In the end, it's all the same. Whether it's: T-Mac is hurt T-Mac is mentally soft T-Mac is lazy T-Mac is holding back to avoid further injury T-Mac didn't put in appropriate effort into his rehab this summer T-Mac is facing phenomenal defenses T-Mac is unhappy with the team or coaching staff Some combination of the above ....whatever it is, the result is plain. McGrady isn't doing what we need him to do to make the offense go. For those saying it's all injury, be honest: do you really think he's going to heal up, be nagging injury-free, and play like he did in Orlando again? I do not care one bit what the source of the issue is, as a fan that can not fix whatever that is. I do care that the coaching staff is putting him, and thereby the team, in the position to fail by throwing him out there as our primary playmaker every single night. You can't have your offense feed off a star that gives you: 2 3 27 7 18 8 16 going from night to night. It's absurd. Send more plays to Artest and Scola, and let McGrady be a bonus X-factor. If he's feeling great - fantastic, rack up the points. If he comes out gimpy/disinterested/flat....sit him on the bench and tell him you want to unleash him for a single hard core burst in the 3rd or 4th quarter. Don't waste offensive possessions on his perimeter tip-toe dance and contested 23 footers. Don't give up bucket after bucket with his stand up, shuffle foot defense. It doesn't matter if it's "he can't" play hard or if it's "he won't" play hard. If he isn't going to play hard, reduce his role on the team. Evan
Yup, but it's funny he still gets double-teamed, no matter how bad he plays. The coaching staff just need to sit him down for the next game, see how it goes. The Wizards are playing terrible so we should beat them easily without T-mac.
Every time you tell this story the rehab/ 100% healthy time period seems to get a little shorter. How long was it before you threw down your first tomahawk dunk ?
Well, to be fair, the final period of a basketball game means more than any other sport. Lebron James calls it the "winning quarter".
By that I mean, as long as there is hustle and going all out in the 4th quarter, I could care less what happens in the first 3.
You know what, if Yao and Tmac play well, Adelman will let them on the court more than 40 minutes. Somehow, their inconsistency is a good thing for them. They can play less minutes.
Let's see...why could this be? Hmmm.... perhaps it's due to the fact that one still hasn't recovered from offseason KNEE surgery and one is coming off of FOOT surgery. Clearly neither is 100%. If this was any other player besides TMac, we would be talking about how obvious it was that the player playing is still injured and playing through it. But because TMac can be a drama queen, people just decide that his knee is fine and he's okay and being a baby. DD, have you been watching the games? (I am assuming "yes"). It's obvious that he is limping and favoring the knee. Adelman even commented on it regarding his getting around screens. If this was anyone other than TMac (who is obviously not Kobe or DWade when it comes to toughness), you wouldn't be saying that he wasn't playing hard. I disagree and think it's clearly obvious that he looks injured on the court. Weren't you one of the ones saying that he was faking it last season as well? Two surgeries later...
We have to play both players strategically. Have to limit Yao's minutes down to 33 minutes per game. Limit Mcgrady to 30 minutes or rest him all together until he can convince himself that he is "healed"
We all know that the most important thing is that they can be healthy in the playoffs. From what I saw so far these season, the rockets are clearly 2nd best team in the WC when we are healthy.
That was the playoffs pre surgery. This is the early regular season post surgery. He's not going to go all out like that no matter what. Call it lack of effort or laziness or whatever you want but that's just not happening. It shouldn't. If he injures himself in the playoffs and has to sit out 5 months, oh well we have the time. If he injures himself now going all out and has to sit out 5 months we are screwed. I agree with DaDa, it's all in his head. However, I think his knee IS hurting him, and it is causing him to limp around. He could play up to level if he wanted to, but he doesn't want to. He's trying to shelter that knee while playing at the same time and anyone can see it's not really working out. Although he is driving in a little more, it's not enough to make his game efficient with the injury. I have said it before and I will say it again, I don't mind incosistency or missed games from anyone on the team, including Yao or Ron, just as long as we make the playoffs and they are all healthy and ready to play when it gets here...and they perform. I'm sure no one was expecting T-Mac or Yao to be 82 game stars this season. I'd be happy to just get them both healthy for the playoffs. Ron doesn't matter. Whether he's healthy or not he'll be out there because he's a wild animal according to JVG.
See, I think this is total BS. The guy is hurt. It's obvious. If this was ANY other player we wouldn't be saying this (it's in his head) people said that last season and he had TWO surgeries and the team admitted to finding knee damage. The guy is a drama queen (perhaps an understatement), but watching him play on the court...his knee isn't 100% and it's EARLY in the season. Not the time to push it every night or it will give out before the playoffs.
Didn't I say his knee is hurting him? Let me clarify my position: T-Mac can play up to superstar level even on his injured knee, that's how good he is. T-Mac doesn't WANT TO nor SHOULD HE be doing so in case he injures it further. He's injured. Any argument on that front is pointless. It's also in his head. He's choosing not to play as hard as he can, and I have no problem with that as long as he's healthy for the playoffs. And i'm not holding McGrady to a double standard on that, I believe the same for all our players.
have you ever had a knee injury? And I'm not some TMac homer...he pisses me off a lot as well, but I do think we go way overboard on the "it's only in his head" stuff But he certainly doesn't help himself with his "back to square one, getting an MRI" comments.
