Sums it up for me. Tmac has all the skills and talent of a top 5 guy. He just needs to play like it every time he's on the court. I do think the team needed to learn to play w/ out him though. For whatever reason, when Tmac is playing the rest of the team seems to hesitate and second guess when they take their own shots. Whether that's on Tmac, the team, or Adelman, they need to learn to just play loose and react rather than think too much.
What i would love to see is T-Mac being Subbed every time he makes stupid consecutive decisions. If the offense is on the flow and he makes to consecutive contested jumpers, go to the bench for 3 mins. The same if he stop breaks, or if he doesn´t defend the right way, just like everyone on the team. Before someone tells something about Yao, i canno´t ask the same for Yao because he is limited by his skills and not by his will like T-Mac, so Yao might be a defensive liability even when he is forcing himself in that area.
I'm really encouraged by their play without McGrady, but I can't believe that anybody seriously thinks the Rockets would be better off without him. You people have short memories. He put the team on his back last year. Before his knee injury, McGrady was playing as well as anybody in the league. His strength as a player is his ability to get his teammates involved. I think Adelman's system is tailor made for his skills. We know that McGrady can get his shot off from anywhere, but the system gets him more high percentage shots around the elbow and coming off of picks. With Battier, Head and even Alston shooting to their career percentages and buying into the system, the Rockets have a chance to leapfrog a lot of teams in a hurry once McGrady is back.
Well you are right, we are better with T-Mac than without, but if you take his salary off this team we would be able to replace his overpaid a$$ with someone who's healthier and a better fit. Let’s admit it T-Mac does not play very aggressively; he relies heavily on his jump shot…most superstar’s get to the line and get easy basket’s that way….look at Kobe Bryant, he gets to the line 600-700 times in a season, whereas Tracy these days is getting there 300-400 times in a year. In his best season he went to the line 700 times!!!! It’s so obvious he’s lost that ability to physically stand taking a beating when going down the lane. It’s like he’s scared. Anyone can shoot .439, .331 from 3pt line, and .701 from FT……those #’s are very mediocre considering that he doesn’t go to the line…. The only positive I see from him is his play making abilities and the attention he gets….those abilities are just not enough to warrant the cap space he’s taken, we need better role players who fit better with this team and another LEGIT superstar.
Healthy and dedicated T-Mac --- That's something really hard to get. Having a healthy T-Mac isn't easy, and having a dedicated T-Mac is even harder.
Simply loosing T-Mac without getting anything back is bad, it hurts this team. But get someone solid back (even if it is less value, someone not as gifted as T-Mac), this team can do better. It is fool to think that you can't "replace" him.
He treat his rocket teamates like he had in Magic. He does whatever he wants. BUt Rocket teammates are much better he had before. I highly doubt he can adopt this ball share system even he had tream high assitant. He contoll the ball 70 % of time.
rockets better without t-mac? that's like saying the longhorns basketball team is better without durant ---- very stupid. bottom line, yao is too clumsy to be THE leader. we need t-mac. i mean, wut u guys think is gonna happen? we're gonna trade t-mac for kobe? wade? lebron? even chris paul? AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN. those guys are as untouchable as yao. it's time to believe in what we got. we're better than our record.
QUESTION: Which is better . . .a player that this twice as good but gives you an half *ssed Effort. .. or a player giving twice the effort with half the ability? The Offense works better without T-mac. . .it flows better - they shots may not always go down but . .. it seems they come more in the flow of the offense. Rocket RIver
I have a different point of view: 1)the team needs more time to without Tmac 2)It was a back-back games vs Tonromto, both team are pretty tired. 3)the team needs Scola to get more points, but is also needs some time. 4)Tmac will never lead the team to champin.
I disagree. In the past few weeks the ofense has flowed just as well with T-Mac than without T-Mac, and this is despite T-mac being constantly injured. In the past few games he has played a lot more off ball and isn't dominating the ball as much in places he can't get a high % shot. Let's see a few games with a healthy T-mac before making these kinds of decisions. After all, earlier in the season the offense was dying without T-Mac on the floor. It seems like a team-wide improvement that is from experience and practice of the system (thanks to a few 5 game breaks), not just improvement because T-Mac is not on the floor and not healthy.
The problem is that T-Mac has been a little schizophrenic in playing the system. In the game against Chicago in the first two possessions of the second half he ball faked and got his defender to bite. But instead of shooting he passed the ball both times and the result was points by, I think, Battier and Alston. It's no coincidence that in the best games the Rockets have had this season, Denver and Chicago, T-Mac played Adelman's system. But T-Mac also does stuff like take contested jump shots early in the shot clock. I think that's been doubly harmful. Not only was his shooting percentage pretty awful but it froze his teammates out of the game. The real question is which T-Mac are we going to see when he gets back from his injury?
Just like all the TOF had become YOH. Take a lot at the threads after we lost the Piston game. All these YOH and TOH are scumbags. I hope you are not one of them.
Put another way, should the Rockets trade T-Mac? If it's the Tracy from the Denver and Chicago games, hell no. If it's the Tracy from the Toronto game then the Rockets have got some tough, tough choices ahead of them.
The team has had its most success when T-Mac is playing Adelman's system. Adelman's system is not just beign a good passe ror good ball movement, but how it is being done. The team has struggled when Adelman has used old JVG sets (6 game losing streak) to get the role players going. When T-Mac has been healthy and Adelman hasn't forced the pick and roll on T-Mac, the team has done very well. He has been great off ball, good in iso situations 15ft from the basket, etc.. T-Mac statistically shoots his best % within the first 5-10 seconds the shot clock. The only games the healthy T-Mac froze his teammates out of the game was the first Toronto game and the first Dallas game. Otherwise he has been very good at playing controlled ball unless his teammates were faultering and needed a 30-40pt game from him.
are we not convinced t-mac is genuinely hurt? i guess everyone is convinced he wasn't playing hard when he insisted he was ready to play against the bulls and pistons? i get the sense that everyone thinks he's a quitter. why the hell will he not sit out every chance he gets if that's the case? i guess he's quitting right now for taking a week off? i was at game 7 last year, i truly believed the whole team were playing their hearts out. i believe in my team, i don't feel anyone is quitting on the team....except mike james maybe.
That's a problem though. Look at the last two games. The most impressive thing about the Rockets' offense was how patient they were. The Rockets were willing to keep working, to keep moving the ball around the court, until they got their open shot. That's Adelman's system. The point is that T-Mac is going to have to change his game up a little bit to fit into the system. At this point though I think it's a mental thing because he has demonstrated that he can play inside the system--the Denver and Chicago games showed that. The question is his commitment and his discipline. He can't fall back into his old, bad habits--that's where the discipline comes in. Which T-Mac are we going to see when he comes back from injury?
Adelman's system also warrants you to get the ball up quickly and to shoot before the defense is totally set. I am not necessarily excusing some stupid jumpers early in the shot clock by T-Mac, but it is his highest % shot, and he does shoot less early in the shot clock than Kobe (who shoots it at a worse %, yet his team is still doing amazing offensively as a team in the halfcourt). As I said, he has only struggled and not done his job when Adelman used the old JVG sets. When Adelman has used HIS system, and Rafer has been there to bring the ball up the court, T-Mac has not dominated the ball and he has shot good % shots and moved off ball. But, as you said, we have to wait and see as he comes back from his injury. But, just know that, as a superstar with the talent he has, you cannot totally confine him to the offense..you have to give him some wiggle room because he has the ability to make great things happen on the court if you let him. I personally think he will only help the offense as long as the other players keep hitting their shots and making off ball cuts (in which T-Mac WILL find them and make the willing pass).
WRONG. When you read what Big Yao said after the wins, all he said was he was pleased about his team mates stepped up and the support and help he got from them. He is such team oriented that he never took all glory from his team mates. Even though Grizzlies and Raptors are so-so teams yet 3 things stood out from the wins: Better defense:. Grizzlies used to average 101 points per game. They were contained to 83 with only 35% FG% and 3-pointer%. Raptors used to average 96 points per game; they were contained to only 79 with only 37% FG% and 20% 3-pointer%. And everyone of us notice when TMAC plays, very often it is 4 against 5 on defense as TMAC did not pay too much attention on defense. More Assists: The number of assists of the Rockets in the Grizzlies game were 24 and 23 in the game versus Raptors. Both were above Rockets' average of 20.9 assists for this season. This implies more reasonable spread of the floor and space, more passing and more sharing of the balls. More Balanced Scoring & Involvement: The scoring is more balanced with much more involvement from everyone on the team. When TMAC plays, he needs to have at least 20 to 25 shot attempts such that he can get into the groove to make 25 points but he barely made 1/3 of his 3-pointers. He held onto the rock much more longer. He fell in love with his jumpers/3-pointers that much that he sometimes was not wise on his shot selections. And while he plays, all the other role players did was to do pick and roll or shield for him such that he can do his things, and sometimes they hesitate whether to pass him or Big Yao the rock. All the above just stagnant the offense and limit the involvement of other players. This team will only need TMAC as long as he can throw away his me-I-my-mine mentality, buy in Rick Adelman's offense systems, and be more unselfish and team-oriented to melt and gel with the rest of the team, do more penetration, pass more, instead of helding onto the rock too long or just bricking his not-so-high FG% jumpers/3-pointers and put more intensity and effort into defense.
