Forget salary, character, ego, injuries and all the arguably dumb things/statements Tracy McGrady did/made. Just a quick look at on-the-court numbers: How does adding Tracy McGrady make this a better basketball team? This would have been a ridiculous question before. Now I'm not so sure. In 35 games with T-Mac this season, the Rockets shot 43.8% from the field and 35.9% from three while opponents scored 95 points on 45.3% from the field (Battier was out for half of these games, but the Rockets were actually worse defensively when both played). They were 20-15 (.571). In the 30 games after T-Mac went down in early February, the Rockets shot 46.9% from the field and 38.1% from three, holding opponents to 92 points on 43.0% from the field. They were 22-8 (.733). That doesn't strike me as a fluke. It's safe to say they got drastically better on both ends of the court. Dating back to the end of the 22-game win streak last year, McGrady has shot 38.2% from the field and 29.9% from three... and that's on over 17 shots a game, which represented almost a quarter of the Rockets shot attempts in those games. You could chalk this up to injuries, but McGrady's best ever Rockets season was 43.1% and 33% from three -- again, numbers that are significantly lower than the team averages. You have to give credit to T-Mac for his solid playmaking skills, a sorely needed skill on this current team ... and that's the only possibility I see -- that his addition takes the offensive leadership role out of Aaron Brooks' hands, making him more dangerous. However, looking strictly at his offense on a high volume of shots, I'm having a hard time seeing how straight adding T-Mac to this team positively impacts the offense (and we know it doesn't improve the defense). He takes shots away from more efficient options (primarily Aaron Brooks, Luis Scola and Von Wafer). LeBron James (49% FG), Kobe Bryant (almost 47%), Brandon Roy (48%) and to a lesser extent Carmelo Anthony (44+%, career 46%) are star scorers and volume shooters that are efficient. Barring a drastic return to his best ever seasons in Orlando (45.7% FG, 38.6% 3P), McGrady is not in this class. I understand all the frustration with T-Mac for the media circus stuff, but digging into the nuts and bolts of basketball I'm concerned he does not improve the team. I'm all ears though -- How does the addition of McGrady improve the bottom line for this team?
I partially agree. Tracy does have star playmaking skills yes but that also conflicts with his decision making skills. I mean if you take a look at most games he seems to just throw up some jumpers here and there just to see if he can hit or not. I strongly believe that AB can improve his playmaking skills in the OS, all he really needs to do is learn how to control his speed and quickness. Most of the time when he tries to get past someone he has nowhere to go and ends up losin the ball. He also needs palyers that better suit his style of play, if he is the future of this team, to maximize his skills. A lot of our players are stiff (Yao) not very athletic and can't just go get it. Not saying that it's all they'll do we just need someone that is going to be alert and ready once he blows by someone and makes an amazing pass.
Simply put: Tracy is a closer, whereas there is no such person on the rockets currently. You can put the ball in his hands and be satisfied with the decision he makes. You risk the possibility of turning it over with Yao and everyone else can't control the ball and hold it like he can. Also, there's no double teaming/fronting Yao all game long with Tracy. He can get Yao a good look.
How do you evaluate McGrady and only consider what happened after the 22 game streak last season? As if the streak didn't happen? T-Mac was the leader of this team during that streak. He carried the Rockets without Yao, took us to the playoffs and helped us win 2 games in a series that everyone figured we'd get swept. Sure, look at the percentages. But in basketball terms, everything starts with the ability to draw a double team and then find the open shooter, and McGrady was a guy very capable of doing both those things. He was a creator when things broke down, a good entry passer to the post, and a guy you could go to when we had a scoring drought, like the one you saw to open the game yesterday. The McGrady of 2008-09, of course, was none of those things, and we struggled when he was on the floor. He was a poor shadow of the guy he was in his prime. Can he regain that form? Who knows. But there's no doubt in my mind that a healthy McGrady would be a positive on next year's Rockets club, regardless of what your numbers tell you.
I would just ask what are the numbers including before he looked like a walking mummy late during last season's campaign? I think you would not find too many level-headed people here that will say Tracy was "The Man" anytime in the last season and a half. I think you'll also find most of the same people will say it's because he was obviously very different from the start of that season to the first of many injuries he sustained against the Lakers (I think) and his elbow. He's not an efficient shooter, we all know that. BUT, I like our chances a lot better when the ball is in his hands to make the play. Typically the worst shot when he's on the floor is a difficult shot he decides to take. Without him on the court, our bad shots *seem* higher in number, and rushed shots/possessions seem much higher as well. With the numbers only, sure from late last year to present, there's not much of a case for McGrady. People conveniently point out the W-L record this year with and without McGrady. I'd like to know what it is since he's been a Rocket.
I think the problem here is that you didn't have a healthy McGrady when he was on the court. I think it's clear that taking a gimpy McGrady off the court is a plus. But what is the impact of a healthy, full-strength McGrady on the team? I guess we could look at past years when he has been out, but then again, our role players weren't as good back then either, so it's hard to compare.
I agree, Tracy doesn't make this team better. He's a volume shooter that has to find his rhythm,(a me player). Ron is not as skilled as Tracy and sometimes doesn't flow within the offense, but brings a much need toughness to this team. Tracy only makes it softer. As we saw thru this years playoffs the heart and attitude of not backing down will take you a long way and tends to carry on thro out the rest of the team., longer than just being skilled to a fault. Tracy won't be around for most of the season anyways, it is definitely time to move on with out him.
Flash21, I agree up to a point with AB. I think his size almost makes him jump to see "over" the D a little better, and he gets in trouble there. The only way I see him getting better at his decision making is if/when the game starts to slow down for him more. He's trying to learn as he goes now, and he's doing well. Let's just hope the game starts to slow down for him, and he'll be a pretty darn solid PG I think.
Great points Clutch. In my mind, this season's numbers aren't worth considering--he clearly wasn't the same player and I'd even venture you could take that all the way back to when he began having knee issues in 2008. He's never been efficient though. There really isn't much argument there. Tracy McGrady as a volume shooter doesn't help this team. But I think his playmaking abilities are what this team desperately needs. As you say, with Tracy being the playmaker, the onus is taken off of AB, who can then do what he does best---score. Otherwise we're stuck trying to find a playmaker (most likely a PG) and where does that leave AB and Lowry, both of whom have proven to be great, great additions? The days of Tracy being amongst the NBA leaders in ppg are long over--and that's a good thing. If he maintained his FG% that he has throughout his career on fewer shots per game, I think he adds more than he subtracts from the team. His bball IQ is exceptionally high, and you can generally trust him with the ball in his hands to make something good happen. I certainly don't trust Ron with the ball one bit, and his performance in the playoffs was incredibly poor (at least vs. the Lakers anyway). I trust Tracy to play well in the playoffs. So Clutch, what do you think the Rockets will do with Tracy? Of course this is all moot if Yao's foot problems never go away.
if you take 08-09 season alone, he sure didn't. not at all. but it will be a different picture if he's fully healthy and on top of his game.
One issue is that he doesn't get to the basket enough even when healthy. That doesn't help his efficiency. As a 3pt shooter, he's actually just about on par with Kobe. The difference is that Kobe and most of the other elite wing players get to the rim (and the line) more often while McGrady is almost entirely an outside shooter at this point. McGrady no longer has the quickness to consistently get around defenders or the desire to take contact inside. On the positive side, his length allows him to shoot over anybody. When the shot clock is winding down, he can still get off better outside shots than anybody else currently on our roster. Unless McGrady is 100% healthy, I don't see him adding much value. Some players can be effective at 90% or so but I'm not sure McGrady is among that group. Those guys overcome physical limitations through desire. At anything less than full health, I believe McGrady will become a ball stopper and a liability on defense.
I would hope that T-mac can see how well the team played without him, and how the system works. Maybe he would be able resign himself to playing within the team concept.
Tmac is not as dedicated as he used to be so his game and body have deteriorated because of it. The once premier player you could run your offense through is gone, and Tmac's future in the NBA will have to depend on his willingness to mold his game into a roll player. AI wasn't able to do, and I doubt Tmac will be able to as well. Too much ego.
It is more than just pure stats and shooting percentages. Up until his last days as a healthy player, the guy was one of a few players you can count on one hand who commanded a double-team at the perimeter, and was one of the best decision makers on whom to pass the ball to and when. His presence helped take pressure off Yao in the post (people do not talk much about this, but Yao's numbers have taken a hit over the past couple of seasons, and his shots have arguably gone down despite the fact that he is the uncontested #1 option on the team, for a myriad of reasons). Is he as good as the tier 1 guys in the league? Clearly not anymore. But really, lets stop and think for a second: how much better of an option can we put next to Yao at this junction of Yao's career? On a somewhat related note, I am of the opinion that the Rockets need to explore trading away BOTH Tracy and Yao, and see if they can somehow get lucky enough to land a true superstar who does not have a long history of injuries. At least explore the idea, if we don't then we will never know what caliber of player(s) we can land for those two guys. We already know the Tracy era is over, but now it is clear to me that the Yao era is also over (actually, it never started, since Yao was never a franchise player to build around at any point of his career, but I digress). It was all false hope. If you keep Yao, fine, then you need to find a first option to pair him with, and at this point, there is no first option type player available anywhere, so we are left with two choices: 1. Keeping Yao and building a non-championship contending team, but a good enough team to make the playoffs, for years to come, while watching Yao's health deteriorate even further, with his career likely coming to an end over the next 3-4 seasons. OR 2. Trading Yao and acquiring a great combination of assets (draft picks, young players) to help rebuild with. Keep in mind that even absent Yao, we have a terrific cast of young players and at least one inside post up player who has proven his metal over the course of a season (Scola is easily a very efficient 20-10 player if the offense is centered around him instead of Yao, and he is a machine who does not get injured). We have a terrific cast of young players, so we are not going to fade away any time soon. Not with Morey at the helm, he is a magician who will have this team up and running in no time. Take your pick, those are the only two realistic options the Rockets have. If the Rockets sign Yao to a max, then you can forget option 2 altogether, and option 1 will become a certainty for years to come, with a bloated contract for a non-franchise injury-prone player saddling a franchise that is forced to do things on the (really) cheap, and young players that perform and them move to other teams because we cannot pay to keep them here. I am a believer that some times the gutsy but tough move is the right one. I really do think it is time to cash in on our cash cow before its milk dries up, and the rest of the league takes notice.
To me, this is the key phrase. I used to think that TMAC made others around him better because of his playmaking, but I'm not so sure anymore. While his passes led to direct assists, the ball did stop moving when in his hands (not to mention he never moved w/o the ball himself), and the offensive flow takes a big hit. Basically, its either a direct basket by TMAC (on 43% shooting), or a direct assist. Thats it. In the 4th, in crucial playoff games, it was either TMAC's ability to push us over or bust. Now, w/o him, there is such a nice flow to the offense. Other role players are confident in their own abilities, and not just watching a TMAC operate. I think this was the main reason we beat Portland. Now I wouldnt mind having a player who we give the ball to and have him take over in the 4th, but I am pretty certain that it can just not be TMAC. He has had his chances. Its time to move on now.
