Outside of the massive 4th quarter collapse to the Kings that almost resulted in a horrendous loss to enter All-Star Weekend with, the most concerning thing I have noticed recently has been T-Mac. Not his average defense or inability to get to the rim, but rather how Adelman has used him. I was one of the BIGGEST Adelman ------------ throughout the summer for the reason that he would put T-Mac where he hasn't been in years....as somewhat of a designated scorer. This means less pick and rolls, and more iso's/off ball plays called for him to get easier shots. Early in the year this is exactly what was happenning. The team results were mixed, but T-Mac was averaging 25PPG on 45% shooting before his injury against the Mavs. Since T-Mac has been moved back to the never ending pick and roll, his FG % has sharply dropped and his shot selection is getting worse and worse due to being farther away from the basket and facing more double teams off the pick and roll. That has seemingly resulted in a loss of confidence and rythym to his game, and as a result he is not playing lke the scorer we need him to be. I hope something is changed. I don't mind the occasional pick and roll, but the playmaking duties are just fine with Rafer. We need to let T-Mac do what he does best, and that is score, and Adelman needs to do more of what he did earlier in the season to get him good shots. Maybe the quantity of those shots should be down, but there is no reason to use him purely as a PG...if that is the case then he is very expendeble.
He's not exactly making a high percentage of the shots he does take considering these days they are all jumpers. He has pretty much abandoned going to the basket for the most part. He flat looks lazy out there. The team is playing real well, but I wouldn't say it's TMAC leading any kind of charge.
dude.. Tmac & Yao killed with the P&R in 2004-5. this boards schizophrenic.. even from quarter to quarter.. heh.. even in this game.. even though we won and now were on break. it's a wake up call.. and I am sure they are listening now. Best thing for em really.
This is totally true Every play i've drawn for him involve a pick and roll. There is nearly no play where it finishes with him on a pass. Yao gets plenty of them but where is Mcgrady in all of this.
Look at tape from earlier this year, when he catches the ball in an iso from 15ft out, he goes to the rim a LOT more often. But when he is running off a pick and roll 30ft out with the whole defense targeting him, it is MUCH tougher. As I have said many times, yu cannot stop him from taking bad shots but can encourage good ones, thus why he was shooting so well before the knee injury.
That's been our offense of late. Heavily PnR oriented. That's how we've been winning all these games in January and February. I don't understand what people want from T-Mac. He played the entire second half, and he had to face the most physical perimeter defender in the game in the 4th. I'm not going to give any excuse for his soft defense -- that's just who he is on that end. But offensively, he did what everyone has been saying he should do. Just be a team player, don't force things. Try to feed off Yao. Well, these are the results. When he does take over like he did against Seattle and Milwauke (or Sacramento, Memphis earlier in the season) people criticized him for dominating the ball. He just can't win with some people.
Mcgrady physically is not near the shape he was in during the 04-05 season. If he stays healthy for the remainder of the season, and goes into the offseason healthy, I fully expect him to be in Orlando shape next season. I think next year he can opt out - he'll be 29 then. He needs to put up good numbers to get another max contract, so i'm pretty sure he'll step it up by then. Sad to say, but it looks like he's lost his motivation this season. If money doesn't motivate him, then nothing will.
Something was NOT right with McGrady today. I believe he attempted 3 shots the entire 2nd half. THREE shot attempts! The last time we faced the Kings and Artest decided to take the game to him, McGrady rose to the challenge and ended up dropping 40 points (although we lost thanks to the heroic efforts of Mike James). Something is wrong. I don't know what it is, whether it's up in his head ... but he'd better snap out of it quick.
A. Injury B. Depression C. Unhappiness with role / team / coach / game plan Can anybody tell me which of the above looks like the problem?
I think the key is the knee injury. Now after the All-Star break, I think Adelman will give him some ISOs and catch and shoot plays.
Although a valid observation, I think you make a point in your post that says it all. He was scoring big but the team results were mixed. Now his scoring is down and we are one of the hottest teams in the league. He cant be a big time scorer and also a big time facilitator like other people want. We played great for three quarters and tanked the fourth. Simple as that.
As I have said ALL along, I want T-Mac to be a SCORER. What has happenned of late individually is his fault, but it is also Adelman's...T-Mac is a scorer. If he is not to be used as such, he should be traded because there are better playmakers with tougher defense and such than T-Mac and with lighter contracts. What makes T-Mac so great is his scoring, and that needs to be taken advantage of.
The PnR is a great play and everything, but I don't think we ought to be running it every single damn time like we have been. I mean, c'mon RA give the defense a different look every time. McGrady gets doubled off the pick and roll and ends up 30 feet from the bucket. Sometimes the open 3pt shooters wil make it but sometimes not. It almost killed us tonight. We do need him on some of those isos where he can score. He has been totally out of sync the last several games.
He was in his orlando shape before is knee injury. 25/6/5 on 45% shooting. First 8 games was leading league in scoring and shooting 47%.
If his body doesn't break down, he'll get back in that shape. People said the same thing about Carter his last years in TDot - what happened again? You have a pretty bleak outlook on things. I'm 100% sure Mcgrady will preform at a different level his contract year. Everyone does.
tmac just doesn't have it anymore.... period. i've seen him lose the ball or get stripped more times the past few games than i ever remember. hell, he missed a WIDE OPEN ALLEY-OOP. wtf was that???
