Then T-Mac needs to sit, if your not going to go all out in an NBA game post surgery, then you need to sit period. I have never seen Kobe of MJ not go all out injury or no injury. He is a liability to the team taking jumpshots and to the moral of the team as well. If you are incapable of going all out while hurt then you need to sit your ass down and get your injury healed or in T-Macs case head on straight. The rockets have literally millions of dollars on the line with T-Mac and it doesn't look as if they are too concerned about putting him out there and making him play. This is getting old.
No i've never had a knee injury nor have I played professional level sports. All i'm saying is that T-Mac could play up to level. He doesn't want to. My point is that is not a bad thing. I'm not saying it's only in his head. But you've got to tell me, after seeing 30 and 26 point performances, that he can't play up to level if it counts? That's a good thing, because I'm not worried about the playoffs, even if T-Mac is a little hobbled, I know he will play through it and play well.
Fine. That's fine with me. I don't have anything against that. If he's making his injury any worse or leaving himself at any risk by playing through this state, then he should sit. But we don't have another option until Battier gets back. Also, it's frustrating to see people give Ron a pass for hogging the ball and not moving it around while they blame McGrady for it. And people who give Yao a pass for not buying into Adelman's system but they blame McGrady for it. T-Mac is not as big a liability as you think. He just shouldn't be guarding the Ray Allen's of the league for now.
What I meant by liability is if he's not attacking the basket and settling for low % jumpshots then he becomes a monster liability. He is very low percentage jumpshooter. It looks to me as if Adelman is trying to let T-Mac find his way back from offseason arthroscopic surgery (thank the lord it wasn't a full blown ACL tear). Adelman must be as frustrated as the rest of us with T-Macs incredible performances against the Celtics and Blazers, then the half hearted effort against the rest of the teams.
If you did have knee surgery you'd know that sometimes the joint has good days, and sometimes it has bad days. Tmac could go through a whole game and not worry about his knee, but it only takes one minor impact, or wrong landing to have it flare up again.
But he's a superstar, a former scoring champ, and a volume shooter. He is entitled to his his main play which is to wait (scream) for the ball about 18 feet away from the basket, hold the ball for 3-5 seconds, then shoot an off-balance fade away which goes in often enough (maybe about 20%) to help your personal points per game stats (that's all that counts, isn't it). How dare you question one of the most basic plays of NBA basketball?
Ok answer me this: Do you not think T-Mac could put up 30 even on one of those bad days for his knee? If he really trying? I mean if this was the playoffs? I think the answer is yes. My point is, this is NOT the playoffs and he shoudln't be playing like it is. That's all i'm trying to say. Nothing more.
I agree he should attack the basket more. The last couple games, he has been. Not enough, but the effort to attack is there. Also, I don't think Adelman is as frustrated as we are because at the same time, the whole team is playing like that. Not just McGrady.
That answer may be the answer to why T-Mac can't get past the 1st round of the playoffs. You establish your playoff destiny now, look at how hard Boston played all last year and look at how intense and hard the Lakers are currently playing. Ron Artest was probably hurting much worse than T-Mac was last night and he played as if his life depended on it, his effort was all out.
I don't know right now. The only guy who can answer that is Mcgrady. I mean if you want my opinion which is based on nothing but speculation, i'd say he could against certain teams. Against the Lakers? No. Against the Celtics? No. Against the Jazz? Yeh maybe.
Woe to those who think they can turn it on when it counts! You'd think TMac would learn that by now. So come playoff time, what happens? TMac says, "I'm gonna play now so give me the ball." The rest of the players can't run what they've run the rest of the year. Soon, the whole team is going fishing and watching the rest of the playoffs. Change teams and repeat a few times.
Yao has always been slow. Now he's just worthless. I love how he even tried to hurt Tmac when he viciously tackled Tmac in the Suns game.
Any other superstar would use it as motivation. It’s kind of telling that he would most likely do the opposite. We went through something similar last year with all the trade rumors early in the season... DD’s suggestion will not work. I don’t think it’s all in his head but it is a major part of the problem; JVG has made this suggestion more than once. McGrady doesn’t want to realize that he isn’t 20 years old anymore and that he needs to adapt. Take for example warming up for the second half of games. He doesn’t and I don’t understand it. He didn’t have to when he first got in the league because he was that good but now he is 29 and struggling with his knee. I know a lot of people were suggesting that Artest go to the bench when Battier comes back but I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea for McGrady to go there instead. At least until he gets his knee stronger. He would go against the 2nd team shooting guard, could be the rock for our second unit, and be available to finish off games. Will his ego allow it though?
If you want to compare the two teams, blame the offense. In 2005, with JVG, they ran a pretty simple offense. The main weapon was the Pick-N-Roll with T-Mac and Yao. It worked very well. That offense better suits are 3 stars than the current one. But hey, whatever works. Rick needs to do a hybrid offense that combines the two styles.
TMac is slow, but Yao's decline is the most noticeable. He has become a shadow of his former self, and I really have doubts that he is going to regain the speed he had three seasons ago (and that wasn't really as fast as most players). Yao is painfully slow footed and has no lift whatsoever. His shooting has declined too. You would think he would be in basketball shape by now given all the workouts he has been through.
I never said Tmac was not in a little pain, I said sit him.....but basically it was inferred on 1560 today that the Rockets would like to sit him but don't believe he would be committed to doing his rehab, so they are letting him play through it. I think Tmac does feel pain.....that is not my point......I think Tmac should have rehabbed over the summer....he had loose particles removed...Arthoscopic surgery is not that big of a deal....it is a very small incision, less than an inch a small tube is inserted with a camera and loose particles are removed. You have very little pain.....at least in my case. But coming back is a confidence issue, you have to get confident in your knee....Tmac is dragging it behind...he has to work through it. Last night he failed on that alley oop attempt....not becaue he can't do it, but because he is too afraid to try to jump on that knee....he has to trust it and then it will strengthen. I think the team should sit him....or drastically reduce his role......until he is confident again. That is all I am saying.......oh, well...that and I think he is a non dedicated wuss....Brandon Roy had the same surgery in August..... DD
