The orginization just wants to be careful on bringing him back too early given the fiasco that went down last year. Anything after that is a conspiracy and a sorry attempt to bring up a argument that is non existant.
Maybe, maybe not....depends entirely on how well he plays, or when he plays, or how he fits into the team. Lots riding on the line here for Tmac...and little to gain for the Rockets by playing him. Thus, the poker game. DD
Really? Let's look at this as a business for a minute. What do the Rockets gain by Tmac coming back and playing well? A higher draft pick? - No A cheaper contract for Tmac? - No A contending team this year? - No Letting insurance pay his contract? - Yes I mean the Rockets have literally ZERO motivation to play him, they have leverage until the trade deadline then it switches to Tracy and whether he wants to percipitate a sign and trade. I honestly believe the Rockets are playing poker with Tracy, they know he has a lot to prove, but they also know that in order to prove it he is going to want to get his "touches" and that is not beneficial to the guys developing on this team. Brooks, Ariza, Landry, Scola, Budinger..... And the Rockets also know that Tracy can flat out walk after this year and there is nothing they can do about it.....he gets complete control after the trade deadline. As an organization they have NOTHING to gain but a few more wins with Tmac playing this year.....NOTHING...... It is better for the team, if he sits, the insurance pays him, young guys develop, and his value is driven through the basement. That is how it looks to me from a business perspective. DD
I have no idea what point I just proved. All I can see right now is a McGrady who believes he is ready, but the organization feels differently. Somehow you managed to get something completely different out of this simple concept of "see what sophisticated medical technologies have to say, not what a high school educated basketball player believes in" You complain about people jumping to conclusions, but aren't you doing the very same thing right now?
This is all very depressing, because I think when McGrady comes back, he is going to kick some ass and be a pretty great player. And, I think he's worth a lot more to us than what we could get for him in trade (or contract expiry). I want him to come back, save this season, sign an extension, and win a championship with Yao next season. But, this start-date drama is showing a lot of hostility from both camps. There is certainly no way he's back next season, given McGrady's and Morey's attitudes. And, I wouldn't be surprised if he never played a game for us this season either. The team will be worse off for it. We may miss the playoffs this year without him (and certainly will not advance if we do make it). And, we won't be able to reload and compete for a championship next year either.
You said that I had insulted people, when in fact, I had said my history with Tmac ....... There is a difference there....a big one.... DD
Disagree. Nothing he will do on the court this year will be worth 23 million dollars. Any team trading for him will be doing it for financial reasons. Therefore him playing or not won't have a lot of bearing on his trade value. My opinion. Conclusion - trade or Marbury treatment.
It's purely a mental preparation test for T-Mac! They've given him 11/23, T-Mac wants 11/18, just by that you know T-Mac is still aint mentally prepared...And stop speculating on major trades with T-Mac involved, it will not happen simply because there are no good offers on the table...you just have to analyze things deeper...work out T-Mac (one player) on the roster for chemistry or work out 2 or 3 new players on the roster? If you all think that T-Mac will just ruin the chemistry then try thinking about 2 or 3 new players fitting in the team fighting for playing time. Let's just talk about how will T-Mac's game be like when he returns, like projecting the potentials of a rookie in a draft: Upside: Magic Johnson / Scottie Pippen / Grant Hill "Point-Forward", Brooks still aint ready to be the quarterback of this team, it aint Ariza nor Lowry either. A 100% T-Mac will not get him back to his old self(And I wish that he doesn't), rather a matured T-Mac will get him to be the playmaker and the 4th quarter finisher. Just like what Magic Johnson did with LA, "Showtime Rockets" now how does that sound? Downside: Steve Francis / Allen Iverson / Stephon Marbury "Egocentric-Guards", If T-Mac returned to his old self then his EGO will just get in the way and eventually will get him benched all season untill he asks to be traded but the team can't because they will not exchange him for nothing. As a Rockets fan...I'll go for the "SHOWTIME ROCKETS"
I just think this is all a smokescreen made up by Morey and Adelman. I would be surprised at all if he plays tomorrow in Atlanta or maybe this weekend here at home against the Kings.
You said. There is indeed a big difference............. in what you just said and what you said in this quote. You labeled people who disagreed with you, and you automatically assumed we assumed anything of you. For the record I haven't assumed anything of you yet, I just questioned what you stated before and after. I see contradictions, so I ask.
well... it was one of the first comments look dodo, i know this is going to be a real shock to you, but i didn't read all your other crap you are 'trying' to say after i see a completely stupid comment like the one i first referenced was made. Hell, i typically get about 2 sentences in before i completely lose interest in whatever silly (and usually wrong) point you are trying to make. Now maybe i missed some joke, in which case...fine. Or maybe this is just another case of you being ridiculously wrong, again, and not having the balls to own up to it....again. No THAT'S funny! :grin:
we dont know that he already doesnt do that (though history would say he wouldn't but he seems to have trained harder after this surgery than I have ever seen him) I think McGrady is as ready as he can be without playing a actual NBA game there a few factors of course: a)this team has changed its style he needs to have a few practices with the team to learn the offense better and more importantly allow the coaches to feel where he would fit, where his minutes would come from if they feel he is ready to play. There hasnt been too many full practices to start the season as the team has been on and off the road and has had a few back to backs already. b)the rockets impressive 7-5 start. "if its aint broke dont fix it" now I am not saying the rockets are perfect but the rockets are playing better than anyone thought tossing McGrady back in would not be a smart coaching move. If the Rockets were 4-8 or something I think the club would be more willing to allow tracy back on the court. Right now there is just too much good press about the Rockets right now. c)I am going to guess that there is some sort of insurance relief that the team must get if he doesnt play the first 15 games of the season. The Dallas game on the 25th would be the 15th game. I am sure even after the MRI on the 23rd chances are he probably wont play against Dallas on the 25th either. I am sure the team knew he wouldnt be ready at the start of the season and figured they should at least get some benefit from his sitting in street clothes. --Tracy is upset because nothing changes on his end, he still get paid (maybe this one check wont have Les' signature thats all)but for a guy who hasnt played ball in so long and wants to get out on the court and help re-construct his image for the upcoming FA market I can understand his desire to get back on the court and go through these little antics. Tracy probably hopes that he can force the Rockets hand to get him to play. Lets play "hypothetical" for a minute here. If insurance will cover a players salary in 15 game chunks if he doesnt start the season then Tracy not playing the first 15 games should roughly equate to slightly more than 4 million dollars. Thats what Les would save personally. Consider this past off season where Les paid 6 million for three second round draft picks, one of which is overseas playing (who knows when "doing it for the llullz" will come over). This sounds like more of a classic Morey move. Then that 6 million Les spent becomes more like 2 million for 3 draft picks which is a huge bargain. Had Tmac not been ready for the start of the season but lets say he was last week versus the Grizzlies there would have been no relief for Les, he would have had to pay that 4 million to Tmac anyway. I am sure Morey convinced Les that "hey he wont be ready to start the season, if we sit him out an extra X number of games it will save you 4 million that we can use to get assets" I am sure if somehow McGrady made it back onto the court playing before the Mavs game Les would be absolutely furious at losing that insurance money. I am sure the team has already told McGrady something of this nature and he probably isnt happy about it, there is a lot for him to go out there and prove but he has to sit while there are plenty of bad rumors about him that are circulating. I understand where Tracy is coming from when he says he is ready to play, the dressing up in warmups etc.. My concern is not that he isnt ready but all this back and forth from management and him doesnt effect the team on the court with the extra media "frenzy"
you make that sound like i'm hating on t-mac like dd regularly does. in fact, i'm probably one of t-mac's greatest supporters on this board. i don't get all the hate. i don't get how he gets blamed for everything. i don't get how people would trade him for eddy curry in a heartbeat. i don't get how people think he couldn't help this team. still, that doesn't change the fact that t-mac is either healthy by now or he won't be ever again. and btw i'm not practicing medicine or anything. i'm just a fan who has read a little bit about microfracture surgeries right after t-mac and his doctors decided that that's the direction he has to go. after i did that i was also one of the few here who said that t-mac would be back before the end of the year because his situation was pretty much the best case scenario for patients with microfracture surgeries (only small cartilage damage...non weight bearing part of the knee...best doctors available...millionaire who can focus just on his rehab and doesn't have to worry about anything else...can afford the best rehab methods available...and so on...). when you've seen t-mac's videos on skillzlab, his videos working out and shooting before games and when you hear what t-mac himself has to say about his situation you know he's as healthy as he could be. he could be playing right now (probably wouldn't be in best shape, though.). it's the rockets that don't want him to play. and that's it. this whole mri stuff is pointless. earlier mris already showed that the microfracture procedure was a success. earlier mris already showed that he could work out like he did in those skillzlab videos. earlier mris already showed that he could participate in practices. you can't do this stuff if you're not healthy. if there really were concerns with his knee he wouldn't have been able to do the stuff he's been doing. so, again, what do people expect that the new mri is gonna reveal? he obviously hasn't re-injured his knee so there's not much left other than it shows he's healthy. but it's not the mri that is miraculously made him healthy again. all this mri stuff is just the rockets' way of hiding the truth from the fans. the fans don't know much about microfracture surgeries so they have to believe what they've been told.
There was a time when the Rockets couldn't win a game without Hakeem doing it for them. Unfortunately he, like McGrady, doesn't fit into a rebuilding effort right now.
come on, guys. You can't hold off for a couple weeks? I'm sure we'll have some answers regarding his injury status in the near future.
If insurance is a factor, there is NO WAY, the organization would have told Tracy anything about it. That would be putting their insurance payment in severe jeapordy. DD
McGrady came back too early in prior seasons, so this is just making 100% sure that the injury is fully healed, while also letting him know that he is not in charge here. If McGrady comes back and puts up a lot of stats and the team isn't doing well, he is gone before the deadline... If he comes back and plays within the team concept, isn't disruptive and the team keeps doing well, he stays... If he comes back and doesn't play well and the team stinks, we are stuck with him unless someone wants the expiring and we can get some value for it... As far as the rotation, we have a 4 man big man rotation, no reason why we can't have a 4 man wing rotation. It also lessens the odds of players getting hurt and saves something for later in the season. If players are worried about their own personal minutes and stats, they should not be on this team in the first place.
