Ric Bucher: I dont see a Tmac-led team winning a chip, EVER

7 championship rings and a major contributor to several champion runs. The Rockets of '95, Lakers of 2002 and the Spurs of 2005 would wouldn't have rings without him.

 

u don't think they could have won rings without him??? rockets possibly. but the lakers won before he came. the spurs won before he came.

then i can say the spurs would not have won w/o michael finley this yr.

the bulls would not have won w/o steve kerr or paxson. just b/c they're "contributing" as "role-players" don't mean they can be HOF players.

there's talk that tmac might not even make it to the HOF if he retires today. and you're saying horry deserves to go over him. a guy that never had to carry a franchise. never had to fight off criticism. never had to show up EVERY game. never had to create. basically, just shoot when the ball is to you w/ nobody is around you.

 

if tmac can get to 2nd round once within the last 10years, i think we can make an argue for him, but at this point no

 

In game 7's last seconds, T-mac also didn't give up the foul after making the lay-up-allowing Utah to run down the clock. This showed lack of presence of mind or mental toughness for a ten-year veteran. I can't understand this mental lapse.

However, T-mac is still one of the most talented players who makes the game easy for all of his teammates and is usually makes good decisions.

 

Maybe he was following instructions from Van Gundy?

 

exactly. tmac along w/ luther head i believe doubled deron and no one fouled. not even looking to foul. that has to be the instruction.

 

Like yao has also been a great leader thus far. we gotta face it. both yao and tracy are not leadership matireal. lets hope james and francis can bring that bulldog attitude that sura oozed.

 

Leader does not necessary mean bulldog. Duncan is a leader - not a bulldog.

 

I hate to say it... but I think the next years team is going to be overrated too...

MJ and SF will need to play some of their best basketball... while adjusting to new roles... for me to believe...

 

there ya go...

 

Misleading and wrong, as usual.

Utah - with a much deeper team - had their top two players miss a combined 10 games

Houston - with a lot less depth - had their top two players (both of whom, when healthy, are better than either of Utah's top two players)
miss a combined 45 games.


Here is your equation: Yao/Tracy * -45 + weaker supporting cast = Williams/Boozer * -10 + deeper supporting cast.

Science loses again

 

True. but They dont lead by exampel whatsoever. take game 7 against utah, tracy has a exceptional game until 5 minutes left when we have the jazz in foul trouble and over the penalty. he stops attacking the rim for some odd reason. with he's ability, anytime he wanted he could have got to the line.

Then there is yao who looked slow and lazy. he at times seemed dis-interested. gave away easy buckets left and right. he just looked horrible on defense. he was just going through the motions.

These are the times when you're superstars are supposed stepup and our two stars just fell away way to easily. noway duncan or steve nash would let that happen to there clubs. they would fight tooth and nail to regain the momentum with all they got.

Tracy goes missing by not taking any shots and yao plays lazy on defense and offense.

 

I agree with everything but I still think that T-Mac can lead us to something big.He just needs others players to support him.We got SF3,Mike James,Luis Scola...Those role players should contribute.

 

Fatigue. Tracy said so in an interview. He was too damn tired. So was Yao, who just came back from a serious injury. His stamina wasn't up to par yet, neither was his speed. The team depended way too much on Tracy, and thus caused him to tire out. BTW, don't forget even Rafer played 44 min per game.

 

With the addition of francis, james and scola, hopefully scoring wont be a problem anymore. with a bench of francis, james, Wells hayes and alston, were probaly deepest team going around.

 

Instead of alston i meant moutombo.

 

Wow! Whatever happened to all the love at ESPN for Mr. "It's On Me"?

 

I think Bucher is right. That said Manu, Clyde and Kobe got plenty of rings between them as second bananas who pick key spots to make big plays. We need Yao to do the prolonged heavy lifting as TD, Hakeem and Shaq did, Tmac picking his spots, and the rest of the guys holding their own. But Tmac having to do the heavy lifting for a season and playoffs, or building a team around him, that isn't going to cut it. No shame in getting titles in roles like Manu/Kobe/Clyde though.

 

that's fine if yao can handle that role. but he has not shown any signs that he can. the reason clyde/kobe/manu (and i don't know why u put manu in this convo, he's not on their level) can handle being 2nd bananas is b/c duncan/dream/shaq are clearly a level ahead of them in terms of dominant play during those times.

and not coincidentally, those 3 are arguably top 3 at their position of ALL time.

so is yao a clear level ahead of tracy in terms of overall dominance? is he clearly a level ahead of tracy in terms of putting the intimidation to teams (i mean, utah didn't double yao much during that series w/ okur on him).

i'm all for it if yao can handle it. but i dont think he can. and it looks like adelman is designing to emphasize on making tracy the recipient rather than the playmaker now.

 

I agree with u.And if we want some succes Yao and Tracy must step up like real leaders.Yao showed some inability to do that especially when T-Mac is missing due to injury.I'm glad things are getting 2gether and Rockets are showing some real threat to other West teams.