it sucks that we accumulate the necessary talent when both are in their decline. imagine this talent in the 04-05 tmac/yao squad.
Not every player comes back from a knee injury (Dominick Davis anyone?) I remember I said this much in a preseason game thread and 75% of this board jumped my ass. It's not guaranteed that Tmac will rebound from this injury......infact his play has been somewhat discouraging that he completely will (dude could already be suffering from jumper's knee for all we know......it shouldn't take him this long to get back to his oldself. As far as Yao........I don't know what the hell is up with that guy, he hasn't played this bad since his rookie season. He looks frustrated and completely emotionally beaten. He's letting scrubs school him and get into his head.
I don't think the window is closed but it's not a very big opening. I think that when T-Mac and Yao really start to decline, it's going to be like watching them drive over a cliff. It'll be a big and sudden drop off that might not be farther away than we think.
I remember a thread a year ago when kobe was demanding a trade and the idea of trading tmac for kobe was brought up. Majority of the people on this board was against the trade. I wonder what the major of those people were smoking because I want some of that good stuff too. Tmac has talent no doubt, but his desire to win is nowhere near Kobe's. If kobe was on this team, I guarantee you we would make it to the finals, but with tmac, we might still not make it to the second round this year. Already one of McGrady's quote this year when being interviewed was, "This team will go as far as I take it". Well how far are you planning to take it McGrady? Because you got taken to school today by Kobe. I remember your commercial back in the days of "What happen to that boy". Well what happen to you tracy?
i don't think tracy will play this poorly in the playoffs, he never has. it's just his play during the reg. season can be frustrating b/c it's so inconsistent and his mind is not always there. i wouldn't doubt tracy on his level of focus and play in the playoffs. we won't get this tracy in the playoffs. but since we're not there yet, it's extremely frustrating. one game he drops 30, the next 2? that's just inexcusable.
No offense, but that sounds like the start to this season....and if people would open up their eyes (and I know this isn't a popular statement with some people on this board, but it is the truth) Tmac has been well on the decline for the past couple of seasons......look at his #s/efficiency.
I'd be all over a Kobe/Tmac trade........one of the reasons why people were against it though, is that was when Kobe was slamming teammates to complete strangers on a video camera behind a mall. I think alot of people viewed him as a cancer, but yeah......Tmac for Kobe, where the hell do I sign? Kobe: 30's are the new 20's......I feel the best that I've ever felt in my entire career.......oh my pinky needs surgery, no thanks I have basketball to play. Tmac: I'll play when I'm ready to play..........I wasn't even expected to play longer than 4 seasons. ect. ect. ect.
Yao complained the long-time play after first three-winning games and talked to RA for this issue. Later on, he refused to reveal the talking and have become worse and worse since then.
Oh i found the commercial on youtube. heres the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcLEaabQiI0 Brrrouuuuuuuu, What happen to that boy? Didnt get your education today Tmac? Here comes the teacher Kobe. Got taken to school today.
look right now, yao can only play in the low post and low post only. 2 times he tried to play the "divac" role in the high post tonight and his passes were AWFUL. one the threw right to ariza (and it's like he was right there) and the other threw it right to the crowd. he's an awful passer. and he's not a threat out there so that really waste yao's time on the floor. adelman has A LOT to do and he's going to have to earn his money. this is not an easy task. he's gonna have to "adjust" and we'll see what kind of coach he is. but i also think the team not being healthy and the lack of shane really hinders what we can do. with shane, artest is not going to start. therefore, we only have tracy and yao out there so it's easy for those 2 to play together and not think about trying to get artest the ball. those 3 guys together on the floor look really awkward b/c all 3 are so unselfish. like i said, we can still be a very great team if we return to our defensive and rebounding dominance.
One basket in 58 minutes. I agree with the OP. There is no way he sucks this bad. He must be hurt and we can't keep trotting him out there like this. If by any chance he is not hurt or very sick, and this recent ineptitude has some other explanation, then this team is in serious trouble.
you can't go from scoring 26 pts v. the best defense in boston, then 30 pts v. the blazers and just decline like that. he didn't look to drive one bit in both games, which was the key to his effectiveness in the other games. he's just not focused right now. and if he's not complaining about the knee, why shoudl we? it didn't stop him from penetrating in the other games. it took him to go 1-10 before he started driving in the laker game. that's just inexcusable.
That's the kind of analogy I was going for. He played terrribly, but if he's ready to go, you play him. And fighting through screens was the LEAST of McGrady's problems tonight. I understand that he was absolutely abysmal the last two games, but, if you're calling for him to sit, bench Rafer, Yao, and Artest, too, cause they all played pretty badly.
This is simply not an excuse of the 30 points lose. Losing is ok, but you have to show you have heart. This is not an acceptable game for fans.
