1. No one starts those _____ appreciation threads after a loss. 2. Tmac has been lackluster all season. One game doesn't make everyone do back flips. 3. Yao has had great games, only to miss a clutch shot, and gets tons of flack the day after. People only remember the very last shot. It happens. Overall Tmac played great on the offensive side. Mediocre at best on the defensive side (although that's kind of par for the course). I was happy with what I saw. The last play sucked, but I won't chalk it up entirely to Tmac.
I've actually been reading these boards since last season just never signed up and I've seen nothing but McGrady hate threads. Trade McLazy this or any name that comes up. I've followed McGrady since his Toronto days and I am a huge fan plus know what he is capable of. When he got traded here I was so excited because he had a big man he can play with. The only problem was that there wasn't no pg. Every Little thing McGrady does he gets blamed for. Guys who actually watch basketball and know the sport should know that McGrady has been injured through his career. But when he misses a game because of an injury here comes a McGrady hate thread or trade thread. Start Wafer over McGrady he is better. Wafer has been a journey man and guys want to start him over Mac lol. Some guys on here just say crazy stuff.
I agree with your general premise, i.e. a player's worth is how he makes the team better, not his individual numbers. However, I think your assessment of T-Mac is too subjective. It is not about how many assists he gets. Rafer has more assists per game than TMac. No one is saying he makes the team better than TMac does. Yao makes the team better not because he makes great passes. His constant drawing double team gives open shots to his teammates. That (and the points he scores efficiently, of course) is how he makes the team better. TMac has a similar effect. But more importantly, it is the way he passes the ball. Morey has a system to track how players passes resulting in quality shots. He said TMac is always one of the top passing wingmen in that measurement. (I trust Morey when he talks about this kind of stuff.) That said, the problem with McGrady is that he does have the habit of stopping the flow. That's because he has been used since his Orlando days to be the initiator (rather than a part of) the offense. When he gets the ball, that's the BEGINNING of the offense. Everything resets. So he does have a lot of adjustment to make under Adelman's system where he needs to play WITHIN the offense rather than AT THE START OF THE OFFENSE.
