although he is only 26, but more like he is close to his 30's since he has been in this league far too long. I expect YAO will have at least another 10 years NBA life because of his playing style. But TMAC., I don't know. The difference b/w TMAC and Kobe is: I can tell Kobe is fighting for the ball game. I can not see anything from TMAC.
That's not that high of a percentage - right now only 9% of people are hardcore T-mac haters. Not bad for a team that is on its way to Lotto land.
A lot of foreplay, but have yet to see any serious continuous penetration for any long periods of time. There have been enjoyable moments but no consistent thrusting towards the goal of getting closer to the moneyshot. At times when we are just about to get into a steady stride, he loses concentration and the whole thing goes floppy. May need some mouth resuscitation from our roleplayers, or get a new partner to shake things up. While the package is impressive and should be able to cause above satisfactory results, the issue of sustained desire and concentration may lead to a shorter session with no reward at the end.
Will TMAC make it to the HALL OF FAME? if he never gets to the WCF or Finals? Barkley/Malone played in the Finals
TMac- 1. He has played this season mostly injured. His back has slowed him even now, he does not have the hops he showed last season. He doesn't have the athletic quickness of last season either. All of this goes to back stiffness/spasms that are affecting him psychologically and some physically. 2. Being out was one thing but having Yao out also damaged the progress and record of the team to a very low point, I think it is hard to rise up and lead a bunch of scrubs when you are dealing with a patchwork rotation due to injuries. I also believe his back problems really have taken a mental toll on the task of trying to get the team back on track- all by himself! 3. Personal problems- whatever they are HE thinks they are severe. It is obvious that TMac has faced alot of adversity in life. But I can see him breaking a little under the pressure. No way he should be judged, he's a person. As a player- pray things work out. He is a great player, a great leader, a great team player. A top 5 talent in this league. I am so grateful he is a Houston Rocket! Lighten up everyone... we must give it time, this is not the season... Clutch City will Rise Again!
Until his personal problems surfaced, the rockets did pretty well when he was on the court. Can't really fault him for injuries, and I don't know what's going on in his personal life, so I can't comment on that. As long as he gets his mind straight before next season, I have no qualms.
The only way to judge if a player is going to take their team to the championship is to look at their past. Tracy has been in the league for 9 years. The teams he has played on have won 307 games and lost 370, which gives him a winning percentage of .453. This means that if you’re on Tracy’s team you are more apt to lose than to win. Basketball is one of the few team sports where one person can make a huge difference on whether your team wins or loses. Look at the winning percentages of the superstars that have recently won championships: Shaq .677, Duncan .704, Rasheed Wallace .619. Even the old superstars: Bird, Magic, Olajuwon, Jordan had extremely high winning percentages. What makes Tracy different from the guys mentioned above? Obviously he has talent, but I don’t think he has the desire to win. There always seems to be some excuse: bad team, bad coach, injury, personal problems, etc, etc.. Until Tracy starts winning, he will be nothing more than a Vince Carter clone.
Carter has been to the 2nd round of playoff. I am a little superstitious. I start to think Tmac just has bad luck following him thoughout his life (huge money can't compensate the loss of closed ones). Wait..."loss of closed ones" -> "loss of close ones". Too much "Final Destination" I guess. He needs someone to improve his house's Fengshui.
How many of those players started with Toronto and went to a terrible Orlando team. He took Orlando to the playoffs- by himself. Tracy has the desire to win. I never heard him make an excuse. Most superstars have to wait and hope they get the right season to win a ring. Barkley, Malone- nope; D. Robinson waited for Duncan, Shaq needed Kobe, Jordan needed Pippen and Rodman, Hakeem needed shooters and another rebounder (Thorpe) and then a Glyde. Tracy's problem has been his experiment with Yao is going slow. Anyone with patience and the hope of some more strengthening of the roster can see that we are going to be an upper echelon team during the next 4 yrs. - That is if injuries don't de-rail the whole thing. A championship is fragile in any sport. The time of dynasties is probably over.
Toronto wasn't too bad at that time. They were one shot away from ECF. TMac's biggest mistake was leaving Toronto and wanted to be number one guy. Toronto has committed to VC and he can only be his Pippen. I am sure he would be ok with that now, but not back then. How many times did he and VC talked about what if he stayed and played with VC together? I missed that Raptors team. On retrospect, if he didn't leave Toronto, we might never get TMac.
Wow, that was a newsflash. I presume you have a point, but prepared to be pelted with names that are in the HOF without your criteria. Regarding TMac I think there has been too much deification here, which is somewhat understandable. I mean, compare what we gave up for what we received in return, and the trade was a no-brainer. Yet TMac's game can be so transcendant that he avoids criticism here more than anyone since before SF signed his max contract. I don't get it. Shooting pctg. is a huge stat for any of the guys given carte blanche to throw up any 25 footers at any time. I'm not against that in TMac's case but I do believe he can impact the team more than he has shown recently. And there is this outpouring of "poor TMac" posts (among the masses) that are almost nauseating if you consider him a top 5 guy, which I do. So I couldn't vote on this poll. I'm a longtime/diehard Rox fan and have criticized every great player we've had since our inception (though probably far less than I've praised them) and he really does have a different veneer going here that I don't really understand. That being said, this season has been such a train wreck that I don't think anyone should take the fall for what's happened. But that's the great thing about being a Rox fan, there are threads of continuity in this franchise that make me feel loyal even over my fandom. So far TMac hasn't done or said anything that really bothers me. Ergo, he's still my guy, and we'll see if he's really in "this" for the long haul.
Ummmm. There are still people on this board who wanted to trade the Dream, some of them while he was in his prime.
How is "heading to the lotto land" any of McGrady's fault? Did you check the record when both he and Yao play (not to mention when he doesn't finish the game for us)? How is it McGrady's fault that this season has been ruined and destroyed by injuries? With ALL that has happened, we're STILL less than five games behind a healthy Lakers team with Kobe having a career year and playing out of his mind, with a damn good Lamar Odom playing next to him. If McGrady has to "shoulder responsibility for the season" due to his and Yao's injuries, then that's BS and just proves that people have no idea what they're talking about. You can't blame the players or the coach for this season, tough **** but injuries do happen, and yes missing your best players for long stretches DOES sometimes destroy entire seasons (see the season where Francis was out for long stretch netting us Yao in the draft, or how the Spurs went from a championship contender to the worst team in the league when David Robinson went down with a season-long injury). Let's put things in perspective and not get too emotional here and looking to point the finger at someone, because that's all this seems like to me: fans being frustrated and looking for someone to blame, whether it makes sense or not.
I know that, even more reason for me to scoff at those people and their 'bandwagon' tendencies. Sometimes you don't know what you have until it's gone, sad but true...
