It's an excuse, which shows he has less than full confidence that he'll come back strong. A different message than what he was sending in his skillzlab updates. It just makes me lower my expectations a few pegs.
He has been saying the a lot though. Didn't he say the exact same thing on media day? I think he actually means that this injury TAKES up to a year to heal for this type of surgery but I'm going to be back WAY before that time.
i dont think thats necessarily the case this year, McGrady and his camp are probably trying to say it takes a full year and get that out to the media because if he comes back playing at a high level in December they can spin it to say "he is a competitor, he has heart, he has passion" etc. no way could he have otherwise came from a surgery that normally takes a "year" to recover from in just 8-9 months. had McGrady said it takes 9 months to recover and he took 9 months and a week people would flame him like crazy again
That may be right on the money. I remember DD saying about that. Maybe the team wants to 'rebuild' his image for the new season. And as you said, if he comes back 'earlier' they will start saying he is a great competitor, etc. Maybe that's what they are doing. Btw, look how media are handling all that situation going on with McGrady. We pretty much get no updates. Earlier, they would have been writing new articles every few days about him, giving the latest updates, etc. Now it is completly different. Feign barely writes about McGrady. And when people ask him he always replies 'There is nothing new, nothing has changed', etc. Morey barely talks abuot McGrady and in today's interview they NEVER asked a question about Tracy. Pretty weird to me. Even during a chat on ESPN they didn't put even a single question about McGrady's progress. The only two guys who seem to be talking about him and showing videos of him working out etc are Worrell and Bull. That's all. In my opinion that's all asked by the team to be done.
I am sure this was recorded on media day... I have said it a million times that I hope Tmac really can come back and help us, but I won't hold my breath. He's really fun to watch when he's "on".
I don't blame him - Sager pisses me off when he interviews people. Shaq always punks him during post-game interviews.
i disagree. i think he thought he would start the season going into training camp. but then the doctors told him (and he said this on media day) that this injury usually takes 9-12 months to fully recover and he was only at 7 months. so i think it's the doctors who want to play safe and try to be at 9 months and just rehab some more. remember during media day, some reporter told him about the 11/23 date and he was like, "i didn't know that. i thought it would only be a couple of weeks." so he's just saying what the doctors are saying.
Seems like he just said the same things to Craig that he's been saying to the rest of the media. "I'll be back when they say I can be back." Nothing new here.
Obviously you never heard the interview. McGrady said the Lakers probably would win it all if they could beat "my guys" (the Rockets). But some morons who never listened to the interview somehow came up with him saying that the Lakers would beat the Rockets and win. It was pretty sad. Even news articles were quoting Tmac saying the Lakers would beat the Rockets when he never even said that at all.
That's because he said what you said after he said the Lakers would win it all. It was two different interviews. Not that I care though because what he said did not effect the outcome of the games.
Why are people so hard on Mac for this interview? He didn't do anything wrong. All he did we talk to the guy about what he was asked. Oh and he's a realist in his answers, always has been. If he's hurting, he shares it. If he's feeling good, he's honest about it. He obviously is just answering it as accurately as he can.
I'll see all you t-mac haters on the bandwagon a little later this year. T-mac will play, at the worst- Better or same as last year (before he left) w/o any pain.
Its not an excuse. In case yall didnt know this decision for mcgrady to sit out till nov was by the doctor who did the surgery and the rockets organization. If it was t-macs choice he would be playing right now. I mean for goodness sake he didnt even know the date of when the rockets where going to do another MRI. Plus t-mac is just going with what the rockets and his doctor think is best for him. he doesnt want to make the same mistake again, and he is just repeating what his doctor told him, that it takes a year to fully recover from this surgery, however t-mac is ahead of schedule. and he hasnt had any set backs
I agree with what a few others have said already. I'm pretty sure we'll see T-Mac back in a rockets uniform before Christmas. I think he's just saying "it takes a year to fully recover" to show how hard he's been working and to help people understand if he does come back this year and play well it will be a minor miracle. I've been encouraged by his recent interviews. He seems like he's willing to come in and play team basketball. Hopefully sitting on the sidelines watching the guys get out of the first round without him has humbled him a bit, knowing that it wasn't all "on him". I really think he could have a great comeback, and I wouldn't put it past the rockets re-signing him to a much lesser deal obviously. Maybe $10-12mil? Let's be honest, if he comes back and plays well who else is better that is affordable and willing to come to Houston?
