I will admit it, I can't stand half of the stuff he does/says and I completely understand how he 'alienates' a good chunk of the fan base with his 'antics' (although it's often overstated around here, with some of you having a tendency to nitpick on stupid, inconsequential stuff just because it rubs you the wrong way). THAT being said, the guy is absolutely indispensable to our team's chances of winning games, period. Him being out there on the court, even though he's been nothing special as of late, is still a major 'edge' that this team has on the court. So love him or hate him, it's up to you, but his impact on this team is -- and has been for the entire time he's been a Rocket -- far and away the biggest of any other player, including Yao. Yao may have overtaken him as the best individual player on the team, but in terms of overall team impact (and not just individual stats/efficiency rating, etc) it's not even close. Having said that,I love our rookies and should also state that Hayes, Francis, and Mike James should be -- if not already -- on the market. Landry will be better than Hayes (may already be), Brooks will be the best PG on the team by season's end (I still believe that, like I stated before the season started), and Head would make for a reasonable 'third stringer' that could also do time at the 2 with a shorter lineup. Oh, and I love the T-Mac at the 1 move by Adelman, have been saying for a while now (since last season, I think) that Mac should play a few minutes a game at the 1, because he's a deadly passer. May be he should split his time at the 3/2 and the 1, we certainly have the depth to allow for it, and at this point of his career he's perhaps a more lethal passer than he's a lethal scorer.
Mac gets respect for sure. I have a lingering suspicion that if we put Mac in a wheelchair on the sideline, the opposite coach will STILL assign one of his defenders to stand next to him for the whole game. I guess the name just does it all. Mac=instant double team=instant pass offense.
you know what, that is TMAC what we want, we all know he is best clutch player in the rox. but he is only allow to do on the later of 4qr. like last 2,3 games, he was almost forgot in first3 , the shine on the late.
What antics? I am not aware of any. Anyways, regarding his play you're dead on. He's lost a bit of explosivensess every year and we have to utilize his playmaking ability, size and vision.
Probelm was he got injured for reals and the Rockets started winning without him. Then fans started to look for a scapegoat and claimed he no longer hugged Yao the same way he used to so they voted AI in the all star game.(Being sarcastic btw) Then they wanted to trade Tmac for average role players.
one negative placing the ball on the floor before running out the clock at the end of the game. LAME I don't think we are a good enough team to be pulling that crap. It's almost like Stackhouse going for that meaningless dunk at the end of that game on us.
I'd still trade Mac for good role players (can anyone say Mike miller? ) We are basically doing the same things with Mac and Yao we've been doing all of last year: Too much iso or one P&R and waiting for Mac to create. It takes 5. If we could trade Mac for 2 star (not nec. ALL star) backcourt players who could penetrate and shoot, I'd do it.
He still needs to work on his shot selection which is basically been the only thing that has pissed me off while he has been here.
I don't need to, because it has absolutely nothing to do with that. His teams have been chokers in the playoffs, big time. That doesn't mean that he doesn't "impact winning", but I think it definitely says something about certain intangibles that he may lack (or HAS lacked thus far in his career). May be he's not a great floor leader (granted), or a great "clutch big stage performer" (although he's had individual moments), or mentally weak, etc. However, the sample is much larger for season games played, and it's pretty f*ing clear how the team is with vs. without him on the court. His biggest vice at this point of his career, IMO, is that he's yet to learn how to play offense efficiently. Want to know my favorite incarnation of T-Mac? It's the guy who takes 15 or less shots a game, scoring 20 points or less, and spends most of the game facilitating the offense using his superior decision-making skills. I like him even more when he penetrates and dishes to his teammates, or makes a hockey assist. But as I said, the 'hatas' will be 'hatas', I am not interested in your or anyone else's irrational hate/badgering of the guy, and have zero interest in hearing anything the YOHs have to say either in response/attempt at a feeble retaliation (you KNOW it's coming, it's as certain as death and taxes), but feel free to continue to slime the board with y'all's garbage if it makes any of you sleep better at night. Thankfully, I've already developed advanced GARM-skimming skills to get through 90% of the pure, unadulterated garbage that many of you post.
I never hated Tracy, but I hate some of the things he does on the floor, especially the poor shot selection, standing 5 feet behind the 3 point line when a play isn't called for him, jogging up the court when he needs to run and slacking off on defense. When he plays like a man (see the last couple of games), he is the best player on our team.
I don't think anyone questions his talent. It's just frustrating watching him coast in so many games. When he wants, he can clearly be better than anyone on the court on any given night. It's just that he gets lazy way too much, and doesn't try his best every game.
WowTiger. You're riled up tonight. I disagree with your statement. I agree with the rest of what you said, but I have to say he has never choked Dirk style. Not that it matters that much. Bottomline is he hasn't won, but sometimes that's not all that matters either. It's a team game.
People love this TMAc and hate the one who shots jumpers almost all the time. As NBA games are manually tweaked as close games, it will not be a bad idea to use Tmac as sort of a closer (Super Mario earns almost 20millions a year from Yankees too and he is precious.) we could live with an expensive closer as long as we can keep the game close with other staff.
Werd, I remember a thread a while back and I defended Nitro to death, but there were just way too many haters out there. Glad to see Mac doing well. Super glad to see the team doing well. Keep it up, Rockets!
He's performed individually in the past, but in terms of "carrying his team over the hump" he's never had any success. In fact, he's failed in an alarming fashion (I would have made good money betting against McGrady's teams, because they seem to always lose in improbable fashion). Look, after Utah's series last year, there are no more excuses for him OR for Yao as far as playoff success (or lack thereof, to be more accurate). You lead a series 3-2 with Game 7 on your homecourt, and your team leading by 5 points with a couple of minutes left, and you don't pour your guts and every ounce of your being into the waning seconds to make that mental breakthrough in the playoffs is inexcusable. Him and Yao lost a LOT of my respect after that series, I couldn't with a straight face make up any more excuses for them (him, especially). They proved they weren't leaders of men, that they could always amaze and shock all of us by finding new ways to lose on the biggest stage. I don't want to dwell too much on it, because the past is the past, but these guys have a LOT to prove, and they deserve no one's respect at this point of their careers.
