i don't know what's going on with artest's injury situation. but if you watch closely, his behavior as of late has been changing subtly. i don't know if fran was trying to depict it as a fact in terms of the artest situation. and i won't read it as an entire truth, yet. but i will keep reading and watching.
Sounds reasonable to me. We know Adelman and Morey sat T-Mac down to talk to him behind closed doors and that the issue was how hard T-Mac plays. We know that Adelman suggested to T-Mac that he not practice unless he was going to practice hard. That doesn't sound like a happy locker room or a happy organization.
if they wanted to trade tracy and have given up on him, they would put it out there that he's available already. that would be even more evident if they really are pissed off and just want him gone. like i said, i'm sure the team is frustrated with tracy's inconsistency right now and they should be. but morey knows tracy's history. tracy will pick it up after the all-star break.
i don't understand why they just don't bench him until he's 100% ready to play? be it 1 or 2 weeks, just let him sit out, work out, and come back 100%. playing 1 out of every 2 is such a dumb idea; messes up lineups and doesn't allow t-mac to fully workout and rest to rehab his weak knee.
"winning" will make a happy locker room and a happy organization. we just got off a bad stretch that made us fall from a #2 seed to now a #6 seed. so obviously nobody's happy with the way our record is, considering our expectations coming into the season.
b/c we would know about it? i'm sure insiders would have news on "teams" calling us up asking for tracy's availability and what the rockets' response is. last yr, we knew several teams called the team regarding tracy (when he was injured AGAIN) and morey simply hung up.
they're considering it now (resting all arttest, tracy, and battier) until after the all-star break from the new chron article. let's see if that comes into fruition.
That's not the issue. If it was just losing why come out in the press and say "T-Mac thinks talent will get him by. He needs to understand that he needs to work hard"? In other words, why single T-Mac out? And why do it in the most public fashion possible?
b/c it's not like tracy's effort was always 100% in previous years. how come nobody said anything? b/c we usually had great reg. seasons. this year, b/c he's not playing well and inconsistent all season so far (due to injuries, his effort fluctuates) -> thus we're not winning. our record this year with tracy is only 17-11, which is only 60%. we were 46-20 with tracy in the lineup last yr, a 70% winning rate. winning cures all. if we are winning at a 70% clip right now, you'd probably hear little of this.
ok so even if your interpretation of what fran is saying is correct - is that situation implausible? i fail to see anyone who has watched this team could think that they would not seriously consider (if not actively pursue) trading tracy. maybe the reason the team went into a slump is because it's "leader" decided he was too good to work like everyone else, even though he has played terribly. maybe the team started slumping because said "leader" decided that the best solution for his crappy play was to sit and pout and whine instead of putting in the work it would take to actually rehab, get in good shape, and help the team. the fact is that even if everything about this situation is as you describe it (and I think you are using a bit too much hyperbole), it is plausible. certainly it is plausible enough that nobody on an internet message board should be calling Fran names and insulting his journalistic credibility over it.
There's a good chance that the Rockets aren't winning because of McGrady. Again, what really stands out to me is that a Rockets player comes out and SINGLES OUT ONE PLAYER ON THE TEAM. He doesn't criticize the team effort, he doesn't "We're slipping on defense." Instead he calls out somebody by name. To me that's a sure sign that something's going on.
The problem I have with Blinebury's entry is that there are too many insinuations. I understand no player or coach is going to come right out and say to him that McGrady would be better off traded, even anonymously. So, he's trying to read between the lines. Still, you want more than an ambiguous quote by an anonymous player or analogies to Wizard of Oz. If a journalist is going to write that players are "laughing at his (McGrady's) shenanigans" or that "alarm bells" are going off about Artest, then you expect him to back up those words. Even if it's just a blog, it's still a reporter's blog, no? Anyway, it's no big deal. I'll take whatever he says with a grain of salt from now on.
always - not just from now on. remember this is his own blog and the chronicle decides to put it online. credible? yes. same standards as a published story? absolutely not. how to read b/w his lines (other than those he clearly states as facts) is up to the reader.
again, i agree the team's probably frustrated with tracy right now (tracy is even highly frustrated with himself). he has been beyond mediocre this year. so i'm sure those confrontations and meetings did happen. but i'm sure they sat him down and talked with him b/c they want him to PLAY BETTER and BE BETTER. and he needs to do that. if there are problems, you'll obviously see it on the court when tracy does play with the team. i mean, when tracy made that 3 v. the thunder, scola and wafer were pumping their fist. when yao made that 3pt play, tracy and others were pumping their fists. again, if it's as bad as fran says it is, tracy will be gone by the trade deadline b/c the team will trade him for anything basically b/c he's just been that bad. we'll see.
did you hear the story about the fan at one of the recent games who made a sign that said "tracy, i go to work every day, why dont you?" the story goes that there was such a fan, and he sat pretty close to the rockets bench, and that many of the rockets players gave him a wink, or a thumbs up, or smiled at it. the fan was later asked to remove the sign because it bothered tracy. again, as a single event, it's nothing. but put the whole puzzle together and look at the entire picture. if i liked my teammate and someone made a sign like that, i would be upset, not laughing. i would not give that guy a thumbs up or a wink or a smile, i'd be pissed. i would go take it from him. but once again, nobody stood up for tracy. nobody had his back. why didn't anyone stand up for mac? because they agree with that fan. because they know tracy doesnt come to work. regardless, the point is that this blog does not deserve the vitriol it is receiving, no matter how unpopular its content might be.
well if the players really are fed up with him then something needs to be done? It seems to me he was fine at Oklahoma and today the bench seemed totally fine. It'll show if he really isn't going well with them and it'll it show badly when he plays. Hasn't really spilled out into the court yet
