You guys are missing it.....Hakeem took 11 years and needed Rudy T to get him to completely trust his teamates. Trust does not mean passing to them early, it means passing to them late as well, with the game in doubt, and not just as a last resort, but because you trust THEM to make the proper decision as much as you trust yourself. If Tmac can get there, and the team get there too, because right now, I think that is the problem a lack of trust.... They can go from there. DD
If there a good time for building team chemistry it'd be the stretch starting against Miami. Then again it's opportunistic to work in 2 weeks rest now when they virtually have a week off due to schedule.
Team effort dude. I was at win number 22 and he played very poorly with Kobe draped all over him. So just so you know, those wins were the result of the entire team playing well.
Exactly....Tmac came back and the TEAM was rolling and he joined in...let's hope it happens again. DD
T-Mac trusts his teammates 100% imo. The problem now is that he is not himself , he is very frustrated with the way he plays and doesn't respond well to his own poor play , and because we have better players less goes through him when he does play and it's harder for him to get in rythm to get his own offense. Him getting healthy and getting back to what he was last year or hoepfully 06/07 will solve most of oour problems and his problems.
This team hasn't won, period. They've never gotten past the first round, period. Those are the facts. The "if's" come in when you say "if the team can get healthy", "if the team can bond", etc. The only constant I see held over from last season is wildly inconsistent play. No more Philadelphias? The Rockets have had a couple this year already. Players are calling other players out in the media. The coach and management have had to haul McGrady into an office to tell him to get his act together. It's not working.
But you have to give him a lot of credit also , without the attention he drew the other won't be able to play so well , the fact that Alston was hot in that period helped too.
Agree, at least for the most part. It wasn't a complete "flip the switch" thing. Jordan had to go through the same process. Steve never did integrate that idea. Tracy, in his defense, did have bad habits ingrained on him during his time in Orlando. He was saddled with hapless teammates and that became all he knew. Who was he supposed to trust? Aside from a 4-month span, that was essentially his life here (minus Yao, notably) under JVG as well. He's so used to the game being "Me and the JV squad," we could be underestimating how big a transition he's had to undergo with the emergence/addition of Scola, Brooks, and Artest. Evan
That is it exactly, he has never played on a team that had as much talent up and down the roster as this one...so late in the game when the ball is in Brooks hands, he doesn't know what to do, it has always been in his hands. He just has to trust the team, and the system, and he will be fine. DD
Of course...100% correct....that is why Morey and Adelman told him that playing while he gets healthy is helping the team. The TEAM is much better with a healthy motivated Tmac.... DD
Agree. I hope T-mac can get it together. T-Mac is not a bad guy even though he deserves a lot of criticism for being weak mentally he is not a bad guy. If he can get it together , a lot of this team problem will be solved.
i really hope t-mac sticks to this timetable. i don't want to see him play when he's not even 100% healthy. that would be pointless. if he sticks to the timetable, then maybe at least he doesnt have to miss more games in the future. it's gonna be tough with ron and t-mac out but i really hope wafer, brooks step up because they have been impressing me lately esp. wafer...GO ROCKETS!!
DD, finally Adelman and the management put there foot down and forced T-Mac and Artest into only coming back when completely healthy. Its about time. We all must enjoy watching T-Mac now as a rocket once he comes back to finish out the season, I don't believe he will be a rocket next season. Can't see management running the risk of going through this whole thing again.
If that's the case then these first round failures will be the closest thing we get to a championship for the next decade. Your kidding yourself if you honestly believe that we'll land Wade or Lebron in 2010. Why would they want to play with Yao given his own health issues. Artest will leave, and Yao may even opt out if we lose McGrady now. You can say I'm wrong, but that's how it will play out. Not only that, but we'd be sacrificing this season, which is our greatest chance to actually win a ring in forever.. So ya we could do as you say, prematurely assume it's not working and over with and scrap everything now, OR we could get healthy, or at least as healthy as possible and try proving the world wrong while winning a championship and at the same time forging bonds that can last a lifetime. I prefer to go with the latter of the two.
I just don't see any realistic way the Rockets can win a championship this year. I think it's a pipe dream to think that the Rockets can get past the Lakers, Celtics or Cavs--teams which are equally talented but don't have players sniping at each other in the media. Given the disarray the team's in now my approach is simple. The Rockets are not winning everything this year. Trade T-Mac, grab some decent if not great pieces and try to get the Rockets playing Adelman's system. Supposedly it takes a year to learn and the Rockets haven't made any progress since last season. Get the remaining Rockets playing as a team. Try and drive deep into the playoffs and get the remaining Rockets as much post-season experience as possible. A couple of years down the line the Rockets can make a push. But winning a championship this season is just a fantasy. Hanging onto T-Mac with that goal in mind is just crazy. I understand that we're all fans here, but a little cold blooded practicality goes a long way.
Tracy and the fans seem to be in one of those abusive relationships, where despite the repeated bad behavior, we make excuses for him and keep deluding ourselves to believe that he'll change and it'll all be good one day.
Trade T-Mac for what exactly? Who are these great pieces we could get back? Marbury? That's a joke, and Rafer ripped this guy in the press the other day.. Marion? Sorry, we are loaded at the 3/4 and have no need for an equally aging lesser talent that already tore Phoenix apart. People hate Tracy and Ron's shooting, well just wait until you see Marion. Brad Miller and John Salmons then? Miller who is so old and injured more than McGrady. Sounds grea. We'll replace our star 2 guard with a backup center on the verge of retirement. You wanted cold blooded practicality, well here it is. There is no trade, especially now with T-Mac's value being so low, that could greatly benefit the Rockets this season. None. Feel free logging as many hours as you want putting various trade scenarious through the trade checker, but they will be unrealistic aka a pipe dream. It takes two seasons to hone Adelman's offense by the way. All his former players attest to as much. Did you just mention a drive deep into the playoffs with this team missing McGrady? Who are we going to beat exactly? I can't think of a team off the top of my head that is going to lay down for us, and without that we are making no such drive. We will be trounced in the first round all over again. This team, without McGrady, refuses to give the ball to Yao for long stretches. Ron Artest has already shown that he's going to do his own thing when the wheels fall off. We are going nowhere without T-Mac and that is the reality of the situation, and we are especially not going deep into the playoffs without him. That's just comical.
