i would never call him passionate. he was only passionate when he had a high scoring game. he never gave me the impression he cared. heck, he showed more emotion while playing with the astros in the annual hang-out-with-the-astros event they have. that being said, i don't hate the guy. disappointing would be the right word.
He should get some love, but it will be a mix. All I know is, minus a favorable matchup against the Blazers and a trip to the 2nd round finally, this team has not looked so great the last two years. If they had faced the Jazz again, it would have been another 1st round exit. Anyone who denies the strong possibility of that is just jaded. As up and down as times were when McGrady was here, we were contender every single year. We only missed the playoffs once, and that was when both Yao and he were hurt for extended periods of time. With McGrady gone, and Yao in and out this team is at the bottom of the division this season, and barely managed a .500 record last season. In the end, being contenders is one thing, but not making REAL noise in the playoffs is another. It sucks going out in the 1st round or 2nd round. Sucks even more to not even make the playoffs. Were the T-Mac years here great? Man I sure thought they were gonna be, but no. They were good. And I suppose, that would equate to the reception he should receive. Our current roster makes me want to boo, shoot.
that's a definition of a Tracy Only Fan. beware of them, if you want to know the perspective of a real Rockets fan, read Clutch's blog. http://rockets.clutchfans.net/
i for one will be happy to celebrate tmac's heroics here and simultaneously hope for the rockets to beat up on the undermanned pistons. how does mcgrady go scoreless tonight in 18 minutes...he must have nothing left and i mean nothing.
Wow, people. OP asked how we should receive him, not whether we should retire his frikken number. The guy did amazing things in a Rockets uniform. Buzzer beaters, amazing dunks, 13 in 35, multiple 50+ win seasons. He never asked to be traded, never stabbed the city in the back. Sure, his seasons never ended as we hoped, but that's no reason to boo someone. When you look at his time here as whole, there's a lot to cheer about and not much to boo. Some people can't look past a few flaws, I guess.
Yours is not a popular opinion. Some people would disagree with the 'stab in the back' thing. I think he was classy enough, but I don't like his fragile mentality and tendency to cling to excuses. I'd clap for him but wouldn't give him a standing O. Wouldn't boo him.
How many banners have T-Mac along with any member of the Houston Rockets for the past 10 years helped hang up in the rafters? Look, as much as you can't credit Tracy for everything the Rockets have done (or lack thereof), you also can't blame him either. Houston has been haunted by countless 1st round exits, and many years of misery.
totally agree. i think all of us should be generous. think about the happiness he brought us in the past. it's because of him that the rox city had the hope for fighting. i think you can not forget the moment when all the clutch fans were shouting "MVP" torwards mac. I still remember very clearly it happened at the time when we had that 22 consecutive victories. Mac, the man. let's give him warm hug and standing Ovation.
i wonder know whom is the one that was betrayed?? we didn't give mac enough time and patience through his way of recovery. he had been fighting for us 6 years. you should know this, don'tyou?
He fought for us for a few years, but it was clear that he wasn't fighting for us anymore. I don't wish him ill, but it was best for the team that he left. You can't give a guy 2 years to play mind games with himself.
How did you get 6 years of fighting when he played in only 6 games in his last season? How would you even get 5 years, when he left after 35 games in the 5th season? Ok, we can say 4 seasons of fighting with us and the last 2 seasons crying and whining.
If I was at the game, I'd cheer for him for everything he put on the court back in the 04/05 season. Damn, the year both of our stars stayed healthy and kicked ass. Never again.... Both are seemingly done due to injuries.
Okay, this is starting to drag on but ill say one more thing. You are obviously a very passionate Rockets fan and I respect that. But that does not mean you can say who are and aren't real fans. Now I was a Tmac fan before he came to Houston and ill always be one! But ive always been a Rocket fan first, no questions asked, they're my team. You seem to think think that you cant have one without the other. and you downgrade what Tracy did for this team because you, like many others, were spoiled by our GREAT 90's teams. Like I said earlier, you cannot hold everybody to those standards or you'll always be disappointed in the result, because I can promise you we will never see another player like Hakeem, I think you'll agree with that. I think we should putt in perspective what happened to Tracy McGraddys career! Just think about it, you accomplish so much at such a young age and poor your heart out to try and will your under-skilled teams to victory, than when you finally have the pieces around you that any superstar would need to succeed, you cant stay healthy if your life depended on it. Think of the frustration that would set in when it finally hits you that you'll never be the player you once were because of injuries, not even age, but stinking injuries. And please do not say that he faked injuries, you see how hard it is for him to give up the game now, does that not prove his love for the game!? Someone who loves the game will not fake an injury! In my opinion, nothing shows love for the game more than when you just cant give it up. Just put yourself in his shoes (trying to realize that you can no longer do what you love to do) and imagine how you would handle it! No doubt in my mind that this is the saddest way to end a superstars career.
I leaned towards disliking Tmac like most of us after last season or so.. But he NEVER chose LA over us. He said if LA can beat Houston, they would have the best chance.
I know that Clutch is a real Rockets fan and his perspective on the Rockets is from the heart. http://www.clutchfans.net/news/1545/the_day_t-mac_lost_houston/ I've been through many eras of the Rockets and I know Tmac contributed to some, but you think his jersey should up there in the rafters, so I question your Rockets knowledge. Despite age or how much you pay attention to the Rockets or the NBA, anybody on the street can tell you he doesn't belong and never will belong in the rafters. ever. there's a 0 percent chance. not 1%, zero.
wtf? How did he betray the organization? He made some stupid comments during his time here. He and the doctors had no idea what they were doing in regards to his injuries. Do you think he WANTED to sit out the year we were favored to win it all? Do you think he WANTED to be known as the greatest player to never get out of the first round? He made some dumb decisions. He didn't betray anybody. Betraying the organization is demanding a trade for stupid reasons. Or throwing games. Or bolting to another city (maybe holding a press conference about it beforehand). Don't make his failures seem bigger than they are.
he didn't tell the Rockets about his surgery and he showed no effort a 25 million dollar player it is written here in this article by CLUTCH http://www.clutchfans.net/news/1545/the_day_t-mac_lost_houston/ By now it was evident. This wasn’t an injury. This was showing apathy. This was pouting. This was quitting. McGrady confessed after the game he was a "little frustrated", but his source wasn’t an injury -- "It's kind of hard to get in the groove when you're only touching the ball once every five minutes," said McGrady. And there you go. The effort qualified as both the straw that broke the camel's back for many Houston fans and the smoking gun for his critics. From there, McGrady and the team went in opposite directions. T-Mac took two weeks off to get in shape, proclaimed that he was now back to his normal self, then two weeks later announced on his own through ESPN, without so much as a Post-It note to the Rockets organization, that he was shutting it down to undergo microfracture surgery. When McGrady did show up at the arena, he was booed regularly by the Houston faithful.
If i was attending the game, i'd give him a Standing O for sure... I think he falsely gets criticized for his short comings, regardless of what comes out of his mouth (its on me, etc.). You cant deny the numbers he put up with the Rockets in the playoffs. The MAVS series was clearly tainted and the ref is currently in Prison for. The first year against the Jazz was one I think we (as a team) let slip away down the stretch, but we were still lacking talent on that squad. The 2nd time against the Jazz (22-win streak season), Rafer Alston missed 3 1/2 games with a hamstring injury and that hurt us. An OLD bobby jackson was a horrible replacement. McGrady played his heart out with Shoulder and knee injuries which eventually required microfracture surgery. McGrady's Playoff Stats w/ Houston: 27.6ppg, 7.2rpg, 6.9apg, 1.3spg, 1.0bpg Jordan's Playoff Stats 33.4ppg, 6.2rpg, 5.3apg, 2.4spg, 0.8bpg Kobe Bryant's Playoff Stats 25.5ppg, 6.0rpg, 4.8apg, 1.4spg, 0.7bpg Just look at the guys stats in the playoffs and who the stats are comparable too! What more do you expect him to do?? Sometimes it comes down to the players you have on your team, and I dont believe Tracy had the caliber of players that Jordan and Kobe have had at their disposal. You all say that he had YAO... yes, for two years - one in which we were set up to lose (due to refs gambling), and one in which i think we SHOULD HAVE won, but the rest of the team did not pull through. The 3rd playoffs with McGrady, the starter was Deke. I was only 9 and 10 when we won our first championship, so i dont rmr what kind of excitement was going on throughout the city and the basketball world, but when McGrady was at his best, it was very exciting to watch!
it was mcgrady who said he was 100% ready to go last year and that the rockets coaches and organization were holding him back.
