http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060112/COLUMNISTS0306/601120348/1065/SPORTS Looking back, T-Mac deal made sense (Peter Kerasotis, Florida Today) Let's start today's topic with a little shout-out to my friends in Houston, all of those e-mail pen pals who inundated my in box during the summer of 2004. What happened, guys? Are your computers on the fritz? Cat got your keyboards? Silence. That's all I hear from Houston now. Silence. But that's not what I heard two summers ago when the Orlando Magic traded Tracy McGrady to the NBA's Rockets and I opined: Houston, you've got a problem. Oh, the e-mails. In so many words -- and I do mean many words -- I was an idiot. And that was just the polite noun used. Listen, I've always maintained three things about Orlando trading Tracy McGrady: He needed to go. I was the first to write that, and I still believe it. He was a whiner, a quitter, soft, and on top of all that he routinely belittled his teammates. He is an immense talent. No question. Talent-wise, he might be the best in the league. The Magic didn't nearly get market value for him. His back. I kept asking why, when the trade came down, everyone was ignoring his back issues? Well, nobody is ignoring it now. If you saw the way T-Mac was carried off the court in a stretcher Sunday night, it was apparent that his back is more than just balky. The man was in a serious world of pain, and that's sad. Nobody wants to see that. But you had to see it coming. McGrady routinely missed Magic games with back problems, and he missed many more practices. In fact, he missed so many Magic practices because of back complaints that the suspicion was he was milking it. Either way, something wasn't right. That's what I focused on to my newly found friends from Houston. T-Mac's back. Again and again, I e-mailed my pen pals with this choice: Either Tracy McGrady has a bad back or he is a malingerer. Pick your poison, because it's one or the other. Me? I always believed it was a bit of both, though I didn't quite know which way the scales tipped more. Time would tell. And that's what this trade truly needed in order to evaluate it accurately. Time. Already, after less than two years in Houston, we now know that not much has changed with McGrady. He still can't lead a team out of the first round of the playoffs, something he's never done. We also know that Rocket fans won't have to worry about T-Mac trying to do that this season. You see, you first have to make the playoffs in order to then try and make it out of the first round, and right now Houston is bringing up the rear in the Western Conference's Southwest Division, one of the NBA's dregs. Feels familiar, doesn't it? The Rockets entered Wednesday night's home game against Sacramento at 12-21, a .364 winning percentage. That doesn't smell quite as bad as the 21-61 record T-Mac led the Magic to in his last season in Orlando, but the odor is very similar. Meanwhile, T-Mac is up to his same old complaints. When injury has forced center Yao Ming out of the lineup, McGrady has McGrumbled. Recently, he told reporters, "It was hard for me to focus and not get discouraged." Goodness, that sounds a lot like the comments he gave Sports Illustrated last season. He spoke about his days with the Magic, when the team's other superstar, Grant Hill, was injured. "I was slacking off," McGrady said. And then, as if discouragement was justification, he added, "You can sit there and say I'm making millions of dollars and I should play hard every night, and how can I not? It's not that easy." Right. What is definitely becoming more and more apparent is that it's not going to be easy for McGrady to play through these back problems. Earlier this season, he missed eight games and was forced into traction. He is supposed to meet with doctors to see when he might be able to return. The early prognosis looks like another extended stay on the disabled list. If anything, it appears his back problems are getting worse. Meanwhile, at 27, he isn't getting any younger. That's not a good combination. And that's not good for Rocket fans, including all those who were my pen pals. This isn't meant to gloat. Hardly. After all, nobody takes delight in someone else's injury. But I will admit that it is a bit of an I-told-you-so. After the e-mails I received, I think I'm entitled to that.[END] These guys just don't give it a rest, do they?
Well, he is right, FOR NOW !! But if we win next year, we can email the heck out of him and gloat away. DD
BTW, it was curiously missing from his own article, begging us to write him but I found it elsewhere...his email is pkerasot@flatoday.net. Just in case you were wondering...
Most of what this guy wrote about T-Mac is completely false except the issue about his back. It seems to be a chronical problem. That is what worries me the most. Health issues are huge problems for Rox's two stars.
I do not think Yao really has health issues. I mean he missed what 3 games his first 3 years. T-Mac on the other hand is a different story.
He is an idiot. We don't know that Tracy won't lead us out of the first round of the playoffs this year. The playoffs haven't been decided, much less played. The only thing is that is hard to label this guy cheif idiot, when about half the fans on this board don't even believe. The season is 82 games long for a reason. Anything can happen. To me the upside seems huge for THIS SEASON. We are less than 10 games back from the 8th spot in the playoffs with a depleted roster. We are going to have our guys get back and get healthy, and we have the talent to make up that gap. That isn't a guarantee, or a sure thing, and it won't be easy, but it is foolish to give up without trying. Already our scrubs and 2nd stringers are getting huge amounts of playing time that they wouldn't have gotten, and can help us in the playoffs. During the early losing streak the team looked like they weren't trying. Now even though we are losing they are putting in a real effort. Those playing habits will be a huge difference with T-mac and/or Yao back in the game. This premature writing off of a team and giving up on them isn't the heart of a champion.
ill take t-mac, bad back and all over steve-o any day of the year. has there ever been a team that has suffered as much injuries as we have this year? it sucks, but thats just the way it goes and i would hardly blame that on t-mac. when healty he has been his usual amazing self. even a healty steve cant make the playoffs in a (slightly) weaker eastern conference.
More Florida trash "sports writing" coming out of the woodworks..... Those guys shouldnt even have the luxury of calling themselves journalists. It sounds like an Orlando Magic troll posting on Clutchfans...... seriously Obviously this guys ego is bigger than Disney World.
Write him about WHAT? You folks all know that back in your collective minds, you are terrified that TMac's back problems are so severe that he will never be the same. And if TMac were to go the Grant Hill route with his back problems, the Rockets will enter freefall because they have bet their future on his playing at a high level - in effect being their resident superstar. If he can't do that anymore then the future for the Rockets will indeed be grim. Two years ago nobody wanted to even consider his back issues or his "personality" issues. Now I'm seeing "Oh, I hope TMac doesn't give up on this team because of all the losing" posts on ClutchCity. The fact is that TMac has been playing in the league for 9 years now and has a bad back. That HAS to be a concern for all Rockets fans. This guy is basically saying "I told you so". He's entitled to say so because right now he was dead on about McGrady's back problems. As for the other stuff, TMac rubbed quite a few folks in Orlando the wrong way when he orchestrated his departure because he basically wanted off a losing team. If he were to do the same here, all that TMac love would instantly turn to hate overnight. TMac himself admitted that he "gave up" on the Magic so these questions about his resolve should come as no surprise to anyone here.
Well, Steve Francis is healthy all the time, and, well, Orlando still misses the playoffs every year. Orlando's team is constructed to win 40 to 46 games every year for the next 10 years. That means they miss the playoffs or lose in the first round every year. The only way they will ever come back to the elite is to trade Francis at some point, go through 1 or perhaps a couple 20 win seasons in order to get a star draft pick, and even those aren't guarantees. Yet, for Peter, the McGrady trade meade sense. Sure it did.
Tell him he's an idiot. Tell him I would still do the trade in a heart beat even Tracy plays 60 regular season games per year from now on. Tell him how Juwan steps up when we need him now. Tell him how good Tracy is when he plays. Tell him how are Steve and Cato doing with the magic. Tell him Christie is enjoying his retirement with their money. Tell him he's in denial if he thinks the trade make sense for orlando. Oh yes tell him again he's an idiot at the end.
At the time people did know he had back problems, and I heard some mention them at the time of the trade, but the gamble was worth it. Last year we made the playoffs and won more playoff games than the year before. T-mac's work ethic has not been lacking here, and he hasn't whined about teammates. To say that in just two years because he's missed some games that he is going to be useless and our season is as good as over, and that the trade made sense because this is what will happen every year from now on, is silly. It could happen, but it could just as easily happen that T-Mac will play the rest of the year without any more serious injuries, and the Rockets will go on the playoffs and win in an upset in the first round. He's trying to say "I told you so" before there is any reason to say "I told you so."
LOL! Hilarious how he doesn't mention even ONCE the Rockets' injury-plagued season. Apparently McGrady is supposed to save the Rockets while being injured and missing over 10 games this season and not playing in the 2nd half (or playing very much like an injured player) in another 3-4 games, and STILL this man puts up 36ppg in a 5-game stretch, outdueling the healthy and dominant Lebron James. Yup, quiet convenient for the writer to skip all those 'irrelevant' facts. Oh, he forgot to mention the part too about our other franchise player not playing since December 17 or something like that (nearly a month now); just another convenient fact he left out. It's pretty telling that he's unsatisfied enough with his local team that he chooses to ignore them and keep his obsession with everything McGrady alive; oh boy it must be eating him up inside, he's grasping at straws to say the least. That being said, the back issue is definitely a concern, but I think he will be able to work through it somehow for the rest of his career, and what most people forget is that 60-70% of T-Mac is still a dominant player, a force to be reckoned with. He's our closer, all we need from him is to pace himself through 3 quarters (which means his teammates would carry the majority of the slack early on) and then have him close fresh enough to close 'em out. Time and time again his doctors said that his back problem is not "structural", which is the most important thing to keep in mind here. I think it is a manageable problem, although it certainly will cost him a few games here and there every season. The other thing people are forgetting is that McGrady (by his own admission) has taxed himself way too much this past off-season, and didn't give his body the rest it needed. I think that's what the Rockets' brass need to get across to him and Yao: the off-season is time to rest and heal your body from the grueling 82-game season, not to mention those post-game seasons that follow. So basically no wonder his body is breaking down on him now because he has put it through a grueling routine instead of resting it. It's clear to me he's paying for that right now. Still, all of his current problems are nothing that won't be minimized with a good 5-6 months of rest, and nothing but rest and a few light workouts here and there. The biggest problem for McGrady is that he's pushing himself and his body too hard, his ambition is getting the best of him. I really hope that when he gets back, JVG won't let him go through his tiring and grueling practices, a few shoot-arounds will do the trick, and in this case he should just do like AI and say, "Practice? We're talking about practice, not the game!"
Exactly JB, the whole point of the trade is that tmac could possibly take us further than Mobley/Francis ever could...sure he has health issues, but with him we actually have a chance to be great instead of being stuck in mediocrity. But, I guess this gives people an opportunity to come out and get all gitty about Tmac being hurt...like that is some 'see I told you so' statement. But what exactly did they tell us? That Tmac has a history of back issues? Duh. That we're worse off after the trade? Please.
I understand people's reactions to the article, its pretty slanted, and any time a columnist goes on an I told you so rant its kind of pathetic, but the back was a concern. so the, "he's not mentioning injuries" argument is pretty weak considering that's his point, he said the injury was a concern. remember, the Rockets are 0 for forever when T-Mac is out even when Yao played.
