Nov. 17, 2006, 11:21PM McGrady gets a good laugh out of baseball report By FRAN BLINEBURY AND JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Rockets guard Tracy McGrady laughed off a report Thursday on TNT that he said he planned to retire at the end of his contract to play baseball. "I said I'm playing baseball at the end of my career," McGrady, 27, said. "I guess he took that as at the end of this contract, that was going to be it. Who knows? "What is it, four or five years from now? Who knows? I'm not disputing that I said who knows. But I didn't say I'm done after this contract. I don't know how I'm going to feel four years from now." McGrady said he was not sure how much time was left on his contract. He is signed through the 2009-10 season. Asked if he would take the call if the Astros called, he laughed and said he would pick up the phone. Disputed follow When Yao Ming missed a 5-footer in the lane in the fourth quarter Thursday night, Scott Padgett and Kirk Snyder crashed the boards for the follow. Snyder was given credit for a tip-in even though many courtside observers thought Padgett got there first. "Hey, if Kirk hadn't knocked me out of the way, I was going to dunk that sucker," Padgett said. When the message was relayed to Snyder, he looked up and grinned broadly. "C'mon, you know Scott can't jump that high," he said. Differing views Don't Worry, Be Happy, might have been a hit song for Bobby McFerrin, but it doesn't describe the Rockets' mood. "I'm not happy at all, because I know that this has been an ongoing process," Tracy McGrady said. "You have to be happy about the wins, but the overall picture moving forward is not good." Scott Padgett preferred to take the broader view of the Rockets' week. "I think it shows the potential we have as far as we have been getting victories on teams," he said. Champions week Tonight will close out a week in which the Rockets will have faced the last three champions — Miami (2006) on Sunday, San Antonio (2005) on Monday and Detroit (2004).
I thought he already made it clear this was going to be his last contract. It would be nice to see him play baseball for the Astros, but I don't think it's going to work.
no he didnt make anything clear. in fact he siad after his contract is up there is huge question mark for him
it's nice to hear that it's not his last contract.. I got really mad when TNT said it.. btw, say no to baseball tmac... it's not your sport.. MJ left basketball to baseball and sucked so bad... stick to your game..
But he can prolong his career in baseball...heck, he could play until he's fifty, and might even balk up and win the single-season homerun record.
Mcgrady stuck his foot in his mouth. now everyone is questioning his heart and whether hes just playing to play out his contract and retire. me included
I wouldn't be concerned about TMac leaving basketball for the diamond. Nobody has posted anything about him having a serious gambling problem, as far as I can recall.
Read this interesting article on tom.com from Wang Meng of Titan Sports who is based in Houston. Obviously, Yao Ming was sort of upset on hearing TMAC's plan to retire. He even teased TMAC for it.
Hell, from the attitude McGrady projects half the time, I wonder whether he'll retire BEFORE his contract runs out. I'm not saying the guy isn't fantastic, when he's on. I'm just saying, Jordan left to play baseball for a while, and I never saw Jordan look half as disinterested on the court as McGrady often looks. If you wonder why one guy has rings and the other doesn't yet, there's one answer.
Perhaps McGrady needed more of the doubts and hurdles that Jordan had. Everyone knows tha famous "Even Jordan didn't make his high school team when he first tried out" that all basketball coaches now say during their tryouts. Jordan also wasn't expected to be that great at NC and then in the NBA. McGrady has been "the next big thing" since he was, what, 14? Additionally, he developed faster than Jordan so everything was easy for him until his rookie year in Toronto. After a few season there he was an all-around dynamo. Then he goes to Orlando, it all clicked again, and everything was easy. I am just guessing, but there might be something to it. Right now I think he thinks he is a lot worse than he is and that is his major issue now. If he can suck it up and get over it, realize that he is healthy, all will be well. I can't remember who said it but I agree that he probably needs a bit of a kick in the ass.
t-mac definitely needs to shut his mouth and f'n man up yao sounded pretty pissed off, throwing the whole guilt trip onto mac hope t-mac wises up and then finally steps up
If its his dream to play professional baseball, then why doesn't he give a serious attempt at that now instead of way later? There would be some schedule conflicts between the sports (baseball postseaon overlaps beginning of basketball regular season; basketball postseason way overlaps parts of baseball reg season). At least get some rookie/single A ball in to see where he's at. He didnt have much problem playing softball in the offseason after back surgery, so why not.
This statement is not helping to build a team chemistry. Look at Yao's reaction on a different thread. I wouldn't blame Yao for teasing Tmac, I'm sure it's not a good thing for the team that Tmac said. Then here comes Shane saying that he'd like to end his career with the Pistons. Chemistry is dying here.
This seriously pissed me off! What the hell is going on here? Tmac wants to play softball despite he get paid like 22 M a year by us, Shane wants to play for Piston, Bonzi just wants to get out of H-Town next season. What kind of hope we have here? Looks like the only loser who wants to play for us is Yao and a bunch of rookies.
Wow...people make a lot out of a mentioning of desires for the future. Did T-Mac say "I'm quitting now to play baseball..." or Battier say "I'm going to try to break my contract and sign with the Pistons?" Weren't we the ones who were so happy when Cassell said he would like to end his career as a Rocket? What is the difference? As long as these players play as hard as they can as a Rocket, I don't care what they want to do when they finish their contract. The contract does not entail any sort of obligation after the end of it. Besides, for T-Mac, this basically means he likes Houston enough to want to end his basketball career as a Rocket. Calm down, folks.
