http://aol.nba.com/features/racetothemvp_mailbag_070223.html Can we start getting some MVP chants going at Toyoa Center for T-Mac??? SECAUCUS, N.J., Feb. 23, 2007 --There was an overwhelming amount of e-mails this week calling for Rockets' swingman Tracy McGrady to move up the Race to the MVP player rankings. And you know what, I agree. I really don't agree with your choice of MVPs. Why is Tracy McGrady No. 7? He should be No. 2 or 3. Yao has been out and T-Mac by himself has kept them strong in the West. Without McGrady, the Rockets would be the wrost team. T-Mac has proven to be the most valuable player. He is the most underrated player in the league. -- Chasen in New Jersey Are you kidding me? How is Dwyane Wade ranked above Tracy McGrady? The Heat are only at .500 team that can't win without Shaquille O'Neal. T-Mac on the other hand has carried an injured Rockets team. He is doing what he is doing with a lackluster supporting cast. -- Ryan in Houston How could you say that Tracy McGrady is not the MVP of the league? He has carried his team alone. Yao Ming has been hurt since December and most people thought we would not make the playoffs. Guess those people were wrong. Stop voting for Dirk and Nash, Arenas and Kobe and make the obvious choice: T-Mac. -- Fynst in Texas Why is T-Mac so far down on the MVP list? If he remains healthy he has to be the winner. It seems like he is being punished for doing what everyone wants (making his teammates better, scoring less). It is obvious the Rockets would be horrible without him. -- Shorty in Texas This T-MAC guy might be sending a message to the rest of the league -- keep overlooking us! He dominated the Heat the other night. McGrady for MVP ... MVP ... MVP, can you hear the chants? The bandwagon still has some room left. Jump on now before it's too late. -- JoJo in Michigan After what Tracy McGrady did to the Heat, he deserves to take over the No. 6 spot in your rankings. The Rockets not only won the game but T-Mac outdueled D-Wade. McGrady is one of the best players in the league and show him some (more) love! -- Mac in Florida There are several tactical ways for someone to win a race. A) They can start quickly and hope they have enough energy left at the end to hold off all the challengers. B) They can keep one consistent quick pace throughout. C) Or they can start slowly and build momentum lap after lap. Finally as the finish line approaches, they use their outstanding kick to edge out the competition. It appears that McGrady chose strategy C. While other players did enough to be ranked ahead of T-Mac in the early-season Race to the MVP, there are few that deserve to be above him right now. Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki and Phoenix’s Steve Nash have done an excellent job as the MVP frontrunners, but McGrady has closed the gap. Look over your shoulders Nowitzki and Nash, that heavy breathing you hear is McGrady making a surge in an attempt to run you down. The silky-smooth McGrady has done it all for Houston this season. He is averaging 24.1 points, 6.1 assists and 5.3 rebounds a game. He saves his best for last, scoring in double digits in the fourth quarter in each of the last three games. The Rockets at 34-19 have the fifth best record in the league. T-Mac’s last three games tell the story of how complete a player he has become. Against Sacramento on Feb. 13: 28 points, six rebounds, 12 assists Against Dallas on Feb. 15: 27 points, 10 rebounds, one assist Against Miami on Feb. 21: 32 points, three rebounds, eight assists Suns fans are making a huge deal out of the fact that Phoenix dropped four out of six without Nash, but the Rockets are just 2-6 with McGrady out of the lineup. Rockets center Yao Ming was having an MVP-type season before injuring his knee on Dec. 23. When Yao went down, Houston was supposed to follow. Instead, the Rockets are 18-8 without the big man in the middle. More proof of how good McGrady has been this season: Yao missed 25 games last season and the Rockets limped to a 34-48 record. T-Mac and Co. have already matched that victory total with 29 games left in the season. Will McGrady be able to pass Nowitzki and Nash? Probably not. Still, he seems to be moving into position to make it a photo finish.
i'm serious, unlike guys like arenas, kobe, melo, tmac does more than scoring 30 a night since yao goes out. he's a complete player.
i hope tmac gets wind of this and starts playing even better because of it. tmac at the top of his game is better than any other player in the league at the top of their game. the more respect tmac gets, the more he'll remember that.
this is great. i've felt pretty strongly about this as of late. i noticed the players who were ahead of tmac and was just baffled as to how and why. dirk and nash are worthy, but they have so many good players on their teams. if valuable is the key word, then tmac is leaps and bounds ahead of these other guys.
Thats nice and all but still do not see how kobe,lebron,wade,arenas are ahead of tmac because kobe how do you lose 7 straight games and still in the mvp race or lebron just not being there in the 4th quarter for his team and arenas talking about defense isnt important and I like wade but being an even .500 team is not impressive
Tmac has lead his team through what was suppose to be a season killer, in Yao gettin hurt, and has helped maintaned if not increased the winning from early in the season
TMac is clearly better than Lebron and Wade. Wade can't win even with Shaq on the lineup. TMac for MVP!!
"Obviously" T-Mac should be no lower than 3. If the Rockets finish with 56-59 wins (which I think they will), one could make a serious case for Tracy to get the MVP. He would definitely garner some first place votes, but it'll be tough to unseat Nash.
Great find, thx. Yeah T-Mac is proven more than any other player this year that he cam put a team on his shoulders and carry to the mountain top. LeBron,Kobe,Nash and DeWayne "One flap down" Wade have some real competition and he wears Rocket's Red.
Nice find. I'm loving this. How many teams, in NBA history, over the course of a season have had more than one player considered as a legitimate MVP candidate? Pretty cool.
Yeah I was glad to see McGrady's face on the NBA.com front page news rotator and the article was even better! I'm glad he's getting this recognition that he has deserved for so long, it'll be even better if he reads this article and hopefully it can motivate him to keep doing what he is. If so, he should definitely put up a challenge against Nowitzki and Nash in the MVP voting.
The only guys I would place ahead of TMac is Nash and Dirk. I hate Dirk and the Mavs more than anything so it's hard for me to type that.
My MVP list: Dirk (I'm a rare Rockets fan with no hate for him whatsoever, best player on the best team) Nash (Self-explanatory) T-Mac (No Yao, stepped his game up as soon as he went out, and has Rockets looking for homecourt in the 1st round) Kobe (exceeding expectations even though battling injuries, but T-Mac gets the nod above him cause Yao's impact is far greater than any injured Laker, and Rockets are playing better) Arenas (Outside of the 9pt debacle, who doesn't like the fan-favorite Hibachi) Wade wouldn't be on this list even without the shoulder blow because .500 teams don't get MVP consideration. If that was the case T-Mac would have 3 League MVPs from Orlando.
i think t-mac is number if mvp consider the most valuable player but since it is the best player on the best team it should be dirk right?but is he better or more valuable to his team than howard?again t-mac is my mvp and its not because i'm biased its because he makes his teamates so much better does anyone in the league does that except nash?but t-mac has an advantage on nash.he is long and can play some defence.T-MAC FOR MVP
How funny would it be for Tmac to get the MVP in a season where he repeatedly spoke about being the second option and having lost a step early on? Regarding the other guys: Dirk - He is overrated. You can pencil him in for a choke job in one playoff series each year. He is also (still) neutralized by putting a long, SF on him defensively. Benefits by being on a great team. Nash - Along with Tmac he is the most important player to his team. Winning MVP a 3rd time just isn't right. He might deserve it this season but he sure as hell didn't deserve his first one so I eliminate him for this year's MVP (I can do that). Tmac - Simply put, this teams sucks without him (even with Yao) and plays great without him. He does EVERYTHING for this team in a way that no other player in the league can do. Wade - Sorry, but having a losing record disqualifies him. He should be stripped of his superstar status for letting his team tank so bad without Shaq. Arenas - Are you kidding me? There are at least 10 other guys in the league who could put up numbers like Arenas if they had no problem hogging the ball and taking bad shots. His team isn't even that good anyway.
Well its about time T-Mac's talents is being recognized. Seems like since the injured T-mac last year, people forgot how good T-Mac is.
