T Mac has gotten old, plain and simple. unless he gets some miracle cure, he's going to have to accept he lost a step.
Obviously....I don't think t-mac doesn't trust his teammates....he leads the team in assists in most assists, garning more than rafer does usually. The problem is the other guys having the confidence not to depend on him. Right now they are discovering, like last year, how good of a team they are...and when t-mac comes back, you have to leverage both. There are situations when you want t-mac to control the ball and do his things. There are situations when you need a team oriented pass the ball 5 times style as well. The trick to making the Rockets a great team is to have both used interchanably adjusting the the Defense - because then you have two weapons. T-mac's greatness as a one-on-one threat will draw double teams and cause problems with opposing team defenses - and when you mix that with great ball movement, it leaves the opposition with that nightmarish quandry that championship teams do: Do I guard the star one-on-one and get burned by him, or do i double team and get burned by the other guys? That's why Yao and T-mac are so valuable. Because they are not only offensive threats that can destroy other players one-on-one, but because they can pass and create opportunities for other players. The trick is not trusting your teammates...it's getting your teammates involved in the flow of the game and playing with confidence. That's what T-mac needs to become...a guy who does both. Helps his team when they need him, but recognize when he best serves his team by getting them involved. This is what Kobe has learned...and I saw it in T-mac last year.
We don't have anyone on our team with Kobe's skill or ability. I disagree with your arguments about the Kings. I disagree a lot. Everyone from Bobby Jackson to CWebb to got involved. Bibby or Peja...the Kings did not care who was hot but they were always more than willing to get in that players hands if they could. If they couldn't they just let the open man take the shot.
I like distributing the load, BUT I don't like it when Rafer and company (Brooks) are jacking up more shots than our stars (right now that means Yao). There has to be a way to get Yao 20 shots a night and limit Rafer to 10. We can't just let the open man shoot - there is a reason he's open.
It is a balance, you need your star players to play their roles, and that means sometimes they have to trust others in clutch situations to make a play, either a bucket or a pass. Because if teams know that TMac will always have the ball, it is too easy to guard. Having multiple weapons is the way to win. You still have your better players making the majority of the plays...Yao, Tmac, Artest etc...but the other players are more involved too, and that creates a very difficult matchup for any team. Look at the Lakers, they have people who can score the ball all over the floor.....the Rockets have the players now, they just need to trust each other. And, even though it is not fair, the truth is that one guy was screwing up that trust, he needs to come in and play his role, if Tracy does that, the team is SOOOO much better. DD
This is what I think adelman and all good coaches want of their best player. Adelman want the offense to run with cuts, motion and ball movement. He wants the offense to create for everyone early. When the game gets tight and because tracy hasn't been handling the ball and doing everything, then he has the energy to take over the game. That's the best scenerio because no coach in his right mind wants no one other than the deceision maker/playmaker making plays. Crash- I know you were watching the rox against La. When the game was in the 4th, there was no triangle. Even though kobe wasn't having a good shooting game, you still hant him with the ball. Now you may say Tracy is no Kobe and I agree with you, but as a playmaker/decision maker, he's the best we have. Kobe was calling for the high pick and had no intentions on passing unless it was wide open going to the basket. He was using odom's pick and shooting jumpers. No triangle at all, but early in the game, the triangle was getting guys open. That's what a offense does for you. If you look at the kings and try to compare them to the rox, you will find some differences bigt time. They played 5 man basketball, something the rox can't do. They had 2 deadeye shooters like Bibby and Peja, 2 very good mid range shooters in divac and webber and a utility guy like christie who could actuallyrun the offense from the point forward spot and allow bibby to play off the ball. When the games got tight, there was no motion offense. It was either pick and roll with bibby or pick and pop. If he broke the defense down, he had options like peja in the corner or christie. Now ask yourself, who do u trust more, peja or rafer? Webber or Scola? Bibby or Battier? This offense will never look like that because the rox have different componets. Coaches form around the strengths of his players. People whine all the time when Yao is at the high post for 8 plays a game. Imagine him up there for 60% of the game like Divac or Webber. That's why even the triangle in chicago was very different from the one in La with shaq. You don't have a shaq constantly 15 ft from the rim. Perdue,Cartwright, longley, yeah, but not shaq. On the bulls teams, jordan was the best post player, in La shaq was hands down the most dominant. Now since Shaq is gone, the triangle looks more like the chicago one. That's what coaches do, or at least smart coaches. I've seen you also talked about constant motion and moving,but shane nor rafer does it either. Shane nor rafer are mid range or short dribble drive threats. So having them moving and cutting which they don't yields nothing. Shane has a magnet for the corner and rafer except for the 20 games a year is a terrible finisher. At some point you're going to have to make a contested layup especially against good defensive teams.
You are crazy if you think T-Mac doesn't trust his teammates. If you are open, T-Mac will get you the ball. He doesn't lead the team in assist by accident. Seriously, some have said hes been too unselfish at times when hes suppose to "take over". I'll agree that he needs less ISO and more movement but to say he doesn't trust his teammates is ridiculous. After Yao went down last year, T-Mac and his play making ability kept us above water.
The problem is that TMac has a tendency to ignore his teammates during the last seconds of a game and he puts the whole offense on his shoulders often times forcing up bad shots. He has had well documented success in the regular season (most noteably against San Antonio) but he has never had success doing this in the play offs. The problem with allowing this strategy in the regular season is if you do it all year long, you will continue to do it in the play offs. We need total team play...even at the end of the game. And like you said...TMac is no Kobe.
You're making progress T-mac has to make some adjustments I agree...but he also needs to not completely turn himself into a role player. The reason he gets paid the big bucks is because he can take over a game. He has to have that freedom and has to feel both his team, his abilities, and the opposing team. That's what great players do. There is no real system that T-mac can fit himself into. No great player can. Not Jordan, not Kobe, not Le Bron. What makes them so scary is that they break away from the system at will and then conform back into it without any predictability. Their teams adjust to that...but always know their role. They play within the system because they don't have the talent to break away. But they maintain that familiar system, follow it, and allow the great player to come in and out of it. I think this is what happened during the 22 game win streak you saw both - great individual play from T-mac with great team play from everyone. We don't need T-mac to play "within" the system or turn himself into a role player...that's not what we need from him. I think it's an important point. We need him to do BOTH. At times play within the system and at times do his things. But ultimately, it's up to him to make the right decision when to do one or the other.
Trusting your teamamtes isn't you making all the plays. It goes way beyond T-mac giving a guy a dime for a score. Trusting your teammates can mean trusting that you may not even make the winning assist as well. Trusting your teammates means trusting that through ball movement that your team may find a easy score not just from you.
Finally somebody gets it. I totally agree. I have a hard time understanding why some think that T-Mac doesn't trust his teammates or that it is his fault that the offense stagnates.
Are you saying he doesn't trust his teammates? Honestly, I don't get what you are trying to say. Are you really ripping him because he happens to find teammates in position to score right away? I don't think his lack of movement is because he doesn't trust him teammates. That is absurd. T-Mac could do better at a lot of things, but trusting his teammates is not one of them. If you think he doesn't trust his teammates, you obviously didn't see Kobe after Shaq and before Pau. Trusting your teammates means passing to guys like Deke and Hayes, who have no offensive power, but you make the pass anyways because its the right play. Trusting your teammates means helping keep your team afloat when your main star goes down 2 years in a row. (We don't make the playoffs if he doesn't "Trust his teammates".) Trusting your teammates means if a guy is open, you give him the ball. Trusting your teammates means you enjoy giving up the ball as much as scoring the ball.
trade the stars then. since the inception of the L, the stars always have the ball more than the others. that's why they're called stars. and it's weird you think having artest would stop that. artest has INCREASED that b/c he himself has done it this yr.
I agree it was a bit of a myth. by giving tmac the credit, you dismiss the contributions of Battier, Scola, Alston, Landry, Brooks, Mutombo, Chucky,Head. I would say that Tmac was the best player on the team, but I wouldnt say he carried the team himself. Even now, Yao isnt carrying the team, though he is the best player. Last year, once Tmac got over his yearly mental issues and started running the offense, the team clicked. Remember how much the rox struggled with the two stars in the early part of the season. The catch is getting Tmac to buy into the system.
b/c he has struggled this yr mightily and it's easier to blame him. if you watch the games this yr in the 7 games when he returned from his rest, that has been our best stretch of offense BY FAR this yr (we had THREE games of 26 assists, our season high--and let me emphasized, THAT'S WITH TRACY MCGRADY). tracy just can't move right now very well and there are lot of plays adelman hasn't called for him much (moving off the screens without the ball is the main play). and when people begin to claim tracy doesn't trust his teammates, you know they don't watch much basketball.
Using deke and chuck isn't a valid arguement anymore. It was during the JVG dayz but right now Tracy has more talent around him. Tracy doesn't have to make that a excuse right now ,this team there are multiple scoring options. Trusting means again allowing the team to make plays. He may not be the one to make the assists it may be aaron brooks it may luis scola or von wafer.
the last time the Rockets had a player that could score playing 1 on 5 was Hakeem Olajuwan. There are stars on this team (Yao Ming) that are willing to play with in the system. I'm all for trading the stars that don't want to play in the system.
say what? it's been noted that he has passed TOO MUCH at the end of the game and being TOO PASSIVE (well according to his critics on here) that he doesn't take over more. but the point i agree is we need total team play. tracy, if he comes back healthy, can get his anytime. we should start the game going to yao, artest, scola.. and let tracy get his in the flow of the game. if they need tracy, then go to him. on a great team, tracy's greatness should be a luxury, not a necessity.
