I really wouldn't be surprised if McGrady calls it quits after his contract is up. He's had every motivation in the world to play hard this year, last year, the year before last, and the year before that.
I'm going to start by saying I believe what the doctors originally said regarding his knee and that there would be no loss of explosiveness once he regained the strength in it. Physically, I believe if he works hard for several months he could be close to where he was last season. Not exactly "Orlando Tmac" everyone still remembers but certainly a good NBA athlete and a very good player. The problem is in his head. I think he looks like he is ready to pack it in. I don't think his legacy is worth the effort to him anymore. I think he is seriously considering taking his money and hiding under a rock for the rest of his life once this contract is over. The only way I see him getting fired up and regaining some sort of intensity is if he is being coached by someone who knows how to push his buttons (even more than JVG) or if the Rockets landed a player who is a real leader/winner who even McGrady had to respect and admire. My bet is that he stays in Houston and sucks the rest of this season. Just to avoid more extreme criticism I think he will stay in better shape this summer and come back next year as a respectable player. Somewhere between last season's player and this season's player. I think if he was traded to a contender he might come out more motivated to prove people wrong but he won't do it here. He seems to have some disdain for the franchise and fans. He got his money here and we can all piss off is what I think he is feeling. I don't think a ring is his goal. Trying to erase the embarrassment of this season will be his goal for his final year in Houston. As far as him learning to be second banana...forget it. He doesn't like getting easy baskets and he doesn't run any offense that does not feature him handling the ball exclusively. He may be the only SG in the league who doesn't like wide open catch-and-shoot jumpers, give-and-go cuts or even running out on fast breaks for open dunks/layups. That won't change after 12 years in the league even if he wanted it to.
Weak argument . Tell that to Bryant ... Let's do the math , Bryant toal minutes played so far ( 33,399 season ) + (5,948 playoff) = 39,347 minutes . T-Mac played so far (27,462 season ) + (1,603 playoff) = 29,065 minutes . Kobe played 10,282 more minutes . Which equals at least more than 257 games , and he seems pretty good for all the "punishment" his body taken over the years.
true i dont know if the mashburn is a good comparison or same with penny both of whom had major surgeries that really killed their careers. tmac had the back issue that seems to be a memory now. he had basic knee surgery. face it the guy just doesnt like to work hard, his natural ability is a blessing and curse...the guy can do so much but everything came so easy to him that he never learnt how to work hard. you see a lot everyday where really smart people in high school end up being average in college because they never really learnt how to hit the books in high school and then in college where the majority of the people are smart they fall beind. mcgrady can come back to being a top 15 player in the league he may not be that high flyer in orlando but there are a lot of other players in the league who have had much more wear and tear on their bodies that still have a lot of their athleticism because of hard work.
Except that T-Mac and Bryant aren't clones or twins. Bryant's body can handle it. T-Mac's can't. Bryant's head can handle it. T-Mac can't.
no comparison. i followed Mashburn a little bit back in the day, and i recall that he basically had NO cartilage left in his knee or something, making it impossible to play w/o major pain. big difference. Penny Hardaway or Allan Houston are probably better comparisons.
Well, Penny was able to hang around as a role player, like what Grant Hill is doing now. I like the Mashburn comparison because the teams he was on depended on him even though he was declining. When healthy he was one of the best players in the league...but he wasn't healthy that often. They are guys that at their peak were great but people won't remember them much in the future because you don't see that when you look at their bio's...no rings, bad fg%'s. People will always remember Penny because he went to the finals.
yah i heard that too, he doesn't think he is done. he thinks his body needs rest and that management should sit him. i don't think he needs rest, he just needs to build up strength, he is still too nervous to jump off that left leg, that's why he missed the dunk, he tried to jump off the right, but ruined his timing because of it. also watch the video he could have gotten that in for a layup dunk if he had jumped a second earlier, he loses the ball on the rim because he jumped almost under the goal, just a bad dunk, i don't think it means he is OVER
TMac is declining faster than many of us expected. I don't think that he is done as a competitive NBA player, but yes he is done as an all-star/scoring champion caliber player. Both McGrady and the Rockets need to understand that and act accordingly. For TMac, that means that he needs to learn to play within the system and do the dirty work like a blue collar player. For the Rockets, that means that they need to evaluate what is in the best interests of the franchise regarding the future of Tracy McGrady. If that means they need to bring him off the bench, they should do that.
I knew Kobe had played more minutes but wow. That is a great stat to illustrate that the "wear and tear" argument is overrated. Basically, Kobe has played the equivalent of more than 3 NBA seasons more than McGrady.
i've said this for 2 years now. tmac will never get "healthy" again. he will continue to deteriorate. so far after 2 years of him regressing, i'm betting i'm gonna be right.
He is also committed to team USA and has been playing the past 3 summers. He even put off surgery to play for USA. If only mac had kobes or yaos mentality he would still be a top 10 NBA player.
tmac is done only if he thinks he's done... tmac needs to find other ways to be effective.. taking contested long jumpers ain't gonna cut it anymore... he's lost a step so he can't blow by defenders like he used to.. if he's to prove people wrong he needs to rely on his post up game and moving without the ball... both of which i don't think he will do.. i see him post up at times but not enough to be effective
kobe is not human.. who in their right mind would even be playing ball with a fever of 107 degrees.. i've been less sick than that and i couldn't get out of bed but yeah.. if only tmac had that type of mentality.. i wish i had it also
Exactly right. The only reason we're having this conversation is because of a $20,000,000 contract and the unreasonable expectations it brings. Whose fault that is is debatable.
they both had microfracture operations....Mac just will not work his body out....guess what i am saying is they were actually injured....That was when technology had not figured out Microfracture surgery also......not the same at all
whoever told you that is pulling it out of their anus. why would you believe he had 107 degree fever?
