing better than there opponents with the help of their teammates.
the only series tracy and yao have been healthy (and yao is a star, the 04-05 series yao wasn't) was the 06-07 series and we should have won that series. literally NONE of our role players stepped up in that series and we still took that series to 7 games. tracy put up 29 and 13 in game 7. sure you can nitpick plays here and plays there, tracy stepped up in the ultimate game and series. at the end of the day, it's a team game. i don't care how well 1-2 players do, you need at least 4-5 players to play well if you want to win a 7 game series. we haven't been able to do that. to compound that fact, we had injuries to 4 of our starters last year, including to 2 that forced them to be out either all or part of the series (yao/rafer). has kobe suddenly got better than when he averaged 35ppg in 05-06 and lost in the first round? no. not only was gasol playing well, they had 4-5 other guys stepped up.
if rafer played as well as he did in 06-07 v. utah as he did last yr, we would have won that in 5. but we were playing 2 (tmac/yao) v. utah's 8-9 man rotation for the entire series. it was amazing we took them to 7 considering nobody showed up outside of tracy and yao. how do you explain 4 GUYS scored in a playoff game? that's absolute disgrace. and it isn't like utah was a tough defensive team either
Bench and defense win championships. Stars are always gonna do well. The thing is your banch and role players. Can they contribute well?
You are totally right, it's a team effort, but let's not forget a superstars "supposed" ability to take over a game and will his team to victory. I just find it silly that people say we don't need Tracy during the regular season and its OK for him to always be nursing some type of injury. I guess there is no desire to try and secure home court advantage? Do people not see that as important? Tracy may have some good looking stats in the playoffs, but what's been the result of that? No rings or banners to show for it. Not to mention other guys are playing through soreness and injury, while T-Mac takes time off. I am not doubting his level of pain or that he maybe limited due to injury or age, but don't you think many other NBA players get out on the court to support their team as much as possible? I'm doubtful of his level of commitment and his will to lead the team to a first round playoff victory. After that we can talk about being champions, but for right now these guys need to get their minds right and win a playoff series.
Well, thank you all for your kind responses! I feel right at home. I like the take most of you guys have on how the offense is working (or not working) with Rick Adelman. Like any professional coach not named Rick Pitino already knows, the players win the games at this level. What the coach does is make it as clear as possible what each player needs to do in whatever scheme they're running, offensively and defensively, so that winning games gets decided by the best teams and not some gimmick. I know what Adleman wants to do offensively. I also know what he has to work with. Again, you tailor your gameplan to your best players' strengths. And hope like heck the other guys can take advantage of the opportunities. Case in point: Rafer Alston is a career 35% shooter from the field. Playing in the backcourt with a guy like McGrady, especially a guy who does the primary ballhandling and decision-making, the other guy in the backcourt is going to get looks. He's got to knock them down and knock them down consistently. Most teams worth their salt, especially at the end of the game, are going to force the players around McGrady and Yao to make shots and plays. Nothing about that has changed in four seasons, two coaches, and however-many players have run in and out of the lineup. One of the reasons why I watch pro sports is that it's ridiculously simple to see what's going on. No tons of strategy. No windbags screaming at everybody on the sideline (except for comedic relief). Just athletes at the top of their games deciding the outcome of a contest. It's beautiful. Tracy McGrady wants to win. So does Yao Ming. Anybody with a pulse or who's been conscious the past four seasons ought to be able to see that. Any other conclusion you draw is your God-given right, but way off base. You don't play with a bad back and a bad shoulder and bad teammates and continue to lose and come back for more and not want to win. What has to happen is that the guys around the two of them have to get the job done. Keep it simple, Coach. Post up Yao. See what happens. Clear out either wing for McGrady. See what happens. Keep watching this season. See what happens...
But have his stats ever equated to team playoff success. Tracy will not be known for has stats, he'll be known for advancing in the playoffs. There is nobody on this board that wants to see him advance in the playoffs more than I, Nobody. But in T-Mac's case, if he does what he has always done, he will get what he has always gotten. He needs to change his attitude ie.(become mentally tougher, killer instinct) or he's always going to come away with the same result. How many times has T-Mac's former playoff teams taken a commanding lead in a series? And how many times has Tracy taken time off in a season because he was not feeling 100% and the upcoming schedule was weak. He has got to find a way to become mentally tougher or he'll never achieve the 16 wins it requires in the summer to get a ring. Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli and Kevin Garnett will all slice your throat to get a win in the regular season and especially the playoffs. It will take a ton of mental toughness to get past all those guys. Just trying to keep it real.
Hi, Blake! You said it. It's about what mindset your best players have at the time when your team needs to win. I want to see McGrady win, and I want to see him do it here. He deserves it, if only because of the scathing criticism he's gone through for usually being the best player on the court and not winning anything that mattered. You're right. McGrady has had opportunities to close out teams and win series before. He's had chances to cement away all those concerns about his toughness and effort desire on more than a few occasions. And right there is the heart of the problem. I don't care how good a ball player McGrady is, or should be, or would be, or could be, or ought to be. Only TEAMS win championships. MCgrady won't ever be enough on his own to win anything. Winning one round in the postseason doesn't prove to me that a player is any more capable or deserving than losing in the first round. All it says is that one team wasn't good enough to beat another team. The real reason that Tracy McGrady gets the lion's share of the blame for the Rockets' postseason misery the past four years, is that he's usually proven to be one of the best players in that series, by any statistical measure. So of course, if a guy puts up stats like McGrady and doesn't seal the deal, he's weak. Or scared. Or complacent. Or knitting sweaters or something equally ridiculous. McGrady doesn't seal the deal. Yao doesn't seal the deal. The TEAM does that. I used to go back and forth with people about McGrady's and Yao's teammates...about how they're not all-star caliber like some of the great players of the past have been lucky enough to have. And that's true to an extent. Who, outside of Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, is going to the hall of fame from those title teams of '94 and '95, Blake? Robert Horry? Really? WHY? And just to get you scratching your head a bit, Blake: Does the type of teammates Dream managed to win a title with say more about Dream, or about his teammates' ability to take advantage of his presence? Those guys won't ever be forgotten because, from Otis Thorpe to Mario Elie to Sam Cassell to Kenny Smith to Carl Herrera to Robert Horry to Chuck Brown (yikes) and even Vernon frickin' Maxwell all had chances to win and grabbed it by the throat. Only a TEAM can ever have the opportunity to do that. It's everybody's job, Blake. McGrady either takes the shot himself or sets up the shot, he's still done what he needed to do. Ditto for Yao Ming. You really want McGrady to get over this "mental block" of his, Blake? See if one of his teammates decides it might be a good idea, for whatever reason, to make some plays themselves...
it's not about stats. it's not about one player. it's about stars stepping up, but role players too. if you watch EVERY playoffs EVERY year, there is a role player who steps up in EVERY series for a team that wins. in 04-05, for dallas, it was jason terry, jerry stackhouse, and finley IN EVERY GAME who stuck up for dirk, who was a ghost. who stepped up for ours outside of barry? even sura had 2-3 really bad games in that series. in 06-07, harpring, ak47 stepped up for utah. we had NOBODY outside of yao and tracy who stepped up. in 07-08, it was only tracy consistently, with some scola here and there. the point is, yes, great players will get all the glory and blame. that may be right or not. but people don't understand that role players can "help" you win games also. i'm not trying to put down our role players, but they haven't done their part to help yao and tracy. in 06-07, our stars put up 50ppg, 18rpg, and 8apg. in game 7, tracy put up 29 and 13. yao put up 29 and 6. that's MORE than enough for 2 players. where were the role players? look man, you can't help yao or tracy if your role players repeatedly disappear in the biggest of games (luther is a perfect example, rafer has averaged 32% shooting in the playoffs for us...). for all the blame tracy (and/or yao) has gotten, i really do think they've done enough for us to win a series here or there as individuals. but the role players, let's be real, CAN ANYONE NAME ONE PLAY THAT STICKS OUT by our role players in the playoffs offensively (outside of the carl landry's block and that was on DEFENSE)? have we ever have a guy off teh bench who busts for 20+? have we ever had a few guys off the bench put up 10+ for us throughout a series consistently? great teams have that. we don't. but hopefully we do this year as artest, brooks, and carl are all off the bench when we hit our stride. and if we're going to win, that's the key. yao and tracy will get theirs. can the role players get theirs "just a little bit"?
