My point is not that I doubt the talent level of either TMac or Yao. What I doubt is that they will stay on the floor. Their lack of durability is well documented. Resigning them for half the maximum is no deal if they are sitting on the sidelines soaking up money that could be used for players that can actually play.
DD yo should know that coach decides who has the ball in his hands down the stretch. It is not like Tracy says 'alright kids, I am gonna have the ball now' It is all up to Rick and he WANTS the ball in Tracy's hands. Anytime you have a player like him on your team you want him to have the ball because if they double him it creates open shot for his teammate and if they don't, he is just so good 1 on 1. Jax also wants the ball in Kobe's hands when the game is on the line. It's NORMAL
Are you serious? Thats pretty much the whole idea of what a closer is. You want defenses keying on your closer so he can make the right pass to the open guy, which McGrady does extremely well. I dont know where you get this stuff.
leebigez, guess i can rationalise there thinking somewhat, but they completely ignore the IFs, and blinded by TMac of the past and a Yao with functional lower limbs, I'm not really much of gambler, but for me its the combination of the two that goes too far in terms of the realationship between risk and reward, my gut says Yao stays and if we will need a great offer to prevent us giving TMac a gazzillion years extension......
lol DD, the knock on him on this board is that he does'nt close enough and is TOO PASSIVE -> he lets others do too much. ask antisonic.
Agreed. Tracy's skill level when completely healthy is great. It's just that he has never in his career played more than 79 games out of a full 82 game season, and he is trending downward in games played. To believe he will only miss 5 games next year seems extremely unlikely considering it has been 5 seasons since he accomplished that, and he has only missed 5 or less games 3 times in his 12 year career. Because of his health problems, resigning him is something I have a hard time even considering at this point. Maybe at an extreme discount, but realistically why would he want to come back here at an extreme discount to play with an equally injury prone Yao? Why not go to the Cavs, or Celtics or some other top contender for a discount? Unless he has a horrible year next season and no one else wants him, in which case why would we?
I just watched this and honestly, I'm not impressed at all. Sure they won and he took over down the stretch, but he wasn't EFFICIENT. if he had just played OFF THE BALL and have given moochie a chance, that would have actually been conducive to winning. TC
So in that video, I spotted David Wesley, Luther Head, Juwan Howard, Stromile Swift, Moochie Norris, and Ryan Bowen. Am I missing someone? Those were the guys playing alongside Mcgrady and Yao. Yao was also not the player he is today. So out of those players, who was even a legitimate NBA player? Let's not even talk about who can "create". Somehow Mcgrady carried those guys to winning season after winning season. His teammates in Orlando were actually WORSE. Is DaDakota really complaining about him not sharing the ball enough? He some how won 50 games with those guys. If he "shared the ball" more were they going to win 70? Why don't the Kings, OKC, Memphis just "share the ball" more, or play off the ball more? Then they would make the playoffs?
It is not about sharing the ball, it is about letting others make decisions with the ball too, and having Tmac be a finisher sometimes instead of always the guy that makes the decision. Whatever, you guys feel free to disagree, just give the ball to Tmac late, like you want. DD
I know what you're saying DD, we've had this discussion before. In a ideal situation, tracy would move,cut, and let the offense create for others early in the game and in crucial situations, he wouldn't be dogged out and can creat plays at the end. You will never get a argument with me out of this, but its also important that players other than brooks and scola move away from the ball. Shane needs to move, cut aggressively, tracy needs to do the same. Tracy and shane needs to run the floor and get easy baskets. Its more than just him, but I agree his playmaking should be saved for later in the games. I actually think brooks is the biggest threat with the ball on the rockets. He's the only guy that can consistently get to the rim, he's also a pretty good mid range shooter and hopefully his passing gets better. A playmaker has to be a triple threat with the ball. Right not, the only guy on he rockets that fit that profile is brooks.
Exactly, it has been what I have been saying for years, we need more than one creating/penetrating player on the floor in crunch time, because one makes it very easy to defend against. I appreciate a guy that played Division 1 basketball knows what I am talking about, because for some reason, it is not getting across to a lot of fans...maybe I am just explaining it wrong, who knows? DD
If he had done this, how many wins do you project for him with a team of Moochie, Luther Head, Stromile Swift, Ryan Bowen? 60? 70? Because he won 50+ with his selfish, non-responsibility-sharing style. I actually recall several reasons why he never got out of the first round: Ryan Bowen, Juwan Howard, Chuck Hayes, Rafer Alston, Gordan Giricek, Andrew Declercq, Jacque Vaughn, Pat Garrity, Drew Gooden. I am not saying it is all his teammates fault. But those are some of the STARTERS on his playoff teams. It is an accomplishment how some of his teams even MADE the playoffs. I don't need to cherry pick. Lets talk about whole seasons where his inefficient scoring, decision-making-hogging, non-off-the-ball-playing style produced 50+ wins after 50+ wins. Or was it Luther Head that carried the team those seasons? CX
I know I posted this before but Tmac has always caused himself issues. Because he was a great player, he always felt the need to shoulder everything on his shoulder. This caused his demise. You can only do so much in 4 qtrs, especially in the 4th when Teams play better defense. Several issues come from this. -fatigue "i am tired" -his team standing around "I never had a good team" -" I did everything" quite simple Tmac never took that extra step like MJ and Kobe and many other winners. Trust your team, regardless who is on it. Respect your team. Had a coach who knew how to motivate him and take pressure off of him. Tmac as our closer, should have saved most of his energy in the 4th to be our closer. Instead he felt the need to score and handle the ball as much as possible. It's why reason why the last 2 years has been hard on him. He even said it was hard for him to adjust to not touching the ball that much. He is going to turn out like AI, if he can't adjust. A Team wins because great players always trust thier team and makes them better.
yes, if those guys were CAPABLE. you really want to give luther head a chance to make decisions? he coudlnt' do the only thing he was good at: shoot open 3s.
now with THIS CURRENT GROUP that is more talented, tracy should let others do more. AB is more than capable of creating, along with scola; ariza and landry are more than capable of finishing... there's a reason a team accumulates more talent -> to alleviate the responsibilities of their star players. DD's argument of tracy with previous groups of players that wasn't very talented, it's up to the star player to do more.
So answer the question. If he shared the decision making, played off the ball like you wish, how many games do those teams win? You are telling me a team starting Rafer Alston, Juwan Howard, Chuck Hayes, Tyron Lue, Andrew Declercq, Drew Gooden, would win 60 games? Win a championship? Explain to me how Mcgrady's style prevented an optimal season those years. And please tell me how many regular season, and playoff games those teams SHOULD have won.
Why it is a waste of time, you blame it on the teamates like Tmac had no chance because his teamates sucked. I say he had as much a part in the failures as they did. Whatever, waste of time. Even if they win more this year people will say...better cast...at the end of the day....who cares.... Just put it on the court, don't whine about touches...and let's see what happens. DD
