good grief. doctors have to reevaluate their decision? i hope that doesn't imply that having him play through it might have made it worse....should've let the dude rest until april if that's how long it takes to get healthy.
at this point, if Tmac doesn't play, I'll be happy. Number one he gets to rest his still apparently injured knee, but also he flat out makes us a worse team if he is playing right now. If he is going 1-5, or 1-11 while not defending or generating any kind of offense, then it's better to get guys who are active and who have fresh legs like Luther and Wafer hopefully.
quick recap - Tracy is game time decision. Doctors will see if it won't get worse while playing (knee). Looks like they are more concerned about that knee now, than they were few weeks ago. The probably finally understood that it is better to let him rest now and get to 100% and have him healthly for the playoffs and 2nd part of the season, than to lose him later, before playoffs. - The team had 2 great practicies and is confident about tonight's game. - Rockets are focusing on getting the ball to Yao, getting him the ball deeper. Team is preparing for this game like they are playing without Tracy, so if he plays it will only be better, we won't be shocked and not prepared at least. - It will be all about Yao ans Shaq. Yao has played better against true centers so team is pretty confident about that matchup. - Ron has been playing as they expected. I don't know, but I had a feeling that Morey doesn't care about this, he doesn't care about his 28 % fg. They said it is not the key, the key is to have Tracy healthly. - If Tracy is not playing than maybe we will see Aaron Brooks as a shooting guard. Morey said he has been the best offensive player so far and said he is still getting better defensivly. - One guy asked him why they don't wanna try to use Wafer or Dorsey. I think it shut down Morey a little bit. He said Adelman knows what he is doing and he is focused on the 'normal' rotation. He wants them to play well first. - Shane had a swelling on his foot after playing 2 on 2. But doctors are not concerned, they said it is a normal process. They expect him to start practicing after this road trip. those are the most interesting parts and fans should like it. the rest of the interview is just a garbage.
Thanks. I'm curious if the Rockets are still planning on holding Yao back in practice to keep him fresh. That was the initial plan. But maybe that lack of practice makes Yao less sharp in games. Yao does usually play better against "traditional" centers, but the big, strong centers have given him problems as well. Shaq is a very difficult player to post up. He can't be backed down, and he's still very good at blocking the shots of players he's guarding. I remember he blocked Hakeem's turnaround fadeaway back in the 90s, and he's blocked Yao's turnaround at least a couple times as well.
I don't think the doctors know what they're doing with T-Mac. Initially, he thought his surgery would take 4 months to recover. Then he says that the doctors told him it could take up to 6 months. A little while later, he comes back and says it can take between 6-9 months. Hell, let's make it a year.
Wafer can shoot the ball, it may be a good idea to play him to see if he can make some shots, and handle the old player like Grant Hills.
Maybe the lack of anybody over 6'9 to practice against is hurting him too? The longest player on the team after Yao is either Scola or McGrady. It's hard to prepare for guys like Kaman, Bynum and Shaq when you are facing Scola, Landry, Dorsey and Hayes in practice.
No problem. Yeah, that is a great point. Few days ago I was thinking about the same. I understand we wanna keep Yao healthly but maybe that's not a good idea. Yao looks weak, with no rythm. As for Shaq he as played SO WELL. He is strong and still can block shots as you mentioned. What can Yao do on the offensive end. First of all the need to get him the ball deep and he need to be agressive. There is no way Yao is stronger than Shaq so he will propaply use those fadeaways a lot and so far he has been missing them. But at least we don't have that big disadventage on defense. I remember last year's years game when Yao was out. Shaq was eating Deke alive so we needed to bring double which opened up shots for Nash, Barbosa, etc. At least we will not have to bring that double anymore. Yao can guard Shaq 1 on 1. I just hope he stays out of foul trouble.
Daryl Morey: "(Artest) doing pretty much what we expect, what coach Adelman has expected... What we haven't expected is Tracy's bread and butter is the pick & roll and he hasn't been able to get seperation and his bread and butter is playmaking and he hasn't been able to play that role so he's been on the block because he's not drawing double teams anymore. We can't have Ron on the block, and Tracy on the block, and Yao on the block. We need Tracy and his playmaking role and healthy. I think we're focused on getting Tracy healthy. Ron's going to play how he plays we're connfident that's going to work. We need to get Yao back to spots on the floor where he's comfortable." Also Rockets might bring Mike Harris back down the stetch like last year.
this is called taking adventages. Pick and Roll with Tracy and Yao will never work once again as it did against Dallas in '05 series. Yao never rolls to the rim and Tracy doesn't drive off that pick and roll and he usually gets doubled. If he is not double on the post than hell let him score. He is an OFFEISIVE PLAYER. We expect him to have the ball, get double team and kick it out only? Are you kidding me. If you wanna have good playmaking Daryl, than bring Steve Nash here instead of dumb Rafer who can't make a shot to safe his life. I think Morey forgot one thing, Tracy is not a 10 apg guy. He is an 22-24/6/5 guy.
I agree. It's easy to shoot over shorter guys and get rebounds. With taller players Yao would have to practice JUMPING to get his shot off instead of putting up a flat hook shot, and he would have to work harder to get position to get rebounds. I really think they need to at least have Dekembe in the practices even if he is not signed yet.
It doesnt matter he isn't A.I he may practice. Certain guys should be happy. We finally get to see what he has left. Practice is a good sign. He is actually stepping on the court. Who knows next step he might actually play in a game
dam. t-mac should just sit out until he is 100%. maybe he will be ready for playoffs. in the meantime, hopefully francis can come back next month and contribute some and artest can carry some of the load. IF yao makes a mental recovery then we should be able to make the playoffs. we just need the team to overachieve again. then maybe we can get a no. 3 spot or no.4 spot. and have a healthy t-mac for utah or whomever we play.
With all seriousness in regards to sf3. Let's see what happens in practice when he starts practicing. He is going to realy have to get it(the offense) or he is going to be out. Steves advantage is his offense he has no pride on the defensive side of the ball
i like what morey said...get yao back to where he is best...ie...the low post...deep post catches equals ft's or easy opportunities and offensive rebounds..yao is not a role player...he is a star and he has got to play like it.
did you like how he said that McGrady has been the main problem with the rockets offense and not Ron?
