I'm not so sure about that. If, if, if T-Mac comes back, we will have that player that, when we need a shot to be taken, he will take it. When the (bleep) hits the fan and we need a basket, TMac can do that. That is something that killed us in the playoffs. RonRon, bless his heart, tried, but ultimately failed to carry us. TMac has the ability to do just that. Without Yao, this is possibly his best opportunity to shed that horrible label of being the greatest player never to win a series. Hopefully this is motivation enough for him.
Agreed. While I won't strut like we're a playoff team, I think there's a 75% chance we take the 8th seed.
So what happens if Tracy does come back and halfway healthy at the beginning of the season with the starting lineup? Who comes off the bench between Battier, Ariza and Tracy? For Adelman it looks like a good problem to have even though all three players natural position is small forward.
First of all, he sure as heck better not come back "halfway healthy". But, I would assume Battier/Ariza at SF and McGrady at SG.
Pau going down was completely, utterly, unforseeable. He's been the absolute picture of health and stamina, year in and year out. Oh, wait, we're talkig about Yao. I'd like to immediately retract my prior statement (beer with Obama got me a little mixed up). I'd like to believe the organization isn't as short sighted and reactionary as some people on here are. Sorry, but DaDa is an emotional flapjack. Do you not believe the organization knows (and knew from Day One) with Yao that he is (would be) injury prone? Knowing that, there is absolutely NO WAY they will trade their best player (McGrady) unless it nets them an equal talent. That fact didn't change pre or post-Yao going down. Cheers. *burp* *hiccup* Michelle!! Hennessey damnit! I know you got it stocked!!
Your never going to have a completely healthy Tracy McGrady. At 30yrs of age and with his skill set, I"ll take a halfway healthy T-mac any day. How long his health will last is another story, but heck I saw him bust out a triple double last season hobbling around on one leg.
If you mean half-healthy in the sense that he plays solidly but just without the explosiveness that he used to have, I can live with that. But I was thinking half-healthy as in he still has no mental confidence in himself and plays half-arsed and starts wondering if he should take games off. That kind of McGrady I never want to see again.
Agree, but that's Tracy unless the guy has seen a sports psychologist over the summer. Not to be a debbie downer and change the topic, but the guy is not mentally tough, its a fact that we just have to live with. Just like the fact that the rockets aren't winning a championship in 09-10.
If we are 6-8 games below .500 and have played competitively against some of the better teams, than I believe Tracy's come back will be sooner rather than later.
im pretty sure if he is halfway healthy he wont touch the floor. I don't think they want deja vu from last season all over again. Is he in or is he out will be the saying all over again. I'm pretty sure McGrady wants to avoid that and play ball.
I want to see what our team looks like first before the return of tmac speculation happens. Is Shane gonna be here?
Agree, but he will never be 100% healthy with his history of injuries and current age. If he's healthier than last season, I'll take it. My expectations on Tracy's health are very low. As a rocket fan I hope the injury gods will finally give the poor guy a break. Pretty much everything Tim Grover preaches is injury prevention, maybe this time it works.
all we cam do is wait and see, if he comes back healthy and plays good, thats great, if he does not oh well good by tmac
It may help his image a tad, but the organization has to either really believe in this team with Tracy or that Tracy can nab them another star in a trade. Because for most people here Tracy just pushing them to playoffs isnt enough. His image will only be helped if he single-handedly wins a championship with this team. Even then most people will just say, "well it was a contract year for him." As for DD's OP, it seems logical when thinking about it but at the sametime I'd like to keep my expectations low. Even if he comes back in great physical condition, he still has a lot to prove and I hope he has the fire in him to prove it.
Based upon our track record as an organization I would have to say that the chances of TMac coming back TOO soon from his rehab is very high and in that scenario it could come at any time he decides he can handle the 'pain' and the renowned team physicians/trainers give him the go ahead ("you OK TMac? OK, looks good to us")
Contrary to what many believe, McGrady is the best chance this team has. There are no real alternatives. Basically Morey's chances are to continue with Tracy/Yao or rebuild. While it may be frustrating to constantly come up short and be plagued by injuries, being a rebuilding team is just plain no fun, especially as constructed. Morey has done an excellent job of building a team without leaders, ie the perfect set of roleplayers, but all of that is worthless in a rebuilding phase so its unwise to start over. Our roleplayers arent going to develop into stars and will only be wasted as we wade in mediocrity for 3-4 years. I think our best bet is develop youth this season (cough*tank*cough), rebuild Macs rep, get a great draft pick, resign McGrady and Yao to something reasonable (NOT MAX DEALS) and then target a higher end player, ie a non max guy, like a Boozer or a Redd and give it one last hoora in 2010,11,12. While this might not be an ideal proposal for those who can't forgive the let downs of the past few years, it really is a the BEST shot we have at remaining competitive.
It could be the other way around. What if Morey says he should be ready for the start of the season then Tmac doesnt make it back till late December. Then all the fans will be saying he was lazy with rehab and cost the Rox two months of games. Either way the guy cant win. If he comes back early and plays well, people will curse him for last season and blame the lack of rehab in a non contract year for derailing the big 3. If he doesnt come back on time they will say he has this massive history of poor rehab and is killing the payroll. If he comes back and plays mediocre fans will say he is washed up and wasted the money and cap space the Rox needed to be mediocre. Only two things can happen that return Tmac to the fans good graces. His contract nets a CP3 type player in a trade, or he leads the Rox to the title and resigns for the MLE the next year.
Much,much closer to the beginning. I also said before about Yao and some flubbed it off and that's why I laugh when people talk about getting wade or even joe johnson. That's part of the reason why the rockets needs guys who can run and get in transition, something yao nor tracy does well and when itgs not there they run the offense. Problem is that it takes a lot of time to set yao up because he's so slow and immobile. Unlike shaq or even kareem in their older yrs, yao takes a long time to get the ball. That's why when Gater has brought up the greyhound theory, I've agreed with a lot of that. If you have 3 guys that will run after every rebound,steal, or block, you can generate easy and early offense, but the rockets in the past or even this yr had 1 maybe 2, Brooks and scola. Throw in ariza, and now you have 2 laggers like tracy and yao, but 3 pushers like brooks,scola,and ariza. Shane is a lagger also.
