It's actually a smart move on his part. Think about it. He still wants to get a nice contract when he's a FA. The best way to do that is to perform well in this upcoming contract season, and the best way to do that is to have the surgery in the 08-09 season which would give him a year to rehab and still have plenty of time to showcase his talents. And as an added bonus, he's on a guaranteed contract. And even if he comes back and player poorly, then the odds are he still would've played poorly had he not gotten the surgery. Its a win-win situation for McGrady. The only loser is the Rockets organization.
1) there were trade rumors about mcgrady that made NATIONAL NEWS (ESPN) in 07-08. and there will be trade rumors AGAIN this year. hell, it's reported in most sports news organizations that he's being shopped. so mcgrady knows this. so is he going to pull another stunt if his name is in trade rumors again this year? what is he going to do? get back surgery? 2) you do know he had several setbacks last year and took time out so he could "rehab." why didn't he choose surgery after those setbacks? OH YEA, HE GOT BLOCKED BY THE DAMN RIM that i'm sure millions of people saw. that's a great reason to seek another solution no? 3) once again, microfracture surgery is potentially career-threatening. it has ended some careers. from a general point of view, chances of him getting a nice contract after a microfracture surgery is slim. and like you said, he's on a GUARANTEED contract. he would have been paid the same if it was in houston, or in memphis or on mars. if he really wanted to get his stats and get a nice contract, he should have HOPED to be traded to a low-tier team where he will be the main guy. he'll at least get the TOUCHES to have a chance at putting up the stats to warrant a nice contract. on our team? where there are emerging players in brooks/ariza/scola? in a system that is now emphasizing more team play? yea, he's gonna get more touches that he would on a struggling team? yea, makes a lot of sense? OR MAYBE? after that embarrassing missed dunk, a revelation just came about in his head that something must be seriously wrong with his knee and he needs to find a damn solution. just maybe.
Doubtful. Don't forget this is a contract year for him. He initially didn't get surgery b/c doctors recommended against it. He eventually found one that didn't. I've already addressed this in my last post. Please reread it. If you still feel that it doesn't answer your question, reread it again. You're assuming that some low-tier team would want to trade its star to the Rockets and build around McGrady. If he's healthy, don't be surprised if the team occasionally settles into the old dynamic of McGrady running the offense...especially if our offense is struggling. My explanation is far more logical.
uhh..tracy was NEVER going to get us a star. not last year. and definitely not this year. and the low-tier team doesn't have to build around tracy (look at memphis). they could just get a star by name to buy time, increase some ticket sales... and if tracy is so selfish as some say he is for stats, he would have welcomed that opportunity. so no, your explanation is not logical. only an idiot would choose an injury that has ended the careers of many players as an attempt to block a trade. so hence your explanation is pretty idiotic.
Vince Carter? For $3mm, getting Iverson was a steal. When you start speculating, you need to factor in the salary cap as well. Reread it again. It's logical and makes perfect sense. To be honest though, after all this time I've spent talking to you, it's pretty clear to me that your thought process isn't entirely logical. Maybe that's why you don't understand. Or it could be me...dunno about that though. I've gone through some testing for a govt position, and about 50% of its content dealt directly with logic. I scored a 96% on it.
that had me laughing. well, so i guess you must be a logical guy. unfortunately, this discussion falls into the 4% where you fail to be logical.
Sorry, but no. Just keep rereading it. It makes perfect sense. In case you're wondering, I eventually turned down the job.
I scored 100% in the medical institute of technological advances exam. I also managed to complete NASA's exam for astronaut trainees, scoring 99% in the process. They want me as part of the next upcoming spaceship project, but I rejected the job because I couldn't miss the upcoming Rocket games. However, several days after I rejected the job, Obama personally greeted me at my front door, requesting my help in solving the economic crisis. However, I once again rejected the job, because personally I enjoy a low profile life. I got a call from Oprah lately to appear on her show, but I think I'm going to reject that too. She wants my assistance in bringing world peace, but I enjoy the wars on Earth.
this may be the worst example i have ever heard of t-mac throwing the team under the bus. let me ask you did mcgrady make any of those decisions on his own? No he didnt they all came to an agreement about that stuff. The two weeks off for him to have a mini training camp? Thats being a cancer? Oh and your last point was speculation not logic. I dont know but getting a surgery that can possibly end your career just to miss the trade deadline sounds very unlikely. How is this a win situation for mcgrady. he is forced to take a risky surgery, missed more than half of last season, watches his team go to the second round without him, and now he has to wait till nov 23 to have an MRI to decide if he can even practice. an you say this was a win win situation for mcgrady?
Guys, think for a moment. What team ever let's one of their star players take 2 weeks off during the season to train, without anyone from the organization involved? Doesn't that sound strange to anyone? I mean he is one of their key players, wouldn't they want to be there monitoring every drill every move? 2 weeks off during a season usually means you are sent home, not volunteer to go home. Just something to chew on. EDIT - For that matter, if the Rockets were counting on him in any capacity, why were they not up monitoring him in Chicago? I mean what kind of organization doesn't keep track of their most important pieces? Unless........ DD
the argument you should be making is that mcgrady was not reliable last year(though he was hurt). Not that he was a cancer. Cancers are the terrell owens, the steven jacksons, and the marburys. mcgrady may receive some criticism but being a cancer is a pretty strong word and he is not that guy.
they did monitor him in chicago. He along with the rockets agreed to take two weeks off to work his a$$ off to get in better shape. They actually did monitor him when he took the two weeks off as well. Look at this interview. i think they did a lil monitoring Reporter Zhang Yi of Sohu Sports News reports from Houston January 18 Local Houston time David Macha is the current Houston Rockets’ strength and conditioning coach. When Tracy McGrady had to call it the day and rested for 2 weeks, it was precisely David Macha that was working together with Tracy McGrady to make up what he missed in the preseason training camp, and to help him to retrieve back competitive form and conditions such that he could return as the former #1 of the Houston Rockets. Yesterday, Sohu Sports had this exclusive interview with David Macha. David Macha explained to Sohu Sports (and its net friends) in details about the “devil-like” body training that had continued for the past 7 days already. Simultaneous to recovering his endurance, physical strength and body condition, Tracy McGrady was also combating to conquer the devil in his heart ~ his lack of self confidence. Sohu Sports: David, you have been assigned to help Tracy McGrady in his body rehabilitation lately. Can you disclose to us some of the details? David Macha: Tracy had been working very diligently; we had been working on his body all these while, and it is now into its 7th consecutive day. We worked primarily on his stamina and physical strength, as well as areas that he missed in the preseason training camp. Due to his surgery (and its rehabilitation) he missed all those aspects of the training. As far as his muscle and endurance training are concerned, he is now somewhat falling behind; his body conditioning is no good, in particularly his stamina in the 4th quarter. We had worked a lot in these aspects (in the past week) and he showed good intensity in our training; he is fully motivated on the training as he hopes that he could return to play competitively. He craves to be able to prove to everybody that he had not lost everything (his body condition and skills) and that he was only faltering behind. He is also very self-confident that he will be able to achieve his goal. We also felt very satisfied with the progress that he is making during the training. Sohu Sports: What are the specific contents of the training? David Macha: Actually, we tested his strength; currently the situation was not too bad, even though there were still some weak areas; a lot of it had to be related with his muscle and endurance, and much more than that, it is related to his self-confidence. Tracy used to be a player of exceptional athletic ability. He used to be so full of self-confidence on the court, and he always thought he was the most outstanding player on the court. But now as he was sort of restricted in his body, then some doubts started in his mind, and he started to doubt about himself. As a result, he became not that comfortable on the court, and it also impacted that he was not confident about himself. What we are actually working on right now is to help him to enhance his body endurance, while simultaneously enhancing the sustainability of his knees, simulating all kind of possible situation/scenarios that his knees might face during competition. What we mainly do now is to ask him to run cross-court laps continuously; we also ask him to hop on single leg, to hop on the stairs, to run…..we are adding intensity to all these exercises to let him feel comfortable about his knees. Sohu Sports: Well through all these training, what effects you wish to attain? David Macha: The problem we had before was he felt uncomfortable in his knee. When he made certain move on the court or made lateral movement, he felt uncomfortable on his knee; that in turn affected him psychologically and affected his ability to play his 100%. What we are working diligently right now is not to let such things happen; we designed a lot of controlled drills and exercises to let his knee to withstand different pressure and force. What we want to achieve is that whenever he wants to do a certain movement on court, he just goes ahead to do it subconsciously without having to worry about this or that. Sohu Sports: Personally do you think he can recover and return as the McGrady we were so familiar with? David Macha: Tracy is now very focused and works on his body training. Personally think he is now in his 11th year of his profession. He should be very clear about what he should do. He is not too much worried about what others said and he also craves to prove that he has not lost any of his abilities. I think it will be an interesting subject matter to watch how he will perform upon his return. All we hope to see is that he will be more dedicated and focused and still has that explosive power of the past. I also think he will become more confident on court. Well a confident Tracy McGrady will still be (a player that no opponents can take lightly and) a force to be reckoned with. Sohu Sports: How is his shoulder doing? Is there any impact to his weight-lifting and strength training? David Macha: Well when we started, what Tracy was doing were actually things that he would normally do during the summer. The surgery on his shoulder and knee did restrict him in weightlifting, and he had not worked on things that he used to work on for the past 11 years. Therefore it had affected his performance. However, in the past week, we had been working on these unceasingly; he had not bumped into any kind of relapses; he also did not have any setback; he was feeling fine; he did not feel pain or soreness in his shoulder. We were adding weights to his weight-lifting, and he sustained those added weights….so the progress was good. Sohu Sports: Do you think 2 weeks is sufficient? David Macha: I think (if he wants), he can return in another week. Sohu Sports: But according to Keith (Houston Rockets physician/trainer, Keith Jones), this cycle will probably take three weeks? David Macha: Maybe, if we encounter some relapses in this process. You certainly don’t want to be so certain to say, he will definitely return in two weeks or 14 days, because you cannot foresee or predict what will happen in the future; there will still be situation where there will be relapses. However, as to our present progress, everything seems good; there were no set back; everything went smooth; he is also gradually enhancing; he had been doing fine for the past week. Moreover, he was very motivated and took initiative, and was full of energy.
Again I will say, it's a business. Plain and simple. Players will do their best to get the best contracts they can, make the most money. Organizations will do their best to pull crowd into their arenas, and so forth. T-Mac is smart, and so is the Rockets organization. Just sit back, have a coffee, and watch.
Everytime this question is asked, the same responses come out and the same points are argued. I think he will be resigned because of the lack of options. Now if they could move Battier this year and open up another salary, thats different. Personally, i think they should just start over like the blazers, jazz,and magic did and just draft well. Unfortunately, Les loves Tracy and it will take a convincing effort bigger than the one more did in trading for shane to make less forget about Tracy. The problem with any scenerio we can lay out is Kobe is still great and the team will still be really good 3 yrs from now. The blazers are a young team that will be very good 3 yrs from now. The Jazz are still a young enough team that will also still be really good 3 yrs from now. The Mavs and Dirk will still be really good 3 yrs from now. All of the contenders now will be contenders 3 yrs from now in the west. Also, its not the easiest thing to do playing with Yao. Thats something Tracy does well and doesnt mind, but i doubt alot of other guys would defer to yao and wait for him especially when they would consider themselves a better player.
Pretty sure he was monitored in Chicago........ You act as if McGrady disappeared from the face of the Earth once he stepped foot off Rocket ground. He was obviously not monitored every single second, but the organization had a good idea of his whereabouts. Isn't it more effective to let this ambiguous situation solve itself instead of throwing wild speculations so early? The speculations are about as accurate as our attempts on guessing how much Ariza will contribute this year.
