Although its unfortunate, TMac is being realistic about how he feels about his body and you can tell that he is very cautious of his body by the way he carries himself on the court. It would be ideal if he only had to average 30 mins a game provided that Bonzi and Kirk can step up. That way he can go full force in the playoffs. I just wish these young players would realize this alot earlier in their careers and take it a little bit easier on the court. DWade esecially...the dudes gonna have hip replacement surgery before his next contract extention comes up. Ginobli is another case where the physical grind is begining to catch up to his body. I'd much rather see them play at a higher level longer in their careers then provide the top 10 plays of sports center every night and be done in 10 years.
tmac is not going to be a decoy. 25 ppg is something that would be reasonable for him to achieve, and those are not decoy numbers
Liu has the brain of a mouse. Quality of insight on this board is declining. You have to look hard to look for 2 well written opinions on one page. This is how I go through a thread: Garbage, Nonsense, What did he mean, Good Comment, More Garbage, WTF?, Excellent post, overzealous YOFs making no sense, English Translation please, and finally every thread ends up with Zboy bashing Juwan Howard As far as Tmac goes, he's such a smart player that I think that he will adapt and adjust his game to utilize his current strengths. His strengths used to be: 1)Athleticism 2)Shooting 3)Ballhandling and now they will be 1) Quarterbacking 2)Shooting 3) Playing defense 4) Experience I think his metamorphosis will be successful in the mold of Jordan's transformation. For all the rookies and fantasy geeks, Tmac's overall impact on the game going forward will be far greater. Not in the way of stats, but in his utlization of all of his skills at the same time. He's not just an offensive player. He's superlong making him a great defender and he makes impeccable decisions. He will even be a better rebounder the rest of his career. WELCOME TO TMAC II, the Sequel. Sequels are always better than the original.
I doubt his actual ball-handling ability will diminish because that doesn't require quite as much athleticism. I think his strengths now are his length, strength, shooting, ball handling, passing, court vision, creating plays, and defense. His defense is pretty underrated. When he's really motivated on D, he plays amazing D. Anything else? I mean he's not on the IV or in the wheelchair yet man he can still get around the court if he has to. Plus he's got that evil eye he can give the refs and other players. It's interesting because Rafer is our PG but the offense runs through T-Mac. Even if he's not making posters out of people or puttin up 40+ anymore, he can still get it done on offense. He creates for his teammates really well and can still create his own shot. Someone suggested that the Rockets should go through Yao for the first 3 and then let T-Mac take over the 4th. As long as T-Mac is still looking for his teammates in the fourth, that strategy seems full-proof enough. Keep in mind, the Bucks game was only one game. If we are to be sure he's out of his little slump he needs to put up decent percentages against other teams too. He ALWAYS kills the Bucks hahaha so we'll see. Tomorrow the Knicks, after that we have a pretty tough stretch coming up. After 5 games, we'll really see where his game is at.
I disagree, you've got to give it your all... 100% night in and night out and being young and wanting to be the best translates into a game of reckless abandon and it will take a toll as it should. "Take it a little bit easier on the court" ?? Come on, who purposely takes it easy just to prolong their career?
There is a reason Riley told Wade to work on his midrange game for this season. He may not purposely take it easy, but if he doesn't adapt, he'll have no choice due to injury. Wade will get older one day as well, and he'll experience the same thing. He's just speeding up the time driving with no regard and being knocked to the floor every 3 plays. The human body can only take so much punishment.
I just can't see Wade changing his style of play this early. Sure I can see him improving his midrange in efforts of becoming a more complete player but when he's this athletic, young and fearless there's not a chance. I dont't think he will change until like you said he has no chance but due to injury.
I agree. And given his highly physical playing style, the wear and tear will take its toll on Wade's body even faster than other superstars like him. I can't help thinking that every time I see him throw his body at the rim, get hit hard and fall on his back. I wouldn't be surprised if Wade has lost a step or two by age 26 after a knee/back surgery or two.
I'd have to disagree with you there. Even TMac said it well when he described Clemens game. Wanting to be the best does not mean your game has to be of reckless abandon. In Jordan's second 3 titles, his game was not only much more complete but smarter and a thing of beauty. Sure, early in his career and in his first couple of championships he could dunk the ball on 3 defenders but he was young and when you're young you always want to give the crowd something to get off their seats for. That's not what made him the best...WINNING makes you the best.
Liu hates the rockets. he is more of a laker fan then rockets. he only comes here cause of yao. he is a joke. i wouldnt take anything he says seriousely. As for tracy, atleast he is trying to change his game now. infact i believe if he starts improving his other skills rather then relying on his atheletic freakiness, he will become an better player.
Great article and the timing fior this "self realization" is good for the rockets because it means that he's willing to do all of the necessary things not just the exciting things to help this team reach the next level. This doesn't mean that he wont dunk on Diaw in the playoffs or explode for 40...it just means that he'll have to trust his teammates more to HELP him go on a deep run in May-June.
McGrady is kinda like me. Convince yourself that you feel old, and you'll soon be ancient. Im not getting paid gazillions to play basketball though...fire up Mac
Personally I think its amazing that people think his a step slow. He seems fine to me. Hell 27 is like not even close to old for some people. Maybe its because here in Australia i get to see him maybe 5% of the time he actually plays and all the T-mac sightings i get are from highlight reels
Jordan never had the career threatening injuries Tmac had, however. Other than his second season, he never missed games due to injury while at Chicago. He was an iron man except during his stint playing BBall during his first retirement. Every year he played 80 -82 games, except 92-93 when he played 78 games. Plus, he played a whole lot more playoff games than Tmac has. So Tmac will have to develop both Jordan's mental acumen, plus his durability, for the comparisons to be valid. I'm not optimistic.
T-Mac is weak minded, if he thinks hes a step slower and cant attack the rim anymore then he wont! JVG needs to slap him for thinking this.
Okay, so it might be normal to slow down a little bit. But why is he such a wimp? Look at guys like Hakeem, Nash, Jordan, Malone, Iverson. They continued to dominate into their 30's. I think a big part of this is mental. And he says Kobe isn't the same? Really? I don't see how he can say that after the year Kobe had last year.
We're fortunate that we went out and got some decent players to surround our stars. Now TMac won't have to play so many minutes. Our roster isn't quite where we need it to be, but it does afford TMac some rest each game (especially if Bonzi Wells would just choke down the grilled chicken and veggies and drop the weight and get out there with TMac). TMac's passing and defense have been really good so far this year. His assists and steals are impressive. He won't be on SportsCenter as often, but so what? As long as we win. Maybe ESPN won't mind showing POSITIVE clips of Yao (as opposed to every team he gets dunked on). Now, with all that said, it wouldn't hurt to (in the near future) grab us a young player like Brandon Roy. Yep, we tried. It wouldn't hurt to have someone solid on the team with Yao who won't be retiring in 3 years.
