T-Mac's bad luck Does bad luck follow T-Mac or is it the opposite? I'm happy to say I can't remember which Allstar weekend it was. Happy because that means I went to a lot. Anyway, Tracy McGrady was sitting there in media availability, wearing a Magic Jersey, and I asked him about the frustration of coming to Orlando only to witness Grant Hill go through operation after operation. "It's hard, man", he said with a sad grin, "All I need is one good, truly good player with me to go far in the playoffs". It was supposed to happen in Orlando with Hill and than in Houston with Yao. It almost did happen last season, many of us so called 'experts' thought it would this season (at least I did), but now, after more than 30 games and almost the same amount of injuries, the Rockets know this season is over. They should start thinking about the draft and trades for the future. So what is wrong with T-Mac, besides his bad back? Is there really something wrong with him? He came into the league as a young kid who loved sleeping while watching his semi-cousin become Air-Canada in Toronto. Just when he started getting good, McGrady decided he wanted the ball more and left Carter to join Grant Hill in Orlando. We all know what happened to Hill's ankles, so McGrady was still left alone, never able to enjoy playing with a really good player. Blowing a 3-1 lead in a first round series against Detroit was the closest he got to win a playoff series. Last season he was traded to Houston for Franchise, and with Yao and JVG they blew a 2-0 lead in the playoffs against Dallas, with 3 more games left at home. Then they decided to tinker more with this old but good team, got Stromile Swift, Derek Anderson and in their most questionable trade, sent Mike James to Toronto for Rafer Alston. To say the truth, you can't really criticize management here. They never had a chance to see their players work together on the court. Alston, the supposed true point guard, got hurt early in the season, so did McGrady. When he came back, Yao went down probably for two months. Now Alston is back, but Anderson got hurt, than T-Mac was carried off the court with a stretcher and even Swift missed a game. Not to mention Bobby Sura not playing at all and Jon Barry missing most of the season. Just too much to handle. McGrady is probably asking himself when and why did things go this wrong. Maybe he shouldn't have left his family member Mr. Vincesanity. It would have been fun to watch them play together. But with Yao he still has a lot of hope. Not this season, but next. If they can draft a true small Forward, like Adam Morrison, and get someone like Chris Wilcox to help man the 4 position (inconsistent Swift is really disappointing) and then find out if Alston can be a reliable starting point guard, they can be on their way. T-Mac had a lot of bad luck in his career, not winning a single playoff series etc., but on the other hand he has a private jet and just recently, a second child, so things aren't that bad. He will have to go through another summer of hearing people question his true ability of making a team win, but he knows it's part of the business. If you want people to stop talking, just start winning. Posted by Yaron Talpaz - Jan 11 2006 5:50PM http://www.nba.com/blog/blog8.html
There's nothing wrong with T-Mac, if he & the team had been healthy this would have been the season T-Mac was a playoff series.
I think it's more of bad luck following him so far in his career (injuries to either him or other key players). Still, he will enjoy success one day here in a Rockets uniform, I have zero doubt about that.
Uh ... how about we let TMac play small forward, let Swift grow into his role while Howard still has gas left in the tank and then draft a shooter? With guys like Barry & Wesley leaving the team, we're gonna be a little light in the SG department. But hey, it's cool that a Rockets fan has an NBA blog.
