First and foremost let me say that I think Tracy Mcgrady is one of the greatest players to ever play this game. His blend of talent, creativity and skill on offense is truly unique and when he is healthy, he is impossible to stop. The fact that he hasn't achieved post season success is really a testament to how tough this league is now and how bad the teams he has played on have been. In both his series losses with Houston, Mcgrady played his butt off and just came up short against two very good teams..... There really are no excuses for Mcgrady this year. He's playing in an offense that makes it easier on him than ever. All 5 men on the court are involved, and the spacing is something you never saw in the Van Gundy era. Yao Ming is healthy and really dominating the paint. The defense is still solid. We have multiple options at almost every position and our bench is loaded with guys who can score the basketball. The only thing we have lacked so far this season is strong play from Tracy Mcgrady....Aside from the first couple of weeks of the season, Mcgrady's play has been below par. Right up to his knee injury, he was making poor decisions with the basketball and he really shot poorly. We held up pretty well without him in the lineup, but these last two games have proven that we do need him on the court to close out games. Yao is a great player, but he is limited by the fact that he needs others to get him the ball in certain spots. The bottom line is that Yao can't take over games down the stretch the way Mcgrady does. At first I found it hard to fault Mcgrady for the last two losses with him not being on the floor, but then I heard Mcgrady say in a recent interview that he was not out there basically because he was "out of shape". This comment really rubbed me the wrong way. We have guys like 320 pound Yao on the team who aren't nearly as athletically gifted as Tracy is, and you see him working hard just to get himself up and down the floor night in and night out. He takes a beating, plays 40 mins a night and never complains. We have guys like Bonzi battling through injuries probably more significant than Mcgrady's and we have rookies like Scola, Brooks, and Landry fighting to earn the respect of the coaches given very limited minutes. And then there's Mcgrady, Mr. 20 million dollar man, watching his team mates fight hard and still come up short because he's "still in a little pain and out of shape"? And this is the leader of our franchise? Tracy, If you had any balls at all you would have been on the floor for the Hornets game on Sunday. You have had more than enough time to rehab your strained tendon. Yao came back from microfractures and broken bones in less than 3 months. You know why? Because he has balls, and he cares about this team and about winning. Tracy, this is your chance to prove to all of us Rockets fans that you indeed care about winning too. I have always believed in you deep down even when everyone criticized you. I never questioned your toughness until this season. If you don't come back Saturday night with a vegence and lead this team to a respectable season, you will fall out of favor with most rockets fans and your career here which has really never even gotten off the ground will be in serious jeopardy. Tracy Mcgrady. It's time. The real season starts this weekend, and I'm going to keep track of this team's record from this point forward. I truly believe that this stretch from here until the end of the season could either be the begining or the end of the Ming-Mac dynasty in Houston.
Great post, i felt exactly the same way after seeing his latest interview where he went on and on about how the doctors may have cleared him to play but he still didn't feel like he was in shape and he still felt a little pain, etc. Shocked me knowing that our season is hanging in the balance and each game now is arguably the one that will determine our season. The flip side to this is of course he may have thought we could handle philly and no w/out him and he would be bk strong for sa when he was really needed. Regardless, I have always defended him and repeatedly given him the benefit of the doubt but at this point he really needs to singlehandedly salvage our season to have any hopes of regaining fan favor in houston. Yao for all his shortcomings can never ever be faulted for not caring or giving his 100%. There is simply no debate or even room for debate with yao. With tmac, regardless of whether its true or not there always seems to be something that makes fans and media question his committment to winning. It should not be like that with your franchise player.
i agree with both of yall and i hope he does play this weekend and play with a vengeance! <== thats how he should look from tip off till the last buzzer
That would be nice. Honestly he just needs to come back and be a leader. He needs to be the one who sets the tone and finishes the games. Slashing and scoring is one way he can do that, but he's paid to be a leader. Any true superstar/team leader who plays the guard position would have this team competing at the elite level.
If you look at his career numbers he is easily in the top 30 all time....His scoring averages are up there with the greats, he assists, he's a good rebounder, and he was a pretty good defender early in his career. His lack of post season success is the only thing holding him back
whether or not we make the playoff, imo, it all depends on how tracy comes back. tracy's face = or then we're screwed tracy's face = we might have a chance.
How can player that HURT his knee badly play? I mean what do you expect from 20% or less McGrady? To carry out team for a W? No it's not McGrady, it's not Yao, coach, offense wrong with this team. It's something else. And yeah can somebody please put somewhere trade T-Mac? Where are you now after two HOME losses?
unfortunantly my friend tracy's face seems to be most of the time especially during one of his "heat checks" and when we lose, it's usually a or a , you will never see t-mac with a face...
im quite sick of those dudes not allowed to smile at a game now? how do you know his not unhappy or angry? People obvioulsy have short memories when the guy is pissed. QUIT BAGGING HIS FACIAL EXPRESSIONS IT SAYS EXACTLY ZIP ALL
The bottom line is he's going to get this sort of criticism until he proves that he can bring toughness and competivness EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, for 4 QUARTERS....Right now, we just know Mcgrady as a guy that brings it when he wants to or he shows up for the game and when things look bleek he quits and says he's in too much pain....Mcgrady has to lead the league in games left at half time.
It is on Mcgrady, dude....As the highest paid player on the team, he's supposed to be the leader, and when your leader is as undependable as Mcgrady, your team is going to fail. Do you think that when Yao came back early last season he was even close to 100 percent? Hell no. He just knew that his team needed him ASAP and Yao fought through the pain and the fatigue that comes with working your way back. He did it because he's a team first guy, a leader and a winner.....Tracy hasn't shown me that yet.
LOL ... McGrady still manages to get the blame for the loss even when he's not playing. Terrific. I agree, McGrady should come back early and lead the team. And then, he should play like he's not injured. Of course, if he consequentially reaggravates the injury, it's still his fault. Oh, and if he plays and we still lose because he's not 100%, that's his fault too. Of course, if he dominates and we lose, it goes without saying that this is also his fault. After all, he has to get other players involved. Oh, and he plays passively and we lose, you have to blame him then also, right?
This year, I am actually happier with several drafted players. Rick also brings me a new hope worth expecting. Scolar, first, stepped onto the court and shined. Then AB... and then Carl. AB and Carl are not only fresh and shining, but also young and energetic which favors us to rebuild the Rockets in future. I dont have much love left for T-mac. But I still like RA, Yao, AB, Carl, Scola. Nothing more to say to T-mac cause it's been said too much and nothing has changed or is changing. He will be back and he will show us how well and quick he is fitting in. He hasnt played much with AB and Scola. I am wondering how the adjustment of the time on the court will be when T-mac comes back.
There comes a point when you evaluate a player not just on the court but overall... When I look at Mcgrady over the last 3 years, I see a guy who is unreliable. When your best player is unreliable(whether it be because of his play or because of injury), you need a new best player. Period
Ok, let Yao be that "new best player", and we'll just accept T-Mac as the secondary player. Or do you not think that Yao is capable of being an effective "best player"?
All you YOFs who never played basketball in their life, need to realize that its not easy to attack the basket ALL the time when you have a 7 6' 320 lbs standing in the paint. If TMac attacks the basket all the time what is Yao supposed to do in the paint? Until Yao plays more at the elbow like Adelman's Divac (which is a waste of Yao's talent), there is not much room for a slasher to operate in the paint.
One thing which you are missing. Tracy will no longer be the leader of the team. The game plan goes through Yao!
I think that in this league, you need a superstar back court player like Mcgrady to win. The rules have strongly changed to benefit the perimeter players in this league, and having just one dominant center is not how you win.... Mcgrady is always labeled a top 5 perimeter player in this league....Better than the Ginobilli's and the Parkers of the world. He's ranked higher than the Josh Howards and the Ray Allen's of the league. Yet these guys are playing and making huge impacts for their team while Mcgrady slowly rehabs from another minor injury while the team suffers without him. I'm saying that Mcgrady is paid elite level money and not contributing nearly enough to the team at this point. Put Baron Davis on this team and we would be up there with the great teams in this league.
