[nbatv-gary payton] "I think Houston is better without McGrady"

Also, they traded him for the reason that he felt that the team was not trying to improve, so he wanted out. Same happened to Kobe, BUT they ended up pleasing him by making the team better.

 

Your crazy lol at that time T-Mac in Orlando was better than Kobe .Yeah I said it better. Who was on Orlando?? Exactly!!! No one. Who was on the Lakers?? Exactly!!! Shaq and everyone else. All the years that Kobe has been with the Lakers he had someone or basically a great team. But I will give respect when respect is due. Kobe is one hell of a baller.

McGrady didn't. Toronto? Vince Carter yeah but they both were young and immature. Orlando?? Grant Hill yeah but he missed basically every season when Mac was there. Houston?? Yao yeah but as we know when one goes out and then come back the other goes out so basically this is starting to become a failure. This year is perhaps the deepest team Mac has ever had and look how it ended. Sad day.

 

So, Kobe's the best player in LA's history? Almost, but not quite when you have Kareem, Magic, Wilt. To name a few. Tell me whose had the better teams?

 

The problem with Tmac is he has to dominate the ball to be effective. This leads to high assist numbers and high scoring averages, and is fine if he is the clear cut best player on the team like he was when healthy up to this year. There just wasn't really a better option for the team to that point.

But when you put him in an offense that asks him to cut and move without the ball he isn't good at it. Compound that with him being unhealthy and unable to defend or attack the basket, and a declining FG%, and he just becomes a ball stopper who leaves the rest of the team standing around watching him. That was ok when he was able to score 40 a game with good efficiency, but it's horrible when he only averages 15 on Rafer like shooting.

 

LOL, so someone was supposed to know that Dwight Howard would be as good as he is, especially so quick? Thats like TOR expecting Barnagini to be the next Dirk dude. You do not know what to expect with a unproven rookie out of highschool.

T-Mac was not in Orlando long enough to retire his jersey, and it could still be retired. Kobe has been in LA his whole career, because he didnt want to play for the Hornets. Because they where not good enough or something. Same boat. They didnt want to get rid of T-Mac, T-Mac wanted out.

 

I wasn't actually trying to derail the thread, it's just I get on my soap box when Kobes is discussed. Honestly the guy makes my head spin with how great he is.

I avoid calling McGrady Tmac anymore. He's lost his stock with me. My FART agenda is all about moving forward without him. The only thing is, I don't completely agree with everyone's notion that he is a cancer to the team, I think he's a cyst, a growth, but a cancer is too far. He doesn't infect the rest of the team, and I think a healthy McGrady is a critical peice to a good team. That doesn't mean we can't be good without him. I think the notion of "we are better without him is foolish". We are different without him. I think a lot of fans draw a false correlation in the fact that the team feels solid right now, and the absence of McGrady. Look, crisis brings people together, SEE September 11th. If a person said we are a better country because of September 11th you'd call them assanine, why do the same with McGrady? In the end, this new team is interesting, and more fun to watch, but better, I'm not convinced....

The whole Tmac nickname is an indication of what's wrong with him. The Tmac name gives off something like he's an answer to a crucial question. Above all, I want the facade of Tmac to end, and I want the player McGrady to come to this team. We don't need a savior, we need a dynamic scorer. McGrady sees himself as Tmac because we built him up to be this franchise player, we can't blame the monster when we are Dr. Frankenstein. We made this mess, we need to clean it up...

 

Technically thats Penny Hardaway's number and I'm a huge fan of McGrady so I'll admit that.

 

Doc Rivers team got a title for him, he sucks as a basketball coach.
How did T-Mac get Rivers out of Orlando? Kobe is tied for the best player in the NBA today, and I respect that. And we are not talking about the Rockets this year. This is the T-Mac from Orlando

 

It's pretty pointless to compare Kobe and T-Mac in terms of success. Kobe has won, Tracy has not.

The only things you can really compare is their own talent levels (obligatory when healthy), the fact that they haven't accomplished much of anything without significant help, and that both have wanted out of their teams at some point. Do you take Kobe over T-Mac now, of course. No discussion necessary. But let's not pretend like Kobe hasn't quit on his team. He did the same thing Tracy did against the Raptors in a regular season game. Kobe did it during a playoff game didn't he? Didn't he also throw his team under the bus?

face it, the only reasons (to me) Kobe is held in higher regard is b/c 1.) he stays relatively healthy 2.) he's won thanks to superior help on his team.

Winning changes everything. KG was rotting away in Minnesota, and now all of the sudden he's tha man? Ah, how having Paul Pierce and Ray Allen on your team changes things...oh and 2ndary role players that have proven track records of being solid players.

 

agree 100%. Its crazy how some people fail to realize that. No one knew Dwight Howard would become a monster. Same thing went for Yao Ming. Yao was trash when he first came in the NBA. Now look at him.

As for Kobe its not that he didn't want to play there the Hornets just traded him away for a more proven veteran player. Now they are marked for making one of the worst trades in NBA history

 

Good posting

 

Lol KG misses about 10 games...

And again you fail to realise the TEAMS they had around them. I do give props to Kobe for taking a team with Parker and Kwame starting to the playoffs.. But, LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE.

 

Didn't KG have good help finally that year he made it to the WCF? Again, the point was that KG was starting to fall off the NBA map b/c he was marked as the guy who, much like McGrady wasn't getting out of the first round except that one time.

Even if McGrady makes it out once, it's pretty clear that's not enough. It wasn't for KG's rep. He's only "legit" now because he finally won a ring.

You are probably right on the MVP front, and I know this is such a small sample size, but at the beginning of last year when he was about as healthy as we've seen him in such a long time, he was in MVP talks. He was the leading scorer in the league before getting all those injuries that lead to him looking like a mummy last year.

Tracy's play won't prevent him from being an MVP, his incredible lack of health will prevent that. I should say it did prevent that. With his recent knee stuff, MVP talks probably go to rest for good unless he makes one of the most incredible comebacks in NBA history. Yeah...I won't take the odds on that.