I hope you are just using his logic against him because if you just took a shot at Yao for the sake of Mac, well it's no better than what he has been accused of doing.
mcgrady may be the most naturally gifted, but this doesn't matter at all. he doesn't have the drive a player like kobe does. it's like any instance in school: the hardest worker will always surpass the naturally smart in the long run. kobe is the same way; he's willed himself to become arguably the best player in the league today. mcgrady doesn't push it as hard and this is why he is not the best.
With all due respect, that simply isn't true, not as a general statement. Sure, sometimes the hard working student does better, but I've seen too many instances of a "naturally smart" (whatever that is... I'll play along ) student making terrific grades while seemingly cruising, while someone else busts their butt, really works hard, and doesn't do any better, or even as well.
There are a lot of idiocy running rampant in this thread. But back to the original post: It's not that Vaccaro is saying TMac's a bum or a loser. It's compliment that, even without hard work, McGrady's game still puts him in the top level of players today. Sure the pessimistic and cynics will take that and say "well if he worked harder, maybe he would be out of the first round" but how do those same people know he doesn't work hard? In fact, the guy has his own basketball court and gym in his freakin house and I'm pretty sure it's not just for decoration. Is there room for improvement for McGrady? Of course. Can he work harder? Who couldn't?
Adelman is going to get the best out of McGrady the league has ever seen. His scoring numbers will be as prolific during his Orlando games but he'll also be a much more complete player. Bank on it.
Arent you the r****d who said i rather see yao score 30 and the rockets lose then see yao score 20 and the rockets win?. get lost r****d. we dont like morons of you're ilk here.
The problem with T mac isn't that he isn't a hard worker. Its that he is silky smooth. Its not that he does not have fire, its that he has sleepy eyes. People take way too much on general impressions of people. It looks like T mac is not going full speed, but trust me he is. How many times are you watching him drive to the basket, and think he really shifted into another gear there. I know for me, I don't think that very often if at all. T mac is an extremely smooth player that does not waste a lot of motion in what he does on the basketball court. Unfortunately often times people look at him and think, he isn't going very hard, look how easy the game comes to him. Here are my knocks on Tmac, which to me tells me that he is not the most gifted athlete to ever play the sport. He is not extremely fast. Look at Jordan, Wade or Iverson a healthy Grant Hill. these guys are burners on the floor. They kick it into high gear and no one is going to beat them down the court. His quickness is good but its a deceptive quickness. He uses his length and first moves more to get by people. He relies on dribbling to create space and quick well practiced moves to get open shots. Watch Jordans shot to beat the Cavs, that was pure quickness, nothing more nothing less. He out athletsicmed. . . if thats a word, everyone on the court. I dont think T mac does that very often. Is he a "great" athlete? Yes, for a person his size, but Lebron James is a better athlete than he is. I just think people underestimate Tmacs basketball intelligence and use of his overall game, and body length to gain an advantage on people. Not his athletecism. Which is really a shame, because he does a lot of little fundamental things very well.
tmac "cruising" has earned him top 5-10 status for basically a 8-season run and and 6 all-nba teams. and i agree, tmac could have been MUCH better than what he is. but all i hope is when he does advance out of the first round, he can realize that he is truly the most unstoppable force in this universe. and it starts 10/30 v. the "supposed" best player today. tmac has his offseason. now it's time to show it.
that too. i mean, who makes it so easy shooting 3pt shots way from 24 feet w/o even trying. hell, he shot the near half-court shots in his normal shooting motion in the katrina game. the way he rises over top defenders like bowen just off of a single screen w/o doing ANYTHING. the game looks REALLY easy when tmac plays like he should. but then u see kobe who has to take a lot of dribbles to create space for his fadeaways. while tmac just rises up w/o doing jack. and yes, the sleepy eyes make him look like he doesn't care but he does. like i said, he's 28. this will be the year that will define his career. either he wins and keep winning. or keep losing. it's that simple. but i just don't see how a great player like tmac can NEVER advance out of the first round ONCE. he just has to. fate will be on his side and he will make sure of it.
you are WRONG there my brother. when he was in orlando, his first step was EASILY the quickest in the L. many people said that. he just needed to take 2 freaking dribbles from the 3pt line and he's in the paint. nobody in the history of the L can do that. his back has really limited his first initial burst. he's not FASTER than wade/iverson/jordan. but his first-step when he was in orlando was better than ALL of them. trust me, watch the youtube highlights. these last 2 seasons, tmac is slower b/c he's out of shape. his back got his body out of whack and not in rhythm. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8pIwG6yiXOM"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8pIwG6yiXOM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> watch his quickness. just ONE dribble and he's gone. u need to understand the back controls A LOT of things on the basketball court for him. he is not as quick like that anymore. and yet he still can score. now hopefully he'll tone down this season to like 215 and he'll be fine.
That video makes me sad. He was a basketball God by the time he was 24 and only regressed from there.
again, if u ever had back problems, u know why. that's why it's a miracle tracy is still a top 6-7 player right now, esp. w/ the glut of talented perimeter players out there. w/ orlando, him and kobe were SYNONYMOUS as to who's the best perimeter player. in 04-05, he was still on that level. then last yr w/ the horrific injuries. but now this yr is brand new. he has patterson to "control" his back problems. now he just has to go out and play like the best he can.
TeamUSA and Yao_Fan_2007, thank you. I'm an even bigger T-Mac fan because of you. I was on the fence, but after reading the spew of garbage from your posts, you've convinced me. Thank you!!! T-Mac Rules!!!!!!!!!
