Don't get me wrong. I really want him to succeed as a fan of the houston rockets but the guy is just spoiled and soft. I've been a fan of the Rockets for over 25 years and have been lucky enough to witness some of the toughest personalities in professional sports. We had guys like Murphy, Moses, Dream and even Francis leading our teams. Guys that played with heart and put their bodies on the line night in and night out. Guys that were underdogs and managed to put spankings on some of the best teams that were assembled. The 80's that beat the lakers and played with heart against the Celtics. The 90s with the championship teams with Dream and a bunch a players that maybe had more balls and brains. Tmac is probably one of the top five most gifted player to step onto the court. However the dude is soft. He's a jumpshooter that takes nights off. He can get his shot off on anyone and he lets defenders off the hook with dumb jumpshots at least 5 times a game. When he is hot, no one can stop him. When he is not, he will shoot you out of a game instead of forcing the issue and putting his body on the line. Tmac is one of the top players in the game but I have doubts about his leadership. If you were a role player and had to face a team like the 80's Lakers and Celtics, the 90's Jazz and Bulls, this decades spurs, who would you want to lead you? Dream, Moses, Calvin or Tmac. If you had to win one game for it all, who would you want on your team? A healthy Cassell or Tmac? I just don't think Tmac has "it", whatever "it" is. I can't stand flopping Ginobili, but at least he has cajones.
You compared tmac with Ginobili?? oh you are going straight to hell don´t you see tmac is a gifted player that averages a lot more points and... and... and he is a superstar, superstars are not to be questioned! Tmac affects the game a lot more than the stats... ¿? not so sure about that but he put up a lot of stats, and when he is off he is always trying to help the team witha rebound, with a steal or an assist not like that Manu guy who only cares to close out games and cannot consistently shot 20ppg! Also you can´t compare a guy that play for the Spurs because the spurs play with Duncan and Duncan affects the game also when he is not playing!
Tracy is one of the few players in the league who gets to just play O and not worry about D (Battier takes all of the tougher assignments, so Tracy gets to sit on his butt), and he still only gives half effort. Pisses me off.
1. His jumpshot has changed for the worse. His first year in Houston, his jumpshot had more elevation to the point where you thought he was shooting DOWN at the basket. The past two years, it's been more fadeaways and less elevation. It's all laser-beam shots now. 2. He's penetrating not to look for a dunk/layup but to look for a bail-out. Most of the time, McGrady's penetration ends with some kind of acrobatic shot that has little to zero chance of going in. It's as if he wants to shoot free throws to try and conserve energy or what not. But even then it's hurting the team because he's not hitting his free throws. 3. He's chucking more and more. Call it a heat-check or call it a pulse-check, he's been taking more of these ever since last year. It's as if he feels like he needs to shoot himself into the game to either get himself into rhythm or get his team in the game. Either way, it's really not helping.
I think T-Mac tends to lose focus on what the team needs sometimes. When he's "feeling it", he'll starting chucking shots with ever increasing difficulty until he shoots himself out of a rhythm. Great players need freedom to shoot and shoot a lot. But he also needs someone to explain to him what a good shot is. No one on the team -- either player or coach -- seems willing to do that. To his credit, he did make an effort to get to the basket and draw fouls in the fourth. But it was too little, too late. Let's face it. McGrady is fragile physically. We can tell him to attack the basket and draw contact, but that will increase his chance of injury. And when he gets injured, all the criticism starts pouring in again that he can't stay on the court. Perhaps that's in the back of his mind as well.
Forgot to warn you about TOF's coming to defend him. Anyways, i don't know how Rick is going have a motion offense when everyone gets balanced touches if tmac plays like he did tonight. I thought it was about sharing the ball?
What a load of nonsense here. Ginobili is special, and its absolutely fair to compare him to T-Mac. You think T-mac impacts that game more outside the stats? Ginobili's got intangibles coming out his ears.
Sure man, I'll say it once and again, the guy should've went to college to learn some fundamentals and leadership, but going on a rant about him being a softy. It amazes me more that the team cannot win games without Mr Ice cream, and that alone is a fatal flaw in your argument. Speaks more about the team than anything. This team needs players taller than 6 foot 3 that are supposed to be guards and forwards that can actually jump and get to the bucket. As it stands, Steve and Tracy are the only two that can do that, and ultimately it catches up to the TEAM. Tracy has his share, but he's not the reason for every loss.
His "low percentage" shooting was an issue last season, and continues to be. The team isn't talented enough to have a "free shooter" chunking up dozens of bricks. Yes, when he is hot, he is unstoppable, but when he is not, STOP SHOOTING! Leadership is not even an issue with TMac, NADA. He is a celeb on tour.
Case in point: that 37 point eruption against the Mavericks a few days ago that led a Duncanless Spurs team to a victory. Manu is a very gifted player and being left handed only makes him that much better.
T-Mac is more talented than Ginobili, but Manu is a tremendous fighter. Just look how he is playing and leading the Spurs in Duncan's absence.Parker is a secondary player next to him.I don't want McGrady to be traded but we have to get better.We need tougher players to surround Yao and him. If neither of the two are able to get us in the 2nd round this year,I wouldn't mind trading either one of them.
great point but i don't think he made an effort in the fourth. he was more teantive. he was open once at the top of the arc and he didn't take the shot.
This is why I really wanted an Iverson-TMac trade when AI was available. Something needs to happen soon.....and management needs to wake up and understand that we need to shake up this team to have a fighting chance in the playoffs. I'd be on the phone everyday trying to land Kobe. We could package anyone from roster excluding Yao and Scola.
You can call Kobe an ass, but he really wants to win. I'm watching the lakers warriors game. Davis was really hot in the 1st quarter (15pts), then Kobe started to guard him and pretty much shut him down. When will Tmac take the challenge to shut down the opponents star player?
You guarded Carter for a short span in the NJ games and Carter got rolling. T-Mac isn't a good defender at all. How many times did we see the other team on fastbreak and just lay the ball in right before T-Mac, uncontested? Kobe will go for a block.
Does it everytime he is given the option of guarding Dirk...most notably shut him down in the 05 playoffs.
