tmac is a great player. I love having him on the team and I dont question his fear for drivin because of his back. Thats why i gave it a pass all year long about takin the jumpers, but its playoff time. TAKE IT TO THE HOLE. If he does that, its gonna b close to impossible for any team to keep up on o and on d. Hope he drives.
There is nothing wrong with Big O wanting to see Tracy do better during games. I'm sure we all do, but we also appreciate the fact that even without scoring this guy can control a game with his versatility. That said, the problem with Big O comes in when he's being hypocritcal about Kobe and ignores the same exact flaws who does it much more without the versatility of a Tracy. As far as I'm concerned, I'll take Tracy making the shots when they are most needed, and keeping his teammates confidence high with his overall game.
How you can make those 2 statements is beyond me. Kobe got Shaq traded & Phil basically fired so he could be THE star. Now if that isn't "hungry for personal glorification" then I don't know what is. I also love seeing Kobe complaining to the refs after every shot that he was fouled. Kobe is a whining cry baby that just happens to be the best individual player in the NBA. Notice I said individual.
Maybe people don't like the timing of Big O's statement... but he is right... to an extent. The biggest flaws in his comments, to me, are 1) that JVG explained this like two days ago in the post game conference regarding his shooting, and as we all know the explanation was that he needs that freedom to reach his potential.... and 2) The hypocrisy of praising Kobe while criticizing TMAC for something that KOBE is by far the bigger perpetrator. I think everyone that knows basketball sees the occasional shot by Tracy from "Sugarland" and thinks "Why?!" but we have all also seen this go one of two ways... either the crazy shots go in, which really deflates opponents and is always cool, or they lead to a hot streak later in the game. Either way, if that is what it takes, then if he feels the need to take a prayer shot once in a while to heat up, I'm ok with it... even if I am secretly cringing a bit. Oscar rocked... don't hate. He's right to an extent, but he doesn't realize that sometimes, that is what it takes for Tracy to play at his potential and get going. All of this, one way or another, one place or another, has been said in this thread, but what else is there? This thread has run its course.
I respect Oscar for what he accomplished during his NBA carrier, but seriously.. just let Tmac do his thing. Kobe's already been bashed enough on this thread and Lebron.. please, lil stuck-up bronbron has so much to learn. Right now, I find his comments unnecessary. If we end up losing the series, THEN let Tmac have his.
Couldn't have said it better myself. Robertson isn't saying T-Mac sux he's saying T-Mac is a very talented player who has put a lot on his shoulder and could do better. He wouldn't have mentioned T-Mac if he didn't think T-Mac had a lot of talent and could be great. Even if you disagree with him show some friggin respect. Crikey you have people saying he should be put down just because he offered some constructive criticism.
Oscar's comments are somewhat valid. I just have a problem with him singling out TMac over Kobe. TMac does take some ill advised shots, but that's true of all BB players. If you don't believe that, watch a video of Rudy's reaction to Elie's "kiss of death shot" from the time Mario got the ball on. Some of them just go in. As far as driving to the basket more goes, we must be doing some of that; otherwise Sloan wouldn't be complaining about the almost 3-1 freethrow attempts we've had over the Jazz. I would like to see more of that though. As the only player to average a triple double for his NBA career, O has earned the right to voice his opinion on ball players even if we disagree with him!
This is a good balanced post. I think Oscar has some valid points. Tmac does take poorer shots than you would like. Tmac's efficiency isn't that great. That said, there are a whole lot more negative and positive things you can do for team chemistry than just taking a few better or worse % shots. Tmac has put in a real concerted effort to get his teammates involved. Do you think Kobe would be passing to and lifting up Alston and Head and Howard and Hayes after they missed a couple?, I don't think so. Tmac has become a more reliable playmaker in setting up others and steadier influence on his teammates than Kobe ever has--and I would have thought a player with as supreme all around game as Robertson would have observed as much. I think maybe he just doesn't watch that much and his tone is maybe a tad bitter (maybe the missed $, don't know). But I would not at all had a problem had he said Duncan, Wade, Billips, Nash, and (maybe) Lebron are ahead in the team game over Kobe, Agent 0, Tmac and Iverson because of their shot selection. Though I think Tmac and AI better leadership qualities with teammates are far more important than their lesser personal shot selection than say one Kobe Bryant--and you really see it come out in the playoffs.
+1 million. His ill advised jumpshots are getting pathetic.... I don't know what the hell he's saving his back for, this may be his best chance EVER. Take it to the RACK!!!
These are the stats of tmac (best year in orl and this year) and kobe. YR TM G GS MIN FG FG% 3P 3P% FT FT% STL BLK TO PF OFF DEF TOT AST PTS 02-03 Orl 75 74 39.4 11.1-24.2 .457 2.3-6.0 .386 7.7-9.7 .793 1.7 0.8 2.6 2.1 1.6 4.9 6.5 5.5 32.1 06-07 Hou 71 71 35.8 9.0-20.8 .431 1.8-5.4 .331 4.9-6.9 .707 1.3 0.5 3.0 1.9 0.8 4.5 5.3 6.5 24.6 06-07 Lal 77 77 40.8 10.6-22.8 .463 1.8-5.2 .344 8.7-10.0 .868 1.4 0.5 3.3 2.7 1.0 4.7 5.7 5.4 31.6 Tmac compares favorably either way. I argue that his 02-03 is one of best in history. Too bad he had worse support in Orlando; even worse than kobe right now.
25% of shots were 3's in orl. this year it's 26%. Not much difference. The difference is he made 38% as oppposed to 33% this year. I remember him chucking just as much in orlando. I just think he was more confident in his shot back then. he was almost 10% better FT'er back then too. He needs to practice his J more. Bet he doesn't practice as much now with his bad back....but we just talking about practice, man. what we talking about? practice, man.
Yeah Real Shady. You need to really start asking yourself 'what will sishir and fran think' before you post.
I'm going to give you a return for not understanding that when you normalize pace factor - a lot of those guys numbers get a lot closer to the numbers in the contemporary game. Aside from that, it definitely was weaker for a LOT of reasons. I've posted on this extensively in the past. I don't feel like getting into the specifics and I don't have search on - but there is a LOT of empricial evidence that supports this point. In addiiton there is common sense - if you really think scoring over Willie Nauls in that era is more difficult than dealing with Tim Duncan or Kevn Garnett - it's just not tenable. Finally, as far as "hand checking" goes - look up one of Wilt's youtube highlight vids, and tell me how much hand checking you see. In fact tell me how much contact or even shot contesting you see. The defensive style of the day was largely ground bound, hands off, and play with your feet. That's why Russell was signficant as he was the first player to play in a semblance of the modern style of defense. Howver htere was only one of him, and before that most players' style of defense was conservative, to say the least.
In Orlando there was no one called Yao. Here, there is a big guy who can put it in the bucket but he prefers to jack them up. I am referring to the past 3 games. During the regular season he seemed more willing to pass the rock but after his appearance on National TV he seemed determined to fight the world all by himself.
What the heck are you talking about? You make it sound like Yao is tearing it up or something when he himself is really struggling making shots and playing defense. Yao is getting his shots and getting tons of FTs as well, which means he is getting a lot of touches. Yao's touches are not the problem. They BOTH have to play better, that's all. Yao and McGrady have been rather unimpressive in this series. I understand that Utah's physical nature and the toll it has taken on both, but they haven't played anywhere near their best as of yet. They both look a step too slow and they always look fatigued. I guess we're learning just now that Yao and T-Mac are pure finesse and don't deal too well with being physically 'bullied' around.
