Well, his main beef is the Rox are soft and lazy. I hope they get rough and hard-nosed, too. But this is a finesse team. They should play to that, and still crack down, like the Bulls, not the Knicks, who were just dumb bruisers. Stupid people like the brusier game. Smart people combine strength with stillness, focus in mind and heart - Duncan, Jordan, Olajuwon. Not Malone, Ewing, Barkley. The unclean mind will choke.
I thought it was an interesting perspective. I have never read an in- deptha analysis of McGrady's weaknesses, so I though it was pretty interesting. Let's hope JVG can get T-Mac to play D.
We all know Tracy McGrady was a hard worker in Orlando. What an idiot. We've never heard these concerns before.
OK, this is what irks me about this BBS. Anytime a writer, a columnist, a sports anchor or ANYONE dares to express an opinion that's less than glowing about the Rockets organization or players, the vitriol sprews forth from this board with the force of a volcano. What this guy said about T-Mac is nothing new - in fact it's a common perception of McGrady around the league. Unless there are those of you who have been living in Siberia for the past 3 years, what he said should come as NO surprise. I hate to break it to you but there ARE flaws to T-Mac's game and his work ethic is LESS than stellar. There was a good deal of truth in what he wrote about McGrady's failings. And let's not forget that T-Mac quit on his team last year because they weren't winning and that's not what I nor anyone else here would expect from a true professional. Now there may exist good reasons for why this was so in the past but the important thing to focus on is what McGrady does from this point onward. He now plays for JVG which mean that he WILL play sound fundamental defense. He WILL be given the opportunity to demonstrate his work ethic. He WILL learn to play team basketball with Yao. All of you folks know this is going to happen so why not just sit back, relax and let articles such as these roll off your collective backs as does water on a duck's.
Don't you just hate it when those little sissy ass writers sitting in front of thier computers get paid to come up with this crap? I sure as hell do. What has this guy ever done on a basketball court? Has he ever played against a zone defense with no supporting cast and put up numbers like Mcgrady? Hell no he hasn't. He probably has never dunked on anyone other than a 2 year old on a kiddie plastic basketball goal. T-Mac is a hard core scoring machine who takes it upon himself to leave no one un posterized in the league. Get ready league because now he is sporting rockets red, playing with his old scoring mate Juwan Howard and getting backed up with the smarts of Jimmy Jackson and well of course the best center in the west Yao Ming. Idiot!
forreal Yao is [unfortunately] one of our ONLY solid Pickers I hate to see Mo T set a pick . . Rocket River
I agree! (I hope you weren't directly responding to my post when you wrote that.) I also hate it when people start using personal attackes ("Charlie Rosen is an idiot!") instead of trying to disprove his analysis.
T-Mac can't be a lazy guy because he turned from a skinny high school kid who couldn't shoot into a two time scoring champ before he hit his mid-twenties. If he didn't work on his game, he'd be Gerald Wallace.
I think that the key is the "unique combination" or chemistry of these players. It can "click" or not "click." The only way we will know is see it on the court. With JVG at the helm, I say it is going to work and work well. Ming, TMac, and Howard are definitely "under the microscope." They have much to prove. Now it is all about "flop" or "flourish." With a "servisable" PG, I say the Rocket is ready for take off. Let's take it to the court, and the word processors can stand by.
Don't care what anyone else thinks. 5 years of francis was enough. I would rather "start over" at the level that Yao and TMac will play at and fill in with tall and athletic pieces over the next few years than watch even one more game of dribble fest basketball. Good move for both franchises both get some renewed hope. People can predict all they want. Results are what counts. Let's see what the score is in a couple of years on this trade. Right now I bet most people take Tmac/Yao over Francis/Howard.
I actually agree with you on this point. I think both of these players may benifit from a change of scenery. I also think McGrady is a better fit for Yao. Not because I think McGrady is a better teamate, but because historically in the NBA, good shooting guards generally matchup well with good centers, and good point guards match up well with good power forwards. I never thought Francis was the best fit for Yao. I just thought people were overly critical of him. Secondly, I don't think Yao will ever be a franchise player. I just don't think he has the agressiveness, and I think McGrady is a better option for taking over games when everything else fails. If you had to rely on Francis to get you back in the game when Yao was having a bad night, you essentially had to take Yao out of the game because he got in Francis's way. You won't have that problem with McGrady being a better peremiter scorer. But lastly, about this article, I think its silly for Rockets fans to sit and ignore McGrady's past issues with other teams, coaches, and teamates. I wasn't a member of this web site when the Rockets acquired Francis, but I would have been one of the ones concerned about a player who whined his way off the team he was drafted by. And I know I defend Francis on a lot of subjects, but you will never see me defend Francis on his maturity level. Francis is still a whiner. That can't be ignored, just like McGrady has been a player who has at times seemed to not care. That can't be ignored also. This guy Charlie Rosen isn't a writer for Orlando. He is an observer of the entire league, so to think he has some beef with McGrady is absurd. The guys is just writing what most NBA have observed with McGrady in the past 3 years.
The problem is, it's all meaningless. It's conclusory. he doesn't indicate points at which McGrady was lazy. he doesn't give any evidence. he doesn't indicate how it's affected its team (other than saying it does). It's a "yes it's true, no it's not" argument. That's bad journalism.
Yeah McGrady is so lazy that he took a team with Darrell Armstrong,Mike miller,Bo Outlaw,Andrew declerq,Pat Garrity to the playoffs every season except last. How did that happen if he's so lazy. It baffles me when people who've only seen highlights and his posture to say he's lazy. tim Duncan has the same posture,but no one argues about that with him. McGrady is a better defender than most people think he is and also will compete at a high level. Even in the east, its hard to take the teams he had to the playoffs. Evereyone thinks the Rox need this enforcer type of guy, but who was the enforcer on SA when they won the title. Who was it with La except people just are scared of Shaq period. Get players who can p[lay and share the ball and you can have all those Cato type players.
That's why a change of scenary will benefit many players including Yao. Steve was the senior member and Franchise of Rox. He's also Yao's big brother. If Steve wanted to take over the game, Yao had to get out of his way. Hell Yao even had to defer to Cat many times. Unfortunately, last year Steve couldn't take over games as before. So we went to Yao many times and he delivered. Now with Steve traded Yao became a senior member of this team. He would be more assertive and comfortable to take over games with TMac.
because he took a few games off? This is so overrated it's a joke. Let's not start calling T-Mac a quitter just because he took off a couple of meaningless games. Orlando's fate had already been detrmined. This should not be a black eye to McGrady. Many NBA players have done this over the years when their team is out of the race. Heck, Francis and Mobley took the last week off of the 01-02 season. Blame Orlando's management for not providing T-Mac the neccessary parts to field a competitive team, a servicable center, and an adequate 3 man. At least T-Mac didn't miss any critical games because he wanted to go to the Super Bowl.
Bull****. McGrady's work ethic is not "less than stellar". Show me proof. Forgive him for not spending 3 months of sumemr in the gym after carrying his team via 30/6/6 for the entire season, playing through injuries, playing in All Star games, and playing 40 minutes per game. He's not Kobe in terms of work ethic, but he doesn't have a poor work ethic. There is no player in history who could average 30/6/6 on a poor work ethic. You have to be in damn good shape, and you have to work like a madman. You know what else? If Tracy can drop 30/6/6 on a poor work ethic, I could care less about it. As long as he brings his game. After all, his contract was signed with knowledge of his work ethic, and that's what he's being paid for.
Something about Charley Rosen. I think two seasons ago, he wrote articles for espn.com's Page 2. It was amazing how almost every article managed to be so negative it was almost nasty. At first, you would read it and go, "This guy's real, he's not sucking up." But every article was like that! When people were going nuts over LeBron after one of high high school games was broadcast on ESPN, Rosen wrote that LeBron would never be anything more than an average NBA player. Guess what? LeBron showed us he's the Second Coming in his first few games last season and Rosen now writes for another site. I'm just saying, anybody who's familiar with Rosen's columns knows he's a relentless pessimist who's always predicting the end of the basketball world. And he's wrong a lot.
It was more of an addendum to your post because of your realistic and openminded response to this guy's article.
