Tigermission, I have been on this BBS quite a bit lately. I have read a lot of posts including yours and I must say your posts are well-thought out and informative. I have not read a post from you that I disagree with. I wish more people would post in the same manner you do. I usually don't read the name of the poster, but when I see a post that I really like I check out the name of the person who wrote it. I am a T-Mac fan so I would welcome any praise about him, but I am fairly inbiased and I agree with what you said. People get information in soundbites these days. So all Kornheiser wishes to remember about T-Mac, is what Tracy said during the the Pistons series. These writers can't possibly monitor every player and every team in the league. So they base their opinions on hearsay, stats, quick judments etc I got really pissed off when Kornheiser said that T-Mac is selfish. I would not get riled up if it was said by somebody who has watched the rockets play. However, if you talk out of your azz, that's not ethical journalism. You affect somebody's reputation unfairly. In Orlando, T-Mac was not selfish. Was Jordan selfish by taking most of the shots? Why isn't Lebron being called selfish for turning from a distributing guard into a scoring guard and his team losing? T-Mac is the most friendly and unselfish guy. JVG has actually praised T-Mac on several occasions for being unselfish. Here's a JVG quote: (on the play of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming ) "They put up a lot of points. He's (Tracy McGrady) a very unselfish player. He really likes to pass, which is nice and the same with Yao (Ming). Yao likes to pass the ball, too, so when your two best players are unselfish, it should permeate your whole team. Some of the things he (Tracy McGrady) does, not the wraparound one (pass to Jim Jackson in the corner), that doesn't excite me, but just like the last play to Yao, to draw the defender, drop it off, those plays look easier than they really are. He likes to make them which is nice.
What's not to like about T-Mac?? a) He plays his azz off! b) Doesn't talk smack! c) Doesn't get in trouble off the court *feel free to add to list
haven, you're looking too hard. no superstar, especially an elite scorer is going to be perfectly selective every time down. every superstar MUST be a little selfish. we need mcgrady to be agressive and as important as it is for him to involve everyone it's just as important that he takes the scoring load on his back. he's done a fabulous job of balancing both.
One thing I've realized over the years is that the greatest players have one dimension that very good players (like, to be honest, Francis) do not: they really do, despite the fact it's a cliche, make their teammates better. Obviously, we all know what Hakeem did for this franchise. But the one thing I didn't know until I saw them every day is what unbelievable passers Drexler and Barkley were. They understood the game and got the ball to their teammates where and when they were supposed to. And again, as someone pointed out earlier, it's clear that TMac is that type of player. He truly makes everyone else better and is a great passer. If you watch his body of work, you know he's not selfish...he's GREAT. Straight-up amazing. No matter what his problems were in Orlando last year, TMac makes everyone on the Rockets better. He gets the ball to Yao better than anyone else, penetrates and kicks to the 3-point shooters, and when he's on, there is no one on the league who can score like him (maybe because he can shoot out to 26 feet). His defense this year has been much, much better than advertised, as well. If we don't get out of the first round, it's because Dallas is more talented (they are, on paper). It's not because of some character flaw in TMac. He is a great player in every sense of the word.
His range is more than 26 feet. He makes 30 footers like free throws. Check him out during pregame warmups. He warms up by shooting really long jumpers. Oh, I forgot: Nobody is at the Toyota Center to see the warmups
Geez, will you get over it. Yeah I heard that you think the Houston crowd sucks, and wish it was more like Sacto or Seattle. But these harping cheap shots are getting so tired.
Tigermission: Explain a single (rational), non-selfish reason for taking bad, off-balance, long-range, defended jump shots with plenty of time on the shot clock. I think there are players who have some degree of selfish behavior, and others who are flat-out liabilities because of their selfishness. McGrady is of the former category. It's not going to drag down a team, but if he'd taken fewer bad shots with plenty of time remaining on the clock, his shooting % would be higher and we'd score more points.
I guarantee you his FG% will be above 45% next year, mark my words! The thing about those off-balance shots, they just LOOK that way, but they are not off-balance to him. He has amazing grace and athletic ability, and balance, that enables him to consistently make those shots. Remember that Spurs game? Remember all those shots he took after getting bumped and fouled and still made them + 1? He JUST has that balance, they are not BAD shots to him, they might be bad shots to Padgett, but not McGrady. He just has an amazing level of body-control that no other player in the league has. He can make those difficult, weird-looking, "bad looking" shots. I understand your point, and of course like any other player, McGrady can make a bad decision and pull up for an ill-advised shot. However, he does MUCH, MUCH less than your average star, he makes less mental mistakes in games than any player of his caliber/position in the league today, his b-ball IQ is amazingly high (something that I was continuelly frustrated with when we had Francis here). No player is "perfect", but I will tell you this: McGrady comes closer to it than most people. His overall decision-making is something I continue to be amazed by (the guy is only 25 yrs old), he rarely makes a mistake or does something that costs his team the game. I think even if you are questioning some of the things McGrady does, you should think back to whom he replaced and what we had to give up to get him: Steve Francis (I luv Stevie, but in terms of pure basketball terms, he ain't even in the same league). McGrady MUST take shots for the Rockets to be successful, we didn't get him to be Jason Kidd. We got him because he can do everything pretty well, he is a complete package, and multi-dimensional player that can switch from an offensive assassin to a great playmaker and a great passer position-to-position. In evaluating any player, you take the good with the bad, you evaluate the positives and negatives, and in case of McGrady, a handful (may be 2 or 3) players in the league even compare in terms of balance (the whole package if you will). Again, I respect your opinion, but I COMPLETELY disagree with you on this. McGrady takes shots when he is defended because he is NEVER left open! Who in their right minds would leave the guy open to take jumpers? In fact, rarely do I see McGrady having less than two guys on him at all times. But if he defered everytime he was "defended", then the Rockets would be the team that you saw the first month-and-a-half of the season. McGrady MUST be the player he is now for us to be successful, we have had an amazing season after the struggle we had earlier in the year. I just don't see where your argument is coming from, if McGrady takes "bad" shots all the time, I would see more validity to your concerns. But he rarely makes those mistakes, and I frankly don't see any validity to your argument.
I read somewhere that teammates and coaches and everyone else of Larry Bird excelled and played their best when they played with Larry Bird because he was so good..so everyone raised up... I think Tmac is the same. They all play better with Tmac. Losing is contagious? So Orlando maybe different story. But now with the Rockets..everyone is playing their best!
