again, those guys don't watch us on a continual basis. people like that love to make comments like that b/c fans will say, "for real?" it gets your attention. but what does our record say when we play without tracy? if you play better offense without tracy (since our defense doesnt' suffer that much without tracy), shouldn't you win at a higher rate? that seems extremely contradictory! and why would hastings make that comment when our offense was trash in the denver game? so what does he really know? again, tracy can play this offense fine. our offensive efficiency after yao went down last year went to "record" numbers. he can play any offense. he was injured to start the year so he couldn't do a lot of the things he should do (though he still moved the ball well, just couldn't move with his legs). you can't use those games to judge him. artest did worse. again, if we could win without tracy, the frustration wouldn't be as high. if we lose 75% when yao goes out, i guarantee the frustration for yao's injury would be more of a problem. but we don't. we win 60-65% of games without yao consistently (and that was without artest too). like i said, if we keep winning this month without tracy, less of tracy will be the talk. if we don't, his absence will continue to be brought up and how he's always injured.
now that's different. no way our offense is better without tracy. guys have to move the ball faster (which tracy did anyways before he shut it down wen he played the spot up shooter role) b/c nobody can create off the dribble that well. but if you say our offense is better without him, i don't see how our record can be poor without tracy (and it takes 2 cupcake teams with 7-29 records for us to get wins).
I think the frustration with most fans and especially with the old clutch city regime on this board, is that this happens with T-Mac every year (Half Man Half a Season) and its human nature to think that this has gotten very old. His playoff stats are off the charts, his talent level at 29yrs of age is off the charts and I personally believe the guy really wants to win. But from a mental toughness perspective he's just not there yet. He is only going to be known and judged for how deep his teams can advance in the playoffs no matter the incredible stats he's puts up and no matter who is around him and how they perform. We can all make excuses for him and argue about his playoff stats to nauseum, but at the end of the season it's all going to come down to winning those 4 games that have eluded him for so many seasons. Maybe at some point this season T-mac needs to do it differently and throw caution to the wind or maybe he just needs to keep playing it close the vest as he has done his whole career. As a rocket fan and a huge T-Mac fan their is nobody on here that would be happier then to eventually see Tracy get that playoff monkey off his back.
i understand that completely. people, at the end of the day, only care about wins and losses. i think he's a tough guy actually mentally. you can't just suit up every playoffs and perform like he does knowing what the rest of the world is saying, "0-fer in the playoffs." but like i said before, if the team wins in the playoffs this year, it will NOT be mostly b/c of tracy. why? we'll get the same exact performance from him in the playoffs. it'll be b/c yao might take his game to another level, or ron will be that 3rd guy, or the bench will put up 30-40 points consistently. but will the talk be about tracy IF we do win? of course. is that fair? hell no. but it's like is it fair he gets all the blame when we lose?
Yes yes yes yes yes. Good post overall but the bold part is especially true. T-Mac's not going to do much better or much worse than he always has in the playoffs -- if you're expecting him to play better, you're going to be disappointed. He's going to bring the exact same game this season that he's brought every other post-season he's played. The only difference is, will the role players step up? Will Yao be healthy and take his game to another level? Will Ron be that 3rd guy? Will Alston hit some clutch shots? Will Head make something for once? Will Battier not disappear? If they do, we'll get out of the first round and even farther, if they keep it up. If they don't, we're probably going to get bounced out of the first round. T-Mac will have no more nor no less to do with it than he always has. And that's the key. That's what I think is going to happen.
but i guarantee you if he puts up 27-28ppg, 7-8 boards, 6-7 dimes, on even 42-43% shooting, suddenly tracy now has leadership, killer instinct... i GUARANTEE you those things will be said if we win just one round. like when we continued the streak when yao went out last yr, EVERYBODY jumped on his jock (although he actually struggled in some games). but people just put the blame on the best player, and the credit too.
Yeah they probably will be said about him. That's just the nature of sports though. What I think a lot of people don't see is that he will be the same player regardless. Maybe he steps it up in the clutch or whatever but for the most part, Tracy will be Tracy. All he's ever needed is some talent that steps up around him. Let's see if he gets that this season. I've said it before, all this mid-season drama doesn't bug me. I know T-Mac will be ready to go for the playoffs and he'll play well. It's up to the other guys to do the same.
I had a lot of people saying China shut Yao down last yr. They said when Yao started limping, he couldve sat out a month a rested and then come back and played,but china wanted to make sure he was healthy for the olympics. The writer has no ties to anything on the rox, but they made the comparison and show how one guy gets a walk and the other gets a "injury ticker."
The frustration's got nothing to do with winning percentages. Why put a "pay for no play" ticker if it was? The frustration's got everything to do with the perception that T-Mac's decided to take a three week vacation under the guise of rehabbing his knee. The editors at the Chronicle are calling McGrady out, pure and simple. The ticker's insulting because it's intended to be. One last thing: there's no question that when the ball moves in this offense it looks a lot better. That's what Magic, Barkley, Kenny and Hastings were all talking about--how T-Mac can be a black hole.
He was never healthy enough to start with if u ask me. He played because he had to. If Battier was healthy, tracy wouldve sat and continued to rehab. Those same guys who said the offense look better without him are the same one who said the rox play better without yao. In the end, player win games.
Of course the ball movement is going to be better without T-Mac. T-Mac is a scorer/playmaker. If the ball isn't in his hands, he's not being utilized. How much of a utility is he is a different argument. T-Mac changed his game this season to fit the team better before he sat. He was moving the ball around the perimiter and taking primarily catch-and-shoot 3's for a while there. He also posted up and iso'ed for his main offense. It wouldn't hurt for T-Mac to break down the defense by penetrating more, but to say he's a ballstopper is an obvious statement to me because that's what he's supposed to be. But it's not like that's all he does. There's no arguing that he does pass the ball and create plays I hope... He's also a high-IQ player. He always looks to repost Yao and is one of the only guys on the team (Battier and Alston being the others) who can spot Yao and throw him a good entry pass. Which is sad. That should be a basic skill. And to be fair, if your team is getting trashed (ala Warriors, Spurs) by the McGrady-less Rockets, it's only natural to ask "Could this team be better without Tracy McGrady?" to save face. Ball movement is one thing. That is better without T-Mac. Being a better team is a different story. That's not true.
Where did Dr. Andrews say he should miss a week? I read Nowhere did either doctor say he should miss any time. What both doctors did agree on is that the knee is structurally sound and ready for game action. If Andrews confirmed the original assessment of Dr. Clanton then it sounds like he agreed McGrady should play. It sounds more to me like all the doctors agree he can play but he is refusing so they are saying he "will" miss time but not that he "should" or "needs to" miss games. The fact that McGrady is saying nobody told him about the 1 week thing while he is telling everyone he will miss 3 weeks further leads me to believe that he is the only one the feels he needs to sit out. My guess is that he's making up his own time table and the Rockets are trying to meet him half way so as not to further upset him or cause friction within the team.
in regards to your first question, it was in the chron. dr. andrews said tracy should take 1 week off to rehab, then go back and play in LIMITED minutes (less minutes than before). tracy just extended it to 3 weeks b/c he wants to come back pain-free, without having to play "limited" minutes. it could be longer than 3 weeks, it may not. it depends on when the pain is mostly gone.
what did mcgrady do this summer? can anyone answer that? and other than him, can anyone think of any other rocket who would claim a self-approved leave? chron said his decision was a "mild surprise" to the front office. i feel the "mild" part was just being polite and politically correct.
He wasn't talking about Yao dogging. He just mentioned that T-Mac has played more games than Yao in the past three years. Is that not true?
I know I'm nitpicking here but I never saw where Dr. Andrews or anyone said McGrady "should" take time off. It looks more to me like McGrady is the only one suggesting he take time off. I get the feeling the Rockets don't want to hang Tracy out to dry but if you read between the lines it seems the organization is saying he can play but he is not and it isn't because the team is telling him not to. More from the article: It sounds he was diagnosed by the doctors and nothing was changed so he decided on his own option for treatment (not playing) and the organization is trying to meet him half way but he wants to shut it down long term.
Wow and some of you call T-Mac a drama queen? Look at you guys. Talking about the organization bending over backwards to deal with this T-Mac problem, and T-Mac being a rebel by taking time off when no one thinks he should. You'll find out if the organization is pissed with him this coming season. If he's traded, you'll know they've had enough. Maybe he didn't rehab it properly (or at all) during the summer. Who knows? Only McGrady and some people within the organization. But if he feels that he can't play because his knee is sore, and wants to take 3 creampuff weeks off, after he'd already played through the toughest part of the schedule without Battier, then why are all of you getting your panties in a bundle about it? If he doesn't think he can play, let him rest and rehab. According to Morey, he's working hard on the rehab. He probably doesn't care what the doctors say. That's why he got a second opinion in the first place. I'm not saying it's right, but they didn't help him with his back problems so he probably doesn't trust them. If he comes back in 3 weeks and still sore, then he'll know he made a mistake. T-Mac's played more games than Yao the past couple seasons, and he's never missed a playoff series. Are you guys really going to begrudge him 10-12 games? Especially if he comes back feeling better... And where are all the people who said he should sit if he was going to continue playing like that? Have you changed your minds now? Or was that just a "in-the-moment" thing? Maybe he made a mistake by not rehabbing it in the summer. No one knows. I don't, at least. But he's working at it now. Give the man his 3 weeks.
