The fact that I am posting after the horrible turn of event is incidental. I really think we need to use T-MAc as a closer. I really dont think we can chance the investment we made in him ( emotionally as fans and financially as the owners)- Even if he gets back quickly we should not expect him to play 40 minutes a game. Somewhere along 25 minutes would be ideal ( but I know it may not be practical). Either we bring in a Solid scorer to offset the "loss" in production or we should expect the others to step up- which they have to. Unless we expose these people to adversity and give them playing time, they will never develop- Stro and Luther can contribute- if given the confidence and playing time. T-Mac is our biggest asset ( and weapon)- Back Spasms are chronic, you can make peace with the disease but it never goes away. With age it will only get worse.This much is a fact.
Well, for his caliber, Kobe and AI are obviously doing more. And their teams are less talented than ours. Even without Yao in the mix, TMac is only taking the number of shots Kobe and AI take in a daily base. So that's not asking him too much. Fact is, TMac is injury-prone. And there's not much you can do about it. No matter how well one plays, if he can't at least crack 70 games a year, he's not the kind of franchize player you want to build around.
For $12 million a year he should be sweeping up after games as well. He should do whatever it takes!!!
The point I was making is that- Given his back issues do we push our luck? The contract is done and T-MAc will get paid even he sweeps or for that matter does not sweep the floor ( not debating whether he is being paid the money he deserves) AI Hardly is a comparision- he does play hurt and misses games- but that guy is a whole another Specimen who endures pain ( he typically hurts his fingers! not his back!). Kobe is not that injury prone.
thats a good point by goodbug.. everybody would pretty much agree tmac is on, or atleast expected to be on the same caliber as AI, Kobe, Lebron.. They're game as all around players are very similar and they also make similar money.. the main difference here is that t-mac is more injury prone... which REALLY SUCKS....... but theres not much you can really do about it.... its just how it is..
he is giving what he can, if its too much, he can give that, like they already posted (AI and Kobe are playing and scoring too much)
Think how hard it must be for T-Mac to not play because of injury. He seems like a big competitor to me. Not playing must be torture for him.
If he was healthy, he would be giving even more. But as things stand now, his effort level is stellar, even when we lose. All I can ask of someone is to give it his all, the rest is out of our control (JVG has stated as much in the past). That's a reason why, for example, I loved and respect players like David Wesley and Juwon Howard, because you know that although they might not be the most talented players in the world, they play their butts off every second they are on the court, and they do their best to help the team win, and take it personal when the team loses. That's what I respect, that's what I admire, that's all you can ask for.
