Coming off of a win without McGrady is an opportune time to make a thread like this . I've seen a number of people make this statement in various threads, but little justification for why. Just, "it's obvious this team TMac to go anywhere in the playoffs." If you believe this then make your case as to why. I personally don't think he is necessary for the playoffs. Reasons why: 1) History. Just like we get tired of hearing the national media say, but I'm pickin the same line. The dude has never seen the second round, and he has more or less ALWAYS been "the man" on those teams. 2) Regular season performance. There are a history of teams that do very well throughout the regular season but choke come playoff time. So, success in the regular season doesn't necessarily translate to playoff success. HOWEVER, there are very few teams that struggle throughout the regular season only to sneak into the playoffs and win it all. I find it hard to believe we can tape together a season, limp into the playoffs and then somehow TMac will take over and take us to the next level. What I'm saying is that the squad that we are clicking with in the regular season will be the ones to continue performing in the playoffs. Any notion of letting the rest of the team play through the season and saving McGrady for the playoffs is ridiculous. 3) Defense prevails in the playoffs. People like to make the claim that McGrady can be a great defender. The problem with this claim is that he "can" be a great defender, not that he IS a great defender. It's not that he doesn't have the tools for it, it's that he doesn't care to do it all the time, and that's a problem. If you're used to going 100% on both ends of the floor, it becomes who you are. But if you coast, only turn up the defensive intensity come playoff time, you're gonna run out of gas come game 6 & 7. "I was tired." 4) "This feels familiar." I'm not positive about causation/correlation, but in recent games with McGrady in the lineup, I frequently get the sense that things are gonna collapse come 4th quarter. Contrarily, the team has seemed to finish the games competitively when he's been out. I can't put my finger on it, but something about our execution and confidence is more consistent throughout the course of the game when he has not been there lately. The way this ties into the playoffs is that in the last two years, the impending collapse, the inconsistency throughout the game is how I felt about our team. Sorry, this last point is the weakest one, but I wonder if anyone else feels the same way. By the way, feelings are for sissies. For those who've made the claim that McGrady is necessary for the playoffs, defend your position. Or come on over to reality, there is plenty of room here for you .
you don't have to convince us: convince morey and the national media. they're the ones who consistently say for us to do anything, tracy is the one to lead us.
I agree with the OP complete. Just imagine if we had $21 million to pay someone who actually plays hard.
Don't be a lame-o <br> I don't want to regurgitate info that has been posted a zillion times over, so I won't waste time refuting this worthless drivel. Good day! <br>
It is 100% a myth. People are making wild assumptions. His talent is unmatched, but lessor players can make bigger impacts if they play better chemistry wise with the team. I think the Rockets could advance without him, they are talented enough. But, to say his talent is not needed, or wanted is a bit ignorant. The team is better with a healthy motivated Tmac......no doubt about that. DD
Have you been watching TSlack play of late (say last 2 months). The dude is HORRIBLE. He is not putting out effort. He's not playing D. He just wants the ball. That's not NBA basketball, that's streetball. There are lots of people getting paid less that TSlack who are contributing big time night in and night out. Many of them have led their teams past the first round. Most of them would be better than TSlack.
Put it like this we need T-mac. Why? This team by itself I don't think would get out the 1st round with T-mac sitting on the bench or moping around the court. So the next solution would be to trade him and get someone who could contribute to this team. The problem with that is T-mac value is probably real low right now. So the best thing for the Rockets is for T-mac to be healthy and motivated. By into Adelman's system like he did in the Philly game.
have you seen how he moves lately? his knee has been a problem. sure others can play with more courage on a bad knee and try harder. from the past 3 games, i see an improved tracy and if he keeps improving, he's going to be the player we've seen in the playoffs since he's been here: an elite player.
a lot of people like you think he's washed up and can't beat anyone off the dribble or dunk or whatever again. well, the philly game shows he can still do all of that. with more games, more confidence, and more strength in that knee, well i say why not?
I think he just needs to get in shape, and get his confidence back. I do not think we need him as a volume shooter anymore and I worry that he needs those shots to get in a groove, and if that is the case then it is best to move on.... This team plays better when everyone is involved... DD
The reason I was optimistic about the addition of Artest was that it gave the Rox a third weapon for the playoffs. One of the reasons neither Tracy or Yao has won a playoff series as Rockets was because of the very poor play of the other players on the team (Battier, Head, Alston, for example). With three legiitmate stars, if defenses take away one then the chances of one of the other two being able to make up for that is improved. The three should not play together much though, Artest loses his game when he plays with Tracy. My hope would be that TMac comes off the bench with the second unit. Landry needs to get more playing time also.
Can I say...what we need is a 100% t-mac or maybe we can call it "pre-tmac" . ps: sorry ,i don't good at english.
i agree with you that we can't have him as a volume shooter anymore. tracy should only take a lot of shots if the team is struggling to score. and even he recognizes that. when the team was blazing v. detroit, he took 14 shots. and he passed and got everyone involved for most of the game. the reason he took 20 shots v. philly was b/c yao was a non-factor offensively for 3.5 quarters and ron was struggling. i say that b/c tracy was the only one reposting to yao quite frequently in the first half. tracy is a willing passer. but i do agree with you, if tracy has to take 20 shots every game, then we cant have that. but i think he understands that. he has to be more of a playmaker for us to win, not a scorer.
