Call me what you will, but minus the most dominant big man ever, I dont see what results you base this from.
No, Yao will retire at that age due to year-around playing basketball for the Rockets and the Chinese National Team. His body could break down faster than T-mac's
This is not new. T-Mac has been admitting that he is "old" since he first arrived from Orlando. I remember Van Dermeer and rich lord interviewing him after his first press conference at Toyota Center and he admitted that he is the oldest 25 year old. That is one of the reasons he wanted to play with Yao, so he didn't have to be "da man" every night. Remember, T-Mac is coming off a nightmare of a season with the constant back injuries, team injuries, personal problems, death in the family, etc...he admitted to not playing basketball all summer long. His shot is off and confidence is low but he is doing everything else to help the team win: assists, rebounds, steals, even blocks. His shot will come along, natural scorers don't lose that instinct over night. I noticed he is not as explosive as he was in 04-05, and doesn't seem to score at will, but his entire career has been built on the ability to make unbelievable shots. At the moment, they just aren't falling. THe ROckets are now 4-2 with T-Mac's offense being off for 5 of the 6 games played, BEWARE of when he starts hitting those shots he has been his entire career. I just hate seeing people jump all over him and downing him now that he is having a bad stretch. It's really sad especially from this board.
so he plays a diff. or reduced role and the team does better...I mean God, if T-Mac missed a game, any game for the Roxs it was an automatic L. Couple that with his minutes and mileage in shiitlando an this is no surprise. The most important thing he said was that this reduced role will prolong his career. He will still have "his" games where he goes off and heck...he can coast thru the reg. season sipping tea and then go fawking mad in the playoffs and win a championship........yeah baby Now, lets make sure Yao gets rest too, during his reg. season games and no more china ball
^^ It's crazy to me," McGrady said. "If I go out and have a subpar game and I don't shoot the ball well or play well and I get 13 points, every team I've been on, we're going to lose that game. "The role is kind of reversed now. I'm the distributor and I like that role." See, I told you
Yea he had Pippen who was a SIDEKICK. For the Rockets to win the Championship they need TMac to be a sidekick to Yao. Yao is going to have to be a leader through 3 quarters and TMac can be the finisher, if this happens the Rockets will be HARD to beat.
He'll be fine. He'll just have to adjust his game to using his mind instead of pure athletic ability, and he is one of the few people who can do that (guys like Kobe, Ray Allen, Chris Webber, Allen Iverson are also capable of doing that). Shaq isn't capable of that ironically enough.
Whatever. I must be a homer then because I completely disagree with you. Tell me again what exactly has Kobe done without Shaq? He and T-Mac were on teams that bledw 3-1 series lead. Other then that, tell me again what Kobe has done without "The Daddy" watching his back? I know what Shaq has done without Kobe, go to 4 Conference Finals, 2 NBA Finals, and win an NBA championship. So does that mean that everybody who isn't a Lakers homer realizes that Kobe rode Shaq's coattail?
it appears to be somewhat mental to me, and he can easily snap out of it. Forget kobe comparisons, Iverson is 32 and has beared the load for his entire career, and i cant recall a season where he hasnt played through injury. I admit, iverson lost some explosiveness, but hes still quick as lightening, and has still put that team on his shoulders. I think if T-mac will show signs of the old-mac, someone /something just has to indicate that he can return back to the shape he was in 2 years ago. Hes 27, I saw Michael Finlley in the playoffs vs the Mavs looked like the shape he was in when he was at his peak. I guess I am just in denial, but lets see how the rest of the season goes.
After reading that article, it really seems to me that we won't see the old Mcgrady until playoff time. I think he still has it in him, but like he said, he doesn't have to put it on his shoulders now that he has yao. I think we are expecting too much out of him We want the old TMAC but he isn't the same guy, which is OK. Yao is our number one option and TMAC can complement Yaos stlye of play. If we can get 24-26 pts from Yao and Tracy gives us 17-20, that would be fine. I know once the playoffs come around and the whole country is watching, TMAC will turn it on.
I'm not taking any positions on who's the better player, this can be debated till the end of time.. but can't you argue that Kobe took the Lakers to the playoffs and almost getting them out of the first round almost single-handedly? And this is playing with a team that is far inferior to our 04-05 Rockets. Kobe was not supposed to make the playoffs last year.
You're going to compare that team to a crap Magic team Tmac played with? You cannot be serious. Kobe hasn't had to play with a team and a coach that terrible, not once.
I'm not taking any positions on who's the better player, this can be debated till the end of time.. but you can't argue that T-mac took the Magic to the playoffs and almost getting them out of the first round almost single-handedly? And this is playing with a team that didn't have a player better then Odom. What now?
I'm comparing Kobe's team last year v TMac's team 2 years ago. My point was TMac had Yao, Sura, and MJ on that team... and he failed to make the 2nd round. That year I still think that we should've made the 2nd round. Kobe's Shaq-less team last year were not even supposed to make the playoffs.. but not only that.. they made it with a 6th seed. Not to mention almost getting them out of the 1st round before the Suns got hot.
Damn I didn't know this was a competition. I was just giving the other side since everyone here would be all over TMac's balls. Don't get too excited now, keep it in your pants.
Better? I don't know about that, but Kobe has been fortunate enough to be in a position where he has not been on teams that were as bad as T-Mac's Magic, and thus I believe that his body is in better physical condition, where he can probably be as explosive as he has always been. Where who is better or not.....I dunno. I think T-Mac has a higher IQ, a better passer, and is an overall better decision maker than Kobe. I think Kobe is a physically better athlete at this stage of their career's, a better scorer, a better shooter, and has more passion to be the best, but who's better? I don't know.
LoL, so after pointing out the flaw in your dumb and horribly ironic post in which you try to prove kobe is "Tougher" then T-mac, that is your best response. Way to argue the point sir.
At this point in their careers, I would have to say that Kobe is better. T-Mac at his peak back in Orlando was arguably better than Kobe. His game was more elegant and he had better passing and ball-handling.
Prove Kobe tougher? When did I say that? So you're saying that TMac is tougher than Kobe? I don't like Kobe, but I disagree with people always riding TMac's balls saying he's better than Kobe becasue of this and that. But if you want my opinion, I think Kobe is slightly better than TMac. Sure why not? Aside from TMac's back injury, Kobe has been through it all too. Everyone's had injuries and personal issues. Kobe bounced back with a playoff run the year after his 'rape' trial. He's been criticized about his style of play by critics, just like TMac has. He's even been boo'd by his hometown crowd when he went to play an allstar game back in Philly.. it hurts. Did you see Kobe whine about any of that? Now I like our boy TMac, but Kobe never threatened to retire, nor admit he often came out not even wanting to play and just going through the motion. Kobe just got out there and played. His response to all of that is in the court, playing his heart out.
