DD, personally I am a huge huge T-Mac fan, but as of late I have come to the realization that he just dosn't have the mental makeup to ever win a championship much less get past the 1st round. He is one incredible talent physically even at his current age, but his lack of heart and mental toughness offsets that talent. Maybe after so many years of watching him as a rocket it's probably frustration on my part of finally thinking this way or maybe I'm finally being objective with myself when it comes to T-Mac. It might be time for Morey and Les to cut themselves (go a different direction) loose of T-Mac and move him for the best deal possible when the timing is right this season. I think in Yao's case it will just take some time if he can stay healthy to get his legs underneath him. The big caveat is if he can stay healthy. Morey and Les need to get an athletic big man ie(shotblocker, rebounder) to help patrol paint and he needs to be taller than 6'8.
I'll agree with you that Tmac tends to embelish his injuries to a certain extent. But to say his current physical limitations are all due to his mental state is utterly insane. Put this in perspective. Every year past 25, the cells in your body regenerate slower. For you and me, that might mean our metabolism slows down and we gain a bit of fat around the belly. It also means we recover slower (and incompletely) from our injuries. Tmac will be likely to regain 85% of his mobility and strength in the next three months. Like it or not, its going to be a long process.
Effort, or lack thereof. When other players see their leaders slacking off it is going to permeate to the lesser players. Scola and Artest are the only 2 I see hustling in the starting lineup each and every game.... DD
I agree with you, my point is that he should have already gotten that back, over the summer. To take more than 6 months to recover from an arthoscopic surgery where they removed loose bodies is ridiculous. It is not reconstructive surgery, it is a very small incision where they suck out loose bodies.....I have had the same surgery, and was in rehab a week later and playing basketball 2 weeks after that......and at about 10-12 weeks was 100% healthy...and confident in my knee. Of course it could be that he has more extensive damage, but my guess, based upon all the Rockets doctors and everyone else is that it is all in his head. DD
Totally agree, even though JVG wasn't exactly tough with T-mac either. Obviously T-mac is hurt, but the worst thing is he's hurting his team more by playing than by sitting out. Strange though that RA and T-mac fail to realize this, especially T-mac who said that if he is hurting the team, he will sit out but he feels he brings enough and the team needs him. RA too feels the same way which is rather disturbing. I understand RA is not a tough coach, a so called 'players coach' but everybody can see T-mac is coming short and hurting the team when he's out there. RA overall decision making is very questionable and he needs to take more charge of the team. Brent Barry is playing terrible as of late so why not give Wafer / Head his minutes, just play the people who are doing good and bench the ones that dont. It's not rocket science, so even though I agree partially with DD that it's mental and some1 needs to get through to T-mac, it is also physical and the lack of leadership by RA or another teammate to tell him straight up: you're hurting us out there. But I guess that's what the "All-Star" treatment is all about, you just do whatever you feel like doing on any given night and nobody holds you really responsible...except for the fans who're fed up.
its not an excuse, i just think you're being a little arrogant thinking you know tmac better than he knows himself. He's playing hurt. For Tmac to stand up and take all of the criticism from the media, and to go out in front of everyone and plat the game at a high level. That alone makes him tougher than your average guy.
You are confusing 2 arguments, if he is hurt, fine sit him, because he is not playing at a high level. But I can see the lack of effort by all the players, and you can too. Not just Tmac. I sat less than 40 feet from the court, and was on the floor last year, there are some players who hustle all game....Scola etc....but for the most part, the players coast....a lot. DD
Honestly, role players should hustle. If Scola had to guard twos and had to beat his man off the dribble and run around screens all day he would probably "coast" as well.
Tmac should not be asked to guard any SGs he just doesn't have it in him...let him guard the less mobile of the SF or SGs....but if he can't keep up, bench him. That is my point.......if it is all in his head, or in his knee....sit him down......rehab him...because right now he is not helping, and you can see the lack of effort displayed by him start to go to the rest of the team. We need Battier badly, he inspires... DD
I too watched some video from past years and it's not even close to the same TMac. It spurs a question for me...when Artest comes up for renewal next year..shouldn't we keep him and let TMac go? I'm afraid we might do the opposite. Natural talent alone TMac wins hands down..but there is so much more. Tmac mental issues that DDakota is talking about is evident but even more so his physical problems are of the nature that will never just completely heal (Knee, Back). Artest, while capable of bad performances as well, is a hustle guy. Last night he was off again but simply dominated the boards. It's as if he says "one way or the other I am going to be effective in this game". IMO we have to see where this year goes but when the time comes keep Artest and leave TMac behind (and his huge salary) ..then we have tmacs salary to build around artest and yao.
Battier also stands in the corner on offense....I know what youre saying and I agree....Tmac right now is hurting the team. I think its because he's hurt, and you think its because he's mentally weak.
No, I think he is mentally weak because he is.....mentally weak. Everywhere he has been people come to that conclusion, it is fairly obvious he is a great talent, but not a leader of men. Battier stands in the corner but he moves the ball.....we need more ball movement in the first unit. Tmac dominating the ball and protecting his knee by playing at a slower speed is not going to get it done. His jumpshot has never been consistant, and he is relying on that too much...if he is not going to drive, and dish, then he needs to sit. DD
I agree Granville, the skills that T-Mac may have lossed over the years, 98% of most NBA players never had them to begin with. He still has a very very high off the charts offensive skill set no matter what he or anybody else thinks. JVG is right in that T-Mac needs to forget about what he lossed and go with what he currently has. In game 6 of the Utah series last season (6 or 7 months ago), his knee and shoulder were both killing him and he came out and looked like a man amongst boys in that game, he threw caution to the wind (ala. Kobe) and just played up to what he was capable of playing to, he didn't feel sorry for himself or his team, he just went out and dominated. He just manned up. He can still do it. It's all in in head.
I was at the game last night and I was down by the court where the Rockets come out from. I was there to get autographs. I have a hat that I try to get the players to sign. I'm almost there with getting the players to sign it. Well to get to my point, Artest came out with Elston Turner limping. The coach told him, "Are you sure you want to play?". Artest told him he needed more tape on his ankle and they both went back to the locker room. Not even 5 minutes later, he came out and signed my hat. He wasn't limping much and came out for shoot around. I know T-Mac is no Artest, but T-Mac needs to play hard like Artest did. Artest had the worse injury out of all of them but he came to play. He knew Yao wasn't going to play so he did his best. I even saw Artest go to him during a TV break and tell T-Mac something. When the game picked up after that timeout, T-mac came back into the game.
You change your mind Like a girl changes clothes Yeah, you pee a mess like a b**** I would know And you always think Always speak cryptically I should know That you're no good for me 'Cause you're hot then you're cold You're yes then you're no You're in and you're out You're up and you're down You're wrong when it's right It's black and it's white We fight, we break up We kiss, we make up ____________________________ That's for you DaDakota.
It's obvious T-Mac is not there mentally..you can see it, or maybe it's just me. If you look at his facial expression from last nights game, he seem weak and hurted. When you're fighting opponent, you never show them you're scare or hurt. They should really just shut him down. His lack of energy is very negative for rest the team. It goes like this, either you play or you don't. If you're out in the court, play like you want to win. And if not, just rest, let the other guys handle it, because then other guy would atleast try.
Here we go with the whole body language thing. Didn't everyone say that Eli Manning was doomed because of poor body language....Bottom line is win. When his tema starting winning all of a sudden his body language "has drastically improved"...its all bs. Just win. The team lost yesterday's game. In part because of Tmac, but mainly due to the absence of Yao Ming. Yao will be back soon and we will start winning again. Then maybe we wont have these posts about body language contributing to our losses.
i totally agree with DD on this. playing football and wrestling in high school, 70% of winning is your mental attitude. you can have all the talent in the world, but whether you think you can or can't you're right. i don't believe tmac is
oops accidentally posted...i don't think tmac is as hurt as he looks or for me "sounds." he still has the ability to rock shop on plenty of the teams it's just a matter of will power. i.e. look at the lakers. you can say they have a younger team, but look at how kobe fights all night every night. everyone feeds off the best.
