to T-mac's credit, this year was the only year his team was expected to advance to the 2nd round. when that's the case, it usually means you haven't had a good team, although you've made the playoffs. hell, even this year, the Jazz were every bit as good as the Rockets. his playoff career has been a disappointment, but it's not b/c he hasn't shown up.
The point of the discussion is comparing Tracy to LeBron, not the Rockets to the Cavs. What if we had Big Zero as center instead of Yao?
Sorry, but LeBron isn't a leader. He stares down his teammates when they don't pass him the ball and miss a wide-open dunk. He's selfish. I'm glad McGrady grew out of that.
If T-Mac was on Cleveland in 03-04 with Big Z, Boozer, and Ricky Davis talk of him not being out of the 1st round wouldn't exist. Boozer was still an automatic double-double then, and Big Z was coming off an all-star year. He might have even made a finals appearance.
Classic examples of why T-Mac never got out the first round http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/DET20030423.html http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/ORL20020430.html http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/MIL20010422.html
Forget 03/04, we are talking about HERE AND NOW! Come up to date and join the discussion. Nobody cares about the Tracy of 03/04 because that guy is long gone. Leave the past out of it. LeBron and Tracy have gone opposite directions in the last 4 years.
wasn't that lebron's first year in the league. seems to me some of you guys set his expectation too high so you can criticize him.
Yeah because as we all know, that would mark the FIRST TIME Tracy has ever had a team good enough to compete in the playoffs.
I think people have been complaining about LeBron being too UNselfish recently. LeBron can take it to the basket and make clutch shots also.
Does a bad supporting cast make up for a lackluster performance when you need the best out of him? (Game 7's) I'm pretty sure he's had some awesome performances (Game 1 and 2 of 04-05) but he just can't finish it out.
I'm talking about teams that can be led. If they switched teams this instant we would still be watching the same 4 teams playing. McGrady can't make shots for Head, Howard, Shane, and Rafer, and he can't put the ball on the floor for Yao. He can't pull guys off the bench to give us a spark when other dudes are struggling. What the hell must he do. It's not like he did like cousin Vince or Dirk and had a no-show in the playoffs. While I do feel he could play better, he still played his ass off. Playoff success does define a career to a point, but some of you overrate it too much. One guy plays a team that is evenly matched, the other plays a team that is missing it's 2 best players. And then the next team is New Jersey!!?? Come f**king on!!! Every team in the West including Memphis and Seattle would beat the Nets in no more than 6 games. Last year Antawn Jamison escorted Lebron to the rim, and then the following game Lebron obviously travels twice (causing me to knock down my pineapple juice ) and then Gilbert, who is usually clutch, misses not 1, but 2 free throws down the stretch. A few twists of fate and Lebron is stuck in the first round. Whose team had a better record this year(T-Mac) Whose team is in the tougher conference(T-Mac) Whose team battled thru injuries to major players (T-Mac) Who is better, the Wiz(minus Agent 0 and Caron Butler) or a fully healthy Jazz!? So honestly, WTF has he done to become some great leader. I haven't seen him to sh*t this year to make me say "Wow, look how he leads his team!!" His talent is top 5 in the league no question, I won't deny that. I'm also tired of hearing how sorry his team is. Big Z is a top 5 center in the league, everyone on this board would give up their left testicle for Drew Gooden; Larry hughes is capable of giving you 20pts on any given night, Eric Snow is a wily vet who is always gonna give a team a defensive spark, Damon Jones can come off the bench once a month and knock down a couple shots, Pavlovic dominated Vince Carter(but so can my pubic hair) and Daniel Gibson is a PG who is gonna give it 110% every night.
that's sarcasm right? there's not one other all-star on the team except for lebron. except maybe the center. gooden is good but inconsistent, yeah hughes can put up 20 except how many shots does he need? and snow is about 40.
Sarcasm, you can't be serious. That's a nice team he has there. The problem with them is that Mike Brown can't coach offense. Even our offense is better.
LeBron was 18 that year. 18. Where was T-Mac when he was 18? Riding pine on the Toronto bench while LeBron was already a 20-6-6 player.
