Actually, if I am hearing what Grover is saying he was out of shape pretty much his entire career, or at least out of balance etc. DD
What I heard was he trained part of his muscles more than other parts. In his younger days at Toronto and Orlando that was no problem. When his body started to decline that kind of training took a toll on his health. From 06-08 he put on some weight, had his back spasms, still averaged 20/5/6, carried the team into the playoffs.
20/5/6.....20/5/6.....that is what we keep hearing as some sort of symbol of greatness. But to me, if he was not efficient and didn't play D, it is not all that impressive. I would be more impressed by 18/5/6 with a higher FG%...... But Tmac has always taken too many shots to get his points....and is Allen Iverson like in his percentages.... And in the playoffs, those guys fail. If Tmac can come in and play within Adelman's system, something he has been b****ing about since Adelman got here, great.....but I doubt an ego as large as his will be happy playing a team oriented game...where he is not the focus anymore....especially in a contract year. Here is what I think happens. 1. Tmac declares himself fit and ready to go 2. The Rocket say they want to have him take his time 3. The season starts and TMac is not playing - but wants to 4. The Rockets get team ball 2009 going with the guys they have. 5. Tmac comes in - and comes off the bench. 6. Tmac begins to b**** about his lack of touches 7. The Rockets trade him in December. DD
I already b****ed about language on here, and was shouted down, so stop complaining about my b****ing. DD
What you say is valid but that little if remains. What if one of your points does not come true. Most importantly the last point, what if the organization decides to stick with him. Is this an alternative to your points? T-Mac becomes the so called leader by example for this young team. I know there is a big gap between your scenario and mine. In your case Les Alexander is the only guy who could hold off a trade. Of course I think he would have to give in to Morey's decision.
Fair enough hehehe I do agree with your projected sequence of events. McGrady is most likely going to have continuing issues with Adelman's system. I would rather keep Adelman and the team's current mentality than keep T-mac
Agreed. McGrady did do some shady things, though, and I can understand some of the hate he gets, but it was clear that the training and medical staff was not doing him any favors in diagnosing the problem properly, and he was definitely bothered by that injury.
I lol'ed too. I constantly ask myself what obstacles are there that we can't keep both. True. Tracy has to buy into his concept. I break it down for y'all. 2 years of RA- Timeline 1st year after his failure in the playoffs and the sacking of JVG Tmac got injured. (back, knee, shoulder) Those were chronic injuries he had for years. He came back by the tradeline, came off the bench, played well, had his share of efficient games, led the team to the winning streak Lost to the Jazz in Round 1 .....Tmac announced surgery to his shoulder and knee to remove splinters in his knee (Bobby Sura had that too seasons ago) and fix his shoulder Tmac got excited after he heard about the RonRon Acquisition and dreamed about the Dynamic Trio. He thought he can rest a little bit and let Ron carry part of the load during the season and get into shape when postseason arrives. Thought wrong. Trained the wrong way with Hall and used too much of his time on vaction - came back out of shape Problems with Alston and Artest - After ????? wtf - incident he announced surgery again to protect himself from any trades 1 whole season wasted in that he could actually work himself into RA's system I mean how many games did Tracy play for Adelman in the 2 years
He has had a poor FG% for a while, true, but mostly due to being injury ridden for a while (it's no coincidence his %'s with us were the highest in 04-05 and 06-07, when he was the healthiest)... Besides that, his poor FG% has never stopped him from being a MAJOR positive contributor. Our record in the four seasons prior to last year with and without McGrady speaks for itself (last year was an exception for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that we had more depth than ever before). McGrady is one of a teeny tiny handful of perimeter players who draws a double team almost every time he makes a move, and you combine that with his incredible vision and high basketball IQ, and it makes for an incredibly valuable talent when he's even close to healthy. Look a little bit beyond the individual stats. And your implicit claim that he doesn't perform in the playoffs is just complete and total garbage, and you should know it if you follow his teams at all. That's all I'll say about that.
He takes more shots, plays longer minutes and shoots the same percentages, only people looking at PPG stats in a shallow analysis claim he is stepping it up in the playoffs. For reference, Hakeem Stepped it up, he got better....Tmac is not better he is the same, and in most cases his efficiency is actually worse. DD
kobe shoots 45.5% for the reg. season; 44.7% for the playoffs lebron shoots 47.1% for the reg. season; 45.4% for the playoffs tracy shoots 43.6% for the reg. season; 43.0% for the playoffs (so not THAT big of a drop off) hakeem is one of a HANDFUL of great players who actually shoot better in the playoffs. you go down the line and MOST great players shoot WORSE in the playoffs. that's why hakeem is a top 5 player of all time. so i'm guessing you think kobe and lebron should shoot less b/c they don't shoot as well in the playoffs?
Hakeem is a 7 footer and a good post player who does not shoot jumpers all day. You can't compare him to Tracy. Different player types.
I would say they are not stepping up their game......but both of them shoot much better than Tmac in the regular season and playoffs. Heck their playoff percentages are better than Tmac's career regular season percentage. If TMac shot above 44% he would be a much better player and on the same level as the guys you mentioned above, but, he is a wannabe...a Dirk Nowitski type of player, just not good enough to lead a team. DD
that's not the point. DD brought up a key point, but it only shows how great hakeem is. like i stated, most players have a lower fg% when the playoffs roll around b/c of tougher defenses, longer minutes, and more responsibilities. though tracy did have a lower fg%, he still ELEVATED his game. if you actually watched the playoff games, you would see that. if DD's points of more minutes correlate to higher stats, then how come i don't see that with a lot of other players? the ONLY players who i see who elevate their all-around stats in the playoffs in recent years are TMAC and LEBRON.
i agree with you on that point. if tracy can shoot a higher fg%, he'd be a much greater player than he already is. obviously a key point of emphasis for him going into next year is to improve that. however, i don't like how you keep saying more minutes are the reason why he has the "nice stats." no, tracy brings it to another level in the playoffs. i mean, look at dwayne wade when he had to do it all the last 2 playoffs: 42.9% fg and 43.9% fg. tracy has had to carry the load for most of his career. hopefully, tracy can do less next year, and still able to dominate in ways we know he can.
yup. I dun need to rewatch them because I know his stats by heart. I know also that DD has a crush on fg pct efficiency. He raves about pct only a Tony Parker can give you on the G position. There are simply not that many players who can play efficiently in the playoffs. Tmac's stats are pretty good for my taste. His fg pct could be better but yeah he's near Kobe's and Lebron's level as you said. IMO if he shot like 45 pct as Kobe did he still have to depend on the play of your teammates. If he had support from last years team, he would have advanced. That is clear. The question for me is not his efficiency only but the efficiency of the whole team when he is in the line up. Can he move the ball to other players and does he understand that he is not the only one out there who can pass and score.
that's the thing. you do NOT need to be kobe or lebron to get out of the damn first round. joe johnson's playoffs fg: 42.3% gilbert arenas playoffs fg: 41.1% paul pierce playoffs fg: 42.2% carmelo anthony playoffs fg: 41.6% chauncey billups playoffs fg: 41.3% again, these are also some of the all-stars in this league who have shot worse than tracy mcgrady, and their games/touches are similar to mcgrady's.
Second that. All these threads that keep popping up show me that Tracy still is a player with a large number of followers. That is enough for me. He may be controversial but I don't think he is an attention w**** unless of course he shows the same colors as Ron did.
