**Official McGrady/Pistons 2010 Regular Season Thread**

They were fun to watch, problem is that both of them on the same team won't give any fan base any hope anymore. Injuries have derailed both of their careers unfortunately.

Again, you are living in the past. There was a time when that statement was true, but T-Mac isn't on that level anymore with his gimpy knee.

 

T-mac doesn't look Gimpy, and neither does Yao.

I think their epitaphs are pre-mature.

I think a lot of teams would love to have both Yao and T-mac, especially at the basement prices they are/will be available at.

If Yao returns and you put the T-mac that's in detroit back on this team, and I would say half our problems are solved.

The other half would be getting someone who can coach defense.

 

Do you really think T-mac in Detroit has been impressive? I"m not knocking the guy because I think this season is more of him strengthening his knee than being productive. He hasn't done anything this season to increase interest in him but there is over half a season left to play. Does anyone know what happen to him tonight? I see he didn't return to the game, so I was wondering if it was a coach's decision or injury?

 

Ha! That's funny.

 

7 minutes 0 points
tonight vs the heat.

 

Today, he had 0 pts, 0 fts, 0 3pters, 0 stls, 0 bl, 1 ast, 2 rebs. Almost every player that got play time did that or more today. :grin:

 

Wow 7 minutes. I mean, It is kinda crazy. One night he plays 28 than he plays 18 and than he plays 7. There are back to back when he plays 22 and 23 and there are back to backs where he is playing 7 and 7.

I've said it many times. Coach Q is the dumbest coach in the NBA. He is a complete jerk, he has no idea how to coach. No set rotations, no nothing.

But it is on McGrady too. Guys let's face it. The T-Mac of old is dead and gone and will never come back. He scored 13 in one period. WOW, AMAZING, etc.

His stats to follow: 3 points, 0 points.

Guy is done. He can be a 15 minutes player at best.

 

if you don't think he can make it back, you can stop following him.

and you are delusional if you think he'll make it back to the old tmac. i still firmly believe tmac will make it back as a 25 minute type player who can put up double digit scoring and he'll show that by mid-season.

today was just a bad matchup for him as he had to guard lebron or wade when he was on the floor and keuster probably thought they needed D. and the game was over by the 2nd quarter.

 

It is not like I don't belive. Who cares if I belive? No one.

Now, what does 'he will be back' mean? Him playing 30 mpg, or maybe him scoring 20 ppg? I don't know. To me it looks like he is already back. Yes, he is back, he looks fine, he plays every night but he averages 17 minutes and 4 ppg. Maybe that's all he can?

I wonder. Maybe that is how much he's lost. I know he keeps saying he is back and he can score that and that and that the Pistons DON'T NEED the Old TMac. But maybe the injury just took away too much? Maybe he will never be even a 15 ppg player?

I just wonder, because every time it seems like he is turning the corner this happens. And to me, physically he looks fine, really fine. But maybe he just LOST IT?

 

People tend to make this sort of analysis all the time about players, Jeff Who.

At the professional level, the differences in talent level are not that great, on average. At this level, basketball skill and basketball intelligence carries a player a long way.

Confidence is always a fragile thing. I don't consider a player's "swagger" a true indication of his confidence. Confidence has a direct correlation to PERFORMANCE and EXPECTATION. There are a ton of players who talk the talk, but couldn't play dead if you shot them, put them in a coffin and buried them in a cemetery.

The standards for some players are not as high as the standards are for other players, because the players themselves set expectations because of their performance

For Tracy McGrady, so much of what he once was as a basketball player was seemingly nested in his physical superiority, that even if he is recovering as nicely as he can (or as nicely as can be expected) from microfracture surgery, there has to be a period of adjustment for him to what he is physically, now.

What most people have always regularly missed about McGrady, in my opinion, is that he has as keen a mind and feel for the game as any player, particularly the way great players had feels for how to play. McGrady's temperment was never acceptable to the general masses (or even the media) because he always had the ability to guide and dictate the direction of a game on his own. You do that by understanding how to play as much as you do by being faster and stronger than everybody else. Shaquille O'Neal was never a great player because he was so much bigger than everybody else. It was because he played extremely well.

But I suppose it's alot easier to fit "COWARD" and "DUMB" in the same sentence with McGrady, since that's what's easier for everybody to accept.
McGrady must regain confidence in his body again before he can properly adjust his expectations, and subsequently become consistent.

From what I gather about McGrady's rehabilitation, it has been too staccato—up-and-down in minutes, responsibilities and such—primarily because of who he once was, and who he perhaps wishes he still were. If anything, at least in Detroit, McGrady has accepted being patient finally.

McGrady has to generate the same confidence in his basketball acumen (which is very high) as he did in his physical ability (which even diminished, is still better than a great number of players). He seems to be understanding that he can, removed as he is from being so much better than everybody else physically.

In a strange way, coming back to the pack in a manner of speaking may be the best thing that could happen for Tracy McGrady.......

 

This is the reason i hate t-mac https://sneakmyass.in/.i/_3DfTpDEUo5ZUnIkzI9L3CbATquq3Yg92LhHzL1EKqiyaY3q3qi8vB123

 

Wow, that has to be the best post in this topic. You are probably the first one to say something other and actually very wise than 'He sucks' or 'He's amazing'.

Very, very good and wise post. Thank you.

As to your point, I see that. I see where you're comming from. Being fully healthly doesn't mean you're back. I know it takes a while and the mental part is the toughest one. And I can or actually can't imagine how hard it is to bounce back from microfracture.

I don't have a problem with that, I understand that Tracy may struggle especiall early and that's why I actually notice even small positives from his game. He's dunked 3 times already, he is moving better and generally, he looks much better.

But I have a problem with his mouth. He was saying last December he was 100%. Once the Knicks let him play whetever he wanted, he said he can't play much and he is not yet ready. Than he says people are gonna be suprised how good he is. After that he says that he 'Don't know if can become that player again'.

His last quote was dumb as well, 'Pistons don't need old T-Mac'. What I mean by that is that he keeps promising, keeps making predictions on how great he will be and once it is time to do something, prove people wrong he quickly finds exscuses. That is what drives me crazy, as his follower.

Remember, It has almost been 2 years since he had surgery. I know it takes time but 2 years should be enough. It should be enough to finally feel the confidence in your body when you're training hard every day. At some point he will have to man up, step up on the court, forget about the knee and just play his game or he will be done in few months.

And I think the time to stop crying, shut the hell up is now.

 

You're right on all counts, Jeff Who.

Tracy McGrady is, always has been, and likely always will be, very spur-of-the-moment emotionally. He has always needed to have his hand held, in a manner of speaking, moreso than he's ever needed a pat on the back or a vote of confidence. McGrady tends to get in his own way a lot more often than he should, in my opinion.

Classic foot-in-mouth disease, I believe, is the proper diagnosis.

I always try to be fair whenever I speak about any player (or as fair as a fan can be these days). I don't take a cookie-cutter approach in measuring people in day-to-day life. It's silly to think that that would be the way to measure professional athletes who we all have about as much in common with as we do with YouTube videos or Twitter accounts. Whether we want to admit it or not, we will always be one step removed from the realities of professional athletic competition, and no amount of channel surfing or internet blogging or social media scrutiny will change that.

We will always, at the end of the day, be on the outside looking in. Believing what we see isn't always knowing what's going on.

But having said that, Tracy McGrady has to decide how he intends to go forward in his career. He should be aware that, even if he is capable of approaching what he was as late as the 2007 postseason, he has to accept that he has to approach playing the game a bit differently. He will have to rely on other teammates, primarily, more than he has ever been encouraged to do before. He has to be part of a team in a different way.

He was always expected to do everything as a Rocket. Made it easier to fault him when things went sour. I personally don't see the need for that to change very much.

Tracy McGrady can fit, if he's willing to fit in. And I know alot of that is wishful thinking....

....but what they hey.....'tis the season.....

...for us and for McGrady as well.......

 

Exactly, that's why I don't really try to disscuss his last season as a Rocket. We all know how it ended but what happend behind closed doors - no one besides Rick and Tracy know it. So I am not really judging any side. It was good that he left Houston, for both sides really.

I think Tracy needs to understand one thing. He is not a Piston next year and this is a year when he has to show he has something left. It was supposed to be last year with the Knicks when he was supposed to show how much he had left. But unfortunately he wasn't healthly enough.

So he has to be thankful to the Pistons. 29 other team passed on him. Pistons gave him a chance cause they felt like he could help them. Right now he is not a factor. He is playing ok, and making progress but he is not a factor, at all.

What I mean by that is, at some point he will have to realize that he will not get that chance next year. If he wants to stay in the NBA he has to show he can stay healthly (so far pretty good job - he's played in every game) but he also has to at least make people belive he can be a factor and he can help.

It is not like I am T-Mac only fan and I want him to jack up 30 shots every night because Pistons are losing anyway. No. I am actually not his fan anymore. I just follow.

He (in my opinion) has to forget about his knee, forget about everything else and just focus on playing basketball and try to do as much as you can while being on the floor.

I think that's enough

 

Forget about everything else? focus on just basketball? try to do as much as he can while on the floor?

isn't that what hes doing??? and he's trying to do as much as he can in the flow of the offense..even if that means he only gets very limited opportunities to score.

please spare tracy your expectations, let him be him...watch him and enjoy some flashes of his former self if you want...hope that he plays well enough to land on a good team and get a chance to play a good role in the playoffs...shut it with all the "tracy should do this tracy should do that"

tracy is tracy....he will do what he does because thats who he is...you want him to shut his trap? well he won't cuz hes tmac...and IMO he can do and say whatever he wishes as long as he is prepared to suffer the consequences (i.e. bulls comments over summer)

 

Well he is starting to open his mouth recently. That's what he always does when things don't go well on the court.

You're right about consequences, though. He can do whatever he wants like we all can. But I am suprised he hasn't learned a lesson yet. This is suprising to me.

As for my persolan expectations, I don't have even one.

 

Eh, i'm just messin with ya...anyways yeah tracy does tend to run his mouth off..but its almost harmless wen compared to some other superstar divas in the past

in the end...the difference is tracy's mouth affects him more than anyone else...unlike other superstars who tend to mouth off, their mouthing off and the subjects they are mouthing about... may affect the team

 

Why? Because every other superstar can shut down people's mouth by his play. Tracy used to do that, now he can't do that anymore but you know, the habbits are still there.

 

Now THIS, arjun.....

...is about as succinct and simplistic—and ACCURATE—an assessment of Tracy McGrady as I've ever heard.

People are who they are—particularly professional athletes. And the higher profile the professional athlete, the more likely it is that more of their ego will be seen than their ability.

Fans don't worship some players or chastise others for any reason other than they feel that somehow, these players aren't human. And from the cathartic perspectives that we all tend to see those athletes, that is very much the truth...at least, the only truth that matters.

If Tracy McGrady has proven one thing about his character and personality consistently, it is that he is very much human, in very much the same ways you or I are, despite the circumstances or the situation. Their is nothing completely black or white about McGrady's personality. Like most of us.

He is who he is, as you say. And as I say, as a matter of fact.

That has been the single albatross in his career. McGrady's personality all-too often supercedes his ability. That's not the way we relate to professional athletes. We love players for what they can DO, not for who they are or are not.

Check with Kobe Bryant, if you don't believe me. Or Shane Battier, for that matter.

People around here have said numerous times that if Tracy McGrady just said this or did that this way....we would love him as our own and forget how he doesn't win.....or at least not solely blame him for that losing.....

....THAT is what I've always found disingenuous about most people's assertions about McGrady. Qualifying their rage and disgust with the team's fortunes (fortunes which were solely dependent on him alone) with a personal distaste for McGrady's choices of words or childish tantrums.

As if anyone here would have been okay with McGrady being an ass if the Rockets somehow managed to advance a round or two in the postseason.

McGrady was always a lowlife and a coward and a quitter here to everyone you'd ask about it. People did extensive research and sought out expert opinions to verify that. To the exclusion of everything else wrong with the team.

I would say that if McGrady had managed to win to anyone's satisfaction, then he wouldn't be as hated here.....but I don't get into the business of lying to make myself look good or make somebody else feel bad.

All McGrady would ever have done here, apparently (all he ever did, in narrow-minded hindsight), was fail.

You don't engender the type of bile and venom McGrady has here by losing a few playoff games. You don't do that by being unable to finish a postgame interview because you've got something in your eye. You really don't even do it by moping and pouting around a court in Toronto.

It would take all those things, and a million things more, to loathe someone you don't really know, who's supposed to represent everything you hope for from a professional franchise. Not to mention expecting to win a title with that guy.

I read Clutch's eulogy about McGrady several times. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it. It was as heartfelt and genuine as anything I could have read about the subject. I understand the need to take McGrady to task for his behavior that night. McGrady deserves every lash he's gotten across his back since then from everybody with the glee to rush up to the whipping post.

We all prefer kicking someone when they're down. And the higher-up he is, the tighter we all tie our shoes. Especially when the punishment fits the crime.

The crime McGrady committed in failing to be someone who we all thought could lead the Rockets back to a championship. Not ever because of what he said or how he said it. But because of what he did and could do, and very often did, as a player on the court.

The crime of being a human being. The same crime we exonerate Shane Battier from, when every other month he manages a performance like the one he mustered against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers last night, but can't be bothered with the majority of the time because it gets in the way of his intangibles.

Battier never got as visibly frustrated as McGrady got in Toronto. But it didn't matter, because nobody expects Battier to do anything, anyway. Failure was never an option with Battier, because winning was never at risk with him.

It's very easy to hurdle so low a bar of expectations as Battier has had the good fortune to do. And quite a bit more difficult to approach a higher standard of performance, knowing the cost of failure.

I cringe at making such a comparison, because Battier was never going to be what the Rockets thought they were getting when they overspent for him—and Battier has escaped any extended criticism and scrutiny because he is well-liked and well-respected.

The Rockets now are experiencing—individually and collectively—the price every player must pay if he really intends to win—and that's to be as good at his job—consistently—as he is able while the game is being played.

But win, lose or draw, I have a hard time believing anybody gives a damn about Tracy McGrady in Houston.

He was always so much more fun to kick around than he was to root for......

 

Well said, indeed.