No fakes but I think he may be using the injury as a rationalization for his lethargic play. Mentally, I think he may have bigger issues than with the knee.
I think he really does have a problem with his knee, but he is just over-dramaticizing it. For whatever reasons...
IMHO: Most likely scenario is that T-Mac has not responded well because he just does not have the mentality to handle adversity. It is hard work and there is pain involved in rehabbing after surgery. He has been blessed with so much talent that things have always just come easy to him. So when he has pain in his knee and can't play well he tends to shut it down mentally rather than work harder because he can't understand why this is happening to him. [That is why many of us are frustrated by the attitude he shows (he just doesn't seem to care; of course he may care a lot more that what he shows -- some guys just don't show their emotions). Most of us would kill to have his ability and feel we would work hard to maximize it. It's why we love guys like Mario Elie, who may not have been the most talented, but grind it out and give 110%.) On the other hand, those of us who question Tracy's toughness could be wrong and this may not a mental thing, but really is a serious issue with the cartilige. If that is the case, it can be something that wasn't fixed with the knee scope and the docs could very well have missed. I'm not a doc but it is my understanding that you can rehab to strengthen muscles around knee and increase flexibility, but if it is severe cartilige wear that doesn't fix the problem at all no matter how hard you try to rehab. Guess we will just have to wait and see what Tracy's second opinions reveal. Posted this in another thread, but I have personal experience with my daughter when the doc (one of best in Houston) said pain was "in her head" after "simple" knee scope and it turned out after second and third opinions (also some best in Houston) that yes, there really was something wrong the other docs missed. There must be some docs on this board. I would love to see a doctor opinion of some possible scenarios of what the diagnosis may be for T-Mac. We promise not to sue on your opinion doctor posters, but we aren't going to pay for it either.
Who cares he'll be gone next season regardless! Either at the end of the season or before the deadline.
He isn't faking it but how he is handling his non-injured knee proves what so many of us have suspected of him for a while now. He lacks mental toughness and internal motivation. Listen to him, look at his body language and his level of physical fitness. He does not have the motivation to handle adversity. He got a routine, maintenance surgical procedure and he absolutely did not rehab it correctly. That can't be denied based on how fat he was coming into training camp (save the excuses, you can certainly do low impact cardio and eat right even with a surgically repaired knee.) When things didn't just happen for him personally or for the team things snowballed for McGrady. Things didn't just fall into place with a 60 game win pace AND his play was well below what he is used to. I honestly think the two week "get in shape" break he took was, in his mind, the last effort he was going to give to salvage the season. When that didn't work we come the where he and the team are now. My honest opinion is he has packed it in 100% mentally. He doesn't believe he or the team is good enough to contend so in his mind he can take the rest of the season and the summer off, Morey will make some moves and they can try this again next season. I think he will actually even stay in shape this summer simply to try to redeem himself and erase the embarrassment of this season. The problem that he doesn't understand (or maybe he does but doesn't care) is that to win at anything you can't quit when things get tough and think you will get endless "do-overs" until you get lucky and things work out.
I think he did not do the rehab, and that may have led to worse problems.....who knows....but clearly the guy doesn't trust his knee....and the team is better off without him limping around out there. DD
I don't think Tracy is afraid of being traded. He will get his money anyway. I can see that he doesn't want to play until he feel he is doing great.
I dont think he's faking because i compare his play now to last year's playoffs and I dont think it's possible to regres that much.
Tmac is leaving basketball to sing pop. From what I heard he's in a boy band and he and Skip Patterson are going to cover Britney Spears "Hit Me Baby"... Tmac is a little girl with pig tails...
I believe he actually is hurt, and to be fair you would rather hope he is hurt so he can't come back...Ever for the rest of the season. Really, just let the guy shut it down, leave him alone until he comes back. Just ignore him..really.
It's not my knee... or yours... I choose to always give benefit of the doubt. Since it is not up to me, or anyone on here, I suggest we let the man deal with his own issues. No... we don't owe him anything, but he didn't earn mass hatred and retribution for an injury either.
I keep flip-flopping my opinions as more information trickles in. Right now, I think his knee is more or less what it was 2 weeks ago. He's frustrated that it doesn't appear to be getting better. He's embarrassed with his Milwauke performance, and yes he's worried about getting traded. He's looking for a magic solution to his knee problem or he's trying to reduce his trade value, or both.
Just got through reading a Slam magazine article about Kobe Bryant with few few quotes from him. Also another article in there talking to Michael Jordan about the new Jordans. Now they're the standard bearers of mental toughness. But its absolute NIGHT AND DAY the mentality that emanates from them and the unfortunately meek attitude we come to accept from McGrady. Jordan talking about his shoes still sounded like a professional basketball player even moreso than McGrady in his prime age.
Agree 100% Winning mentality is what makes the great ones great. Plenty of guys in the NBA have the athletic ability (run fast, jump high, hand/eye coordination), but Jordan was great because he wanted it more. Bird, Jordan, Magic; those guys wanted to beat you at everything -- poker, pool, checkers -- it didn't matter. Winning attitude can't be taught. You either got it or you don't.
Not faking the injury. I think he failed to do enough rehab to strengthen his knee during the off-season and is afraid of the consequences that he might encounter if he plays hard with that knee. Once that concept got into his mind, that becomes a persistent mental problem affecting his play. He needs to do proper rehab and see a shrink to get 100% physically and mentally recovered and come back as a "healthy" TMac, which I am sure that's the only way TMac can help Rox to become a championship contender.
