his back hasn't been a problem. i don't know why people keep bringing it up. the main problem is his knees. his knee bothered him a lot last yr. it bothered him this yr. and that knee is probably affecting his elevation on his jumpshot. he has to get minor surgeries and clear something out or do something to strengthen those knees. the shoulder problem is minor/accidental.
I wonder how much the shoulder is hurting him, because if it is anything even slightly painful, that affects your game so much. I recently messed up my non-shooting shoulder, and doing just about anything on the court other than standing there has me in pain. Dribbling with my left hand is painful sometimes, reaching up for rebounds, boxing out, and shooting especially. You lift your left shoulder sufficiently high when you shoot, and it kills me to shoot even free throws right now. Not trying to make excuses, I mean, I can play through it, but that's just playing some playground ball and gym ball, I couldn't begin to imagine it at the level T-Mac is at. But if it is anything even slightly painful, he's fighting through a lot, just with the shoulder alone. No doubt.
The back was a problem last year. This year it's his knee. All classic symptoms of wear and tear, of the body breaking down. I'd bet money that he has another of the same type of injury next year.
tmac's lost his first step, but that's not the same thing as "hesitating" they're actually 100%, 180 degrees, hot and cold, night and day, salt and pepper different one is a physical situation, resulting from the wear and tear of a decade in the league playing at maserati octane... no one can keep it up forever. the other is some sort of mental issue... and as far as I know we dont have any psychologists posting on this BBS there are times tmac waits for the defense to set or a guy to cut, again that's nothing like "hesitating" it's called playing basketball
I don't know if this is a dis on tmac but you are the first person i have seen on this board get it right. His jumpshot has been especially bad this season so i'm excluding this one. In general though, he isn't as atheletic as he looks and he isn't as good finishing around the rim as other star wing players. He has always been smart and can finish if he gets the step on his man but he has never (even in Orlando) been great at finishing around the rim. THAT IS WHY HE DOESN'T GO TO THE RACK OFTEN. It isn't a strong suit of his game (mostly because he is very lanky, frail and injury prone). When he was having his greatest seasons, he played the same way. The difference in his game is that he can't get around people as easily and for whatever reason his shot has been off. He isn't just standing there waiting for the D to adjust either. It is called a triple threat position. By definition, he is supposed to read the defense and decide to dribble, pass, or shoot. His step back fadeway jumper used to be deadly and he used to be quick enough to get himself open for it. He is declining but I couldn't imagine him playing this poorly and not being injured since he played so well at the beginning of the year.
The problem simply in Charles Barkley form is "McGradeh idn't no good" He does and did care about the criticism. He probably lost some of his drive cuz he's probably BURNT OUT on it the criticism, not cuz he's gotten over it or he's past it. With McGrady if not one himself was so close to the great players, so we've been if he'd do a little this-sprinkle a little that When the truth was he's closer to the brokedown burnt out over depended on player he's showing now. Thats what he's shown the past 3 seasons. If its a negative on him or not, he is what he is. 2005 was his last superstar year. In retrospect everyone was right all along - though he accepted all the pressure of his position, he needed help more than most the other NBA superstars.
That Mavs team don't played dirty and get away like Harpring, Ak and Brewer doing this season and Harpring, Ak and Fisher did last season.
T-Mac just doesn't want it bad enough. There's absolutely no reason to take only 1 shot in the fourth. I don't give a damn if you're tired. T-Mac just doesn't want it bad enough.
TMAC needs to rededicate himself in the offseason. He needs to get healthy and come to camp stronger and in shape so he can withstand the grind of the season and not get "tired".
Tmac's problem is that his body cant do what his mind tell it to do which is not a problem, its just age.
TMAC's defense <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SMxw9rSnfGE&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SMxw9rSnfGE&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> Look at those quick hands!! Man I miss that TMAC..
His overall game has declined. He can play at a high level for short periods, but not consistently. If you watched him in Orlando, his shooting has really gone south. His stats still look good (except a declining shooting percentage), but they don't tell the whole story. Bottomline, he is not durable, physically or mentally. But as to pure talent, no one has had more.
The real issue, is without a doubt, the mental game. He just needs to not talk & play. There is no question that if we had Drexler instead of McGrady we would have won this & past series. Drexler only goes right, puts his head down a lot, & doesn't have the same flow as T-mac, but he had a will to win & doesn't talk about it after the game. The power of talking can weaken your mental game.
Exactly. Additionally, I think T-mac's stroke is broke. Free Throw shooting is a great gauge of a player's pure shooting ability and it's not a coincidence that as his jumpshot as declined, so has his free throws. I'm not sure if it's his form, or maybe the fact that he's not getting as much lift on his shot as he used to, or that he lacks mental confidence in his shooting these days... it's probably a combo of all. Next season, we really need to make it a priority to give T-mac less minutes. We need to pickup that much fabled solid 3rd option already.
He probably has a little more wear than the average 28 year old player because he skipped college. But then again, Kobe is 29 and Garnett is 31 and they seem to be OK.
No Doubt about it!,T-Mac Sucks Most of the top scorers in the NBA don't score the majority of their points from the field,They score most of their points from the free-throw line.Check the box-scores Of all the leading scorers from Jordan ,Wade, Kobe ,etc..They may score 14 points from the field and anywhere between 10 to 15 from the line.Thats what makes them hard to guard when you are only up by one point with 15 seconds to go,you know that if you look at them too hard the refs are going to call a foul and send to the free-throw line.But not T-mac he wants the ref to call a foul from 23 feet out,not going to happen in a NBA play-off game.If one shows the balls to drive the ball into (not for the weak at heart)the paint the refs will award him free-throws and game over.But if you can't make your free-throws,its easy for the defense to just foul and they don't even have to defend the paint,where a last second dish creates a easy lay-up for one of your team-mates.The point being T-Mac makes playing defense easy.T-Mac has been in the league long enough to know this,even if he did not go to high school,I mean college.T-mac needs to hook up with the Tin-man,the Lion and the Scare-crow and ask them where did they get their Heart,Courage and Brains From.FYI to T-Mac, not in Kansas or Utah,It comes from with-in.
