Problem with that is that Lebron and Wade haven't exactly had a long career yet. We'll see how they pan out... Kobe, on the other hand, I don't think will ever lose confidence...
Almost all of your argument consists of early 2005. This is 2006, almost 2007. McGrady has diminished and Kobe has improved, which is why Kobe > McGrady. The guy played a whole season while on trial for rape. McGrady went into a month long slump when his girl's elderly grandmother passed away. As heartless as it may seem, that's but one of example of how Kobe is tougher and able to separate himself from his personal life when on the court. McGardy always seems to be moping around due to various personal crises that spill over in his on-court demeanor. Kobe was way better last year, and continues to be better this year. i don't know how you can argue it otherwise. PS, as a side note, I love the argument which is always trotted out to discredit Kobe-Shaq-Phil Jackson, depending on who is being discredited. "X was only good because he had Y next to him, and Z coaching him....Y is only good because he had X next to him and Z coaching him.....Z is an average coach who got lucky with X and Y on his team".....I guess they all must suck then. Well we've already seen them go further in the playoffs than McGrady ever did.
well if you look at the lakers last year they had no talent on that team.. odom wasnt playing that well.. the reason they made the playoffs and took the suns to game 7 was because of kobe. just look at the amazing things he did last year.. scoring 65 and 81 pts. he has this drive and fearlessness that tmac doesnt have.. tmac seems timid and fragile. .while kobe when they needed a win he would either throw up an amazing shot or drive in for a dunk or layup.. tmac settles for the jump shot.. dont get me wrong i hate .. well dont hate kobe.. but i use to despise him alot. but i gotta give him props for his game. . he isnt doing this well this year in terms of scoring but he is till avg 21pts a game on like 45-50% FG which is pretty good.. tmac is down to like 16 pts a game on 35% fg.. which is HORRIBLE anyways TMAC at this rate is not even a allstar with all the depth and talen in the league.. but i sure he turns it around. .
No talent? Lamar sucks? Was it not him and Wade that went past round 1 in the playoffs 2 years prior? Was it not Lamar whom PHX couldn't stop? Was it not Kobe who quit on the team in game 7? It wasn't because of Kobe, it was because he passed the freaking ball to his teammates for once because he couldn't outscore PHX alone. Stevie Wonder can see that. I know, 81 points. Boy, taking 40 shots and not passing the ball sure makes that great. 63 points, Tmac hit 62, moot point. All it led to was a scoring title, and Tmac has 2 of those taking less shots. I dont hate Kobe but you guys are overrating him trying to make a point about another player. Funny you don't mention the Lakers losing games since his return and Lamar losing his touch at the same time.
hey ur making all the kobe tmac comparisons.. all i simply said there are a handful of players that are better than tmac now.. tmac is not an allstar anymore if he keeps playing the way he does.. i know ur a big tmac fan and all.. just from ur name.. anyways tmac has his shaq now in yao.. .so lets see if he can do something in the playoffs and take us to a championship now.. he needs to perform as well as kobe did with shaq for us to win.. no more excuses for Tmac. this is the time to win.. I always thought Tmac could equal kobe in the laker years of shaq and kobe and that Yao would be the problem of living up to Shaq. .but instead its the opposite.. Yao is right there where Shaq was during those championship years.. now we just need tmac to step it up and perform like kobe did ... its still early in the season so im hoping tmac can do it .. oh and one more thing . . Kobe is averaging about 5 or 6 assits this season too.. so he can also pass......and he's shoooting much better ... ahh anyways i wont argue with you who i like better and who is the better person or personality.. thats definately hands down tmac..
...Way to totally ignore 2005-06 as if it never happened. Kobe is shooting 51%, despite that, like Tracy, his outside shot is not falling. Why? Because he drives the lane and is fearless. The fact that you want to give McGrady extra style points for his assists (Kobe is at a career high thus far ) is laughable. This has nothing to do with what kind of a person each guy is and everything with how they deal with off-court distraction - an area in which Bryant is vastly superior to McGrady (as his game is, and was last year). The "8 deaths" are an assortment of second cousins and extended family members in law and high school acquaitances... no offense but it's not that big of a deal (especially the one from last year), it's not like his parents, siblings, or children were any of them. My aunt passed away this summer. It was sad, but if you're asking me if I'd rather be put on trial for rape and go to state prison for 10 years - I and any sane person would be distinctly more concerned about the lastter scenario. Any suggestion otherwise is a complete joke. Who cares? I don't even like Kobe that much, my name is not KobeSNKT; he very well might be phony. But that doesn't keep me from acknowledging he's a better player than McGrady, who has been in a slump for over a year now. I don't care about choice or blame, I'm just saying who's better....I don't need to bother with the laundry list of excuses for Tracy McGrady (which are generally contradicted when you belittle everybody else's accomplishments despite the fact taht the same excuses apply). It's just a simple fact, one that was recognized last year and if trends continue, will be recognized this year.
Im starting to think... that just maybe...Tmac should coast along in the regular season... do just enough to win us games... but save his energy for the playoffs... more passing less shooting... and definately less driving to the net... he can drive but dish it off if he sees 3 big bodies inside ready to hammmer him... when the playoffs come Tmac can then take it to the next level... shoot a little more... and drive to the net more.. great way to jack up... on a defense... that by playoff time will have Yao as the center point to defend...
very well said SamFisher.. all excellent points which totally make sense.. we are not even here to defend kobe.. since i dont like kobe either.. i much rather prefer tmac. but when evaluating a player you gotta evaluate them with out any bias on who is the better player. and that right now is kobe.. i dont even are about kobe you can throw in a whole bunch other names that play tmacs position and are better.. Carter,Wade, Carmelo, Lebron, Joe Johnson, Odom, Arenas, Iverson, Hamilton, Lewis, Pierce, Kevin Martin (wow break out year for this guy. 23pph 55% FG "tmac never shot above 45%", Redd(i know he just scores and doesnt pass as well as tmac. but damn look at his shooting! ) anways the list goes on and on and im just trying to list players in similar positions as tmac.. not including all the PFs, and Centers and PGs tmac needs to step it up! and on another note kobe isnt playing better than a lot of the guys in the above list too..
if he can turn it on and off thats great! !! but his shot just isnt falling . and i dont think its something where he can go ok i want to make my shots now and start making them..
There are plenty of guys playing better than Tmac right now. I agree. Mentioning Kobe's assists and not those 4.5 turnovers wont work. Now my point wasn't to say he was the best (as I never have nor will make such an asinine assertion), but saying Kobe is better, yet with the fact that he has done nothing more than Tracy has in his career thus far, minus Shaq and Phil. Im speaking of Kobe in terms of when his legacy as the leader of his own team is counted, and thus far, he hasnt done anything more than other guys besides AI who took scrubs to the finals and won MVP under LB.
i dont think you can just assume that just because they were an assortment of extended family that it doesnt mean anything to mcgrady. for example myself, when my grandpa died i didnt shed a tear at all, when I was told of it i just said "ohok" and went over to my friends house to play basketball. Why? I had met my grandpa only once in my lifetime. Now when my second cousin passed away it bummed me out big time and effected me in all parts of the day. why? Because my second cousin and I hung out every other weekend for nearly 4 years. Just because they have a label of "extended" family does not indicate the nature of the relationship. So yes losing that many people in the fashion he did (i believe only one of the deaths was of a natural cause) could leave a lasting impression on him. as for the rape trial question its was KOBE'S FAULT he was in that predicament in the first place. Its not like he woke up one morning and got a phone call saying he was on trial all of a sudden for no reason. Whether he actually comitted the crime or not is really not the question, but there was enough action done on his own judgement and will to put himself in that position. kobe made a choice to do whatever he did and he did admit that he slept with the "victim" He put himself in that position. Mcgrady did not go out and cause these people's deaths, they just happened and was out of his own control. i am not here to say tmac is a better player or kobe is a better player, they both have their own strengths and flaws but to say what happened to kobe and he handled it compared to what tmac had to go through is a bit narrow minded and short sighted
I dont think he can turn it on or off, but he is known for stepping it up in the playoffs. You've seen at least one year of it here in Houston
Deaths of a friend or such is the most ridiculous excuse for bad performance. Translate your pain into points, TMac. TMac is a nice person, might be a good person to be a friend. But, I am afraid that TMac is too happy with his personal life (wife and kids) to play hard any more. He has everything right now (almost). The only motivation for him right now is a championship ring. It doesn't seem he cares in his eyes right now.
Ugh. Now we've got rookies coming in to spout off nonsense about T-Mac (as if the mindless JVG hatred wasn't enough). ClutchFans could be the greatest web site on the planet, if only...
i'll agree with that.. when tmac is hot.. he's one of the best players in the league.. we just havent seen that since his injury.. so lets see what happens this year... but so far i like what i see in the spurs game. tmac going agressive to the basket.. hope he keeps it up
If it means anything, I'll try to avoid repeating any of the nonsense that's taken root here within the past week. McGrady may not be perfect, but it's unfortunate that people have turned on him so quickly.
