Yesterday, NBA TV was playing the 2005 game 2 between the Mavs and Rockets. The Tmac dunk game. And I was blown away by how quick and decisive both Yao and Tmac were only 3 years ago. They were moving so well, and playing so hard, it made me wince in pain to watch the Mavs game last night. I know both are coming off of injury, but if they aren't going to get back to this level, the team will not be going anywhere. Yao, right now is just slower than Molasses, he is slow to rotate on D, slow to make a move on offense, and has no lift, just watching that Dallas series where he was getting up the floor and dunking with speed and agility (well for Yao) makes me sad. Is he done doing that? Have his injuries so severely limited him that he may never have that quickness again? If not, then he needs to remake himself into a power player, and learn to hit that 15 footer at the top of the key, which frees up space to drive for our other players, and gives Yao a break from all the low post banging. As for Tmac, man, it is hard for me to watch him, because he is clearly not right physi....no check that....mentally. All this talk about his knee being a major issue is weird, because all he had was arthoscopic surgery, some loose bodies cleared out of the knee, the same surgery that Brandon Roy had in August. Assuming the doctors are telling the truth, and with the Rocket's medical team you never know, then TMac is flat out being lazy. The impression I get from the writers, the announcers and the staff is that he needs to work through it and strengthen his knee? What? He has had 6 months to do that, why is the team waiting on that now? I think Tmac hoped Artest would allow him to ease into the season, so he took it easy, and now is just out of shape. To me his left leg looks smaller and he is just not trying to test it. If he is going to play 30 minutes than he needs to go HARD during those 30 minutes, do not pace himself....PLAY HARD....if he is not going to do that, then I suggest you sit him. Tell him clearly he is hurt, and let him watch his teamates move on, build the team around the others, and then when he gets tired of sulking ease him back in. Remember last year when he mentioned that the team was leaving him behind athletically, well.....do it again. Tmac's problem is not his knee, it is above his shoulders. The team needs to move on.....and let him catch up. DD PS. I would leak a Tmac for Marbury trade rumor if I were Rockets brass....not do the trade, but make it seem like he is being shopped....hurt his pride a little....challenge him.
I was watching 05 and 06 clips last night - it was amazing how much better tmac was. Quicker, more accurate, and a lot more passionate. I don't like the tmac hate on this board, but he does seem....off. Maybe it is a conditioning thing, but it's painful to watch. I just agreed with DaDakota in the GARM. Yikes...
Rhad, I think Adelman is a great coach, but I actually think JVG got through to Tmac better. Tmac has been too coddled, his entire life, and he needs some tough love, IMO. The team should move on.....and make him catch up. As for agreeing with me, well, most people eventually come around... DD
I had no idea that you were a doctor. Its pretty evident to all that Tmac is severely limited by his left knee. Its obviously unstable and you don't need a medical degree to realize that. The very notion of you attributing this to a mental thing is beyond comprehension. Do you really think that Tmac "believes" his knee hurts and doesn't go all out? Tmac (as most superstars are) is arrogant and believes he is better than everybody else out there. You don't think he knows hes more talented than everyone else? What would make him think "oh... my knee hurts.... i'm just going to run around on the court like a gimp rather than play with explosion"... and fyi... arthroscopy is merely a method of surgery. It speaks nothing of the extent of damage in a knee or any give joint. Comparing his injury to Brandon Roy is utterly pointless.
dr. dadakota strikes again. t-mac is soft and lazy. we got that already. anything else that's new and worth a new thread?
DD I respect you as a poster, and what youre saying is perfectly valid. That being said, I am really sick of coming on this board after every loss and reading posts like these of people blowing their wad. If the team is still playing this way when everyone is healthy and in sync, then yeh, it may be time to start a thread like this. Right now, its early in the season, we're banged up, were trying to find ourselves, we're 7-5.....Is it really time to start all of the "man up" threads? You've been a fan for years. You have to know how Mcgrady is notoriously a slow starter and a strong finisher. He just came off of knee surgery. Give him some time before totally eating in to him. Its simply way too early for that. Does he look slow? Hell yeh he does. but there were tons of games where he looked slow coming back from injury last season, and he somehow carried us to the number 4 seed without Yao Ming. Can he reach that level again? I don't know, but im willing to give him a chance. If the guy is saying he's playing injured, he's playing injured. Until you go out on the court and play on the professional level with a bum knee, you can not be the judge of whether or not his problem is physical or mental. I'm frustrated with Mcgrady too, but he usually comes through when we need him the most. Have a little more faith.
DKNY, I am not a doctor, but I had a similar surgery on my knee, so that is where my perspective is coming from.....and if you listen to what the coaches and the press are saying that he just needs to strengthen the knee, it will tell you all you need to know. IMO (yes that is all this is) ....Tmac did not put in the rehab work and is struggling because of it, and he is not comfortable with his knee because it is his first surgery. I understand that, when Rick Adelman says "He just has to work through it" that speaks volumes. Basically, you are asking a mentally weak guy to toughen up and work through it. Tons of players work through it every day, but some take longer than others to gain that confidence. Remember that TMac dunk attempt last night, it wasn't that he couldn't do it....it was that he didn't want to try.....it is a HUGE difference. Tmac's issue is all in his head....and until he cuts loose and realizes that his knee is not going to fall off, he is going to struggle. DD
I hear ya JVG, but I don't see it like that last year....I saw the team move on without him and him looking around and going..."Hey...what about me?" then he came back strong. I believe he has that in him again, but I think the team should move on without him until he DECIDES to come out and play hard. He is playing slow out there to protect the knee, it is the classic case of a guy afraid of doing too much out of fear of re-injury. I get that......and understand where he is coming from, but there are multiple ways to get him through it....one is to let him play and gain his confidence...which they are trying (which I think hurts the team as he does it) the other is to sit him when he plays cautiously, and reward him when he plays hard....that is what I would do. Tmac is more than capable, he is just scared. DD
JVG is talking about Tmac and his mentality on 1560 now......saying he thinks too much about what he used to be able to do, rather than what he is so good at now. JVG thinks his mental state is the whole key. Says he needs to be healthy and happy for this team to gel. JVG and DD.....who would have thunk it? DD
You know what? We should just give him some damn cortisone injections into the joint and cut him loose. That way, when he blows out his knee (ala Grant Hills ankle), we can say he gave it all he had. Do you know why Grant Hill's ankle was broken? Because he ignored the pain! Pain is the bodies way of telling you to slow down. But what the hell do i know?
No one is saying that DKny, But if you have followed TMac's career, he has always been an exaggerater, remember the cracked elbow comment just last year? Come on, I don't doubt his skill just his mental toughness....which has been his question his entire career. DD
I think he's just hurt. Again, have you ever tried to play basketball on a professional level when your knee is bothering you? 30 minutes of chasing around elite athletes , jumping for rebounds, cutting and slashing to the basket, jumping, taking contact. Its not like he's taking a walk in the park, or playing pick up against old college buddies.
I have a problem with this line of thinking because it assumes they're going to be healthy again at some point.
Yes, I get that, but when I went to the Spurs game, the lack of effort was staggering. NBA players do not play hard pretty much all game...until the last 10 minutes. TMac included. DD
Maybe he overexxagerates because people are always going to call him scared every time he is saying he's injured. He's the only guy who knowswhat he can and cant do. To pretend you know how he feels is just wrong.
Everyone, doctors, coaches, announcers, everyone has said his knee is fine he just needs to strengthen it. If he can't do that on the court, then sit him, put him into rehab and move on...that is the point. DD
Maybe because they're world class athletes and they make it look so effortless when its really not....
Uh, no......it is a lack of effort, you can tell the difference, come on, don't make excuses for them. Yeah, talking Rockets on a Rockets message board, that is OUTRAGEOUS.. I mean comparing players to where they were 3 years ago.....huh? DD
I don't agree with that necessarily. I think JVG inherited a young Yao and a highly motivated and less injury-depleted tmac. That worked in his favor. JVG also ran a simplistic offense that really highlighted the Yao-tmac combo. Pick and rolls and post-ups. That was all there was to it. Adelman has both injured and slowed versions of tmac and yao and a much more complex offensive set. The latter is not a good excuse (these are pro players, they should be able to figure out a play pretty quickly), except that adleman has had to deal with yao being out for extended periods and a neverending stream of new players and lineups. That's hard to "gel" in a complicated and strenuous offense. If you want to be worried about something, I suggest our defense. It is, frankly, not good. For a team built like ours it should be the foundation - but its just not working.
