His entire time in Houston other than this year because TMac was hurt this year. He was after all going in and out of lineups. But look at his entire career with the Rockets. His win-loss ratio is crazy with him in the lineup and without. I couldn't have framed it better than this guy, http://www.prosportsdaily.com/forums/showthread.php?t=356284 "Not counting this year they are 172-90 with Tmac, versus their record when he is not in the lineup at 19-46(a .292 winning percentage). Last year, it was 36-13(.735) with McGrady and 8-7(.533) without him, over an 82 game schedule that would prorate to 60 wins and 44 wins respectively. Clearly all this year shows(20-15 with, 33-14 without) is that 1, the Rockets have better players that can fill in for Mcgrady now if he goes down, and 2, that Tmac was hurt. Even if you add this years numbers it comes out as 192-105 with, 52-60 without, still a very clear winning percentage with and a losing percentage without. 1 year does not negate his entire tenure in Houston, I realize people like to live in the now, and someone who isn't relevant now tends to be dismissed, just like tons of Rockets fans had done to Yao last year, after the team played so well when he went down. Some fans thought it was time to move on and trade Yao, were they right? Hell no, not even close, I remember telling people I knew then that there's no way Houston is better without Yao, but much like people are doing now, they could only see the present, and not the big picture. A healthy Tmac makes this team better hands down, an injured Tmac does not. Yes I realize some of you know this, but I'm tired of people running around saying their better off without Tmac completely, when it just isn't the case. It's easy to see, and the numbers back it up. That is all."
Another interesting number for those thinking defenses didn't pay any attention to a hobbled McGrady this year, he still averaged about 5 assists a game. He's either getting doubled and/or his teammates are better shooters and scorers now. We all know he wasn't himself this past season, but looking at "Just The Numbers" they weren't that bad considering the injury. His PPG was down of course. His overall FG% was down, but interestingly enough his 3pt% went up a lot from previous years. It was a more respectable .376 according to NBA.com. Also, his defensive stats...aren't too bad. His steals and blocks per game are about on part with say Kobe. I choose him b/c he's considered someone who plays D. Tracy didn't look good this year, but he still wasn't that bad. We expect more b/c of his salary I'm sure. Stats don't always tell the whole story, I know that. But i'm just looking at the numbers right now since that's the discussion.
To keep it simple, a team with Head as the starting SG and Alston as the starting PG or a team with 37 years OLD Wesley and Jon Barry as starting wings need TMac, not THIS team.
So you are saying a healthy TMac can win with that team single handedly and he cannot make THIS team even better? haha funny... remember that last year Atlanta took Boston Celtics the eventual champion to game 7, but where are they now? We need a finisher and a creater. When Yao gets fronted, the offense stops. Brooks is our only hope in those situation and we all know that he is WAY too inconsistent. Brooks is better off taking passes from TMac.
This team right now, playing against a solid defense in the half court needs a T-mac now! Your point made no sense!Everybody got easier baskets when he was on the court you don't average five assists a game if that was not the case. His turnover assist ratio was low as well.Yao's is high but we need them both.Somebody has to create an offense for this whole team and Yao needs to get in the weight room and mix some creatine into his milk.There is no way someone with a 6 ft 8 frame stops me from getting a ball when i'm 7Ft 6 300 pounds .
Great post. This team is a little better prepared without Tmac by having better defenders, more athleticism at the point, and utilizing Scola when Yao is fronted/doubled. This works during the regular season, especially against inferior teams. We can beat good teams during the season also this way, but when a team gets to play you 7 times, they can usually figure us out offensively with Yao fronted/doubled. Also, Ron Artest was supposed to be the 3rd wheel of the big 3, its not like he can't score, he's just not as good at it on his own and he doesn't create for others that often (unless if its off turnovers, then he creates plenty of shots for the other team). He was brought in to improve the already solid team led by Yao and Tmac, and help relieve pressure off of them to help us get to the next level. Unfortunately all 3 of them were hurt throughout different parts of the season. Add to that a bench of Landry, Wafer, Lowery who can all score vs. Howard and Head who both disappeared in the playoffs in 07. Then we still have Hayes and Deke for certain matchups, almost like defensive specialists. We fare better without Tmac now, but in the long run, it doesn't make us a better team. Basically, we're surviving and overachieving without Tmac through smart gameplanning, tough defense, and mental toughness which the 2008-2009 Rockets displayed, just as the 2007 and 2008 Rockets showed when Yao went out.
First of all, microfracture was an option even after 2006/07 season but they decided to let it go. As you remember he was in great shape at the beggining of the year, but his knee kinda gave up after he had bumped it with Josh Howard, I belive. Afterwards they once again discussed the microfracture which probably shoul have been done back in 2008, when he was rehabing the knee during the season. But as we all know he came back, played in the playoffs (pretty damn well with those two injuries) where his knee regressed while playing. In the end, after the season was done, they decided to only have an arthroscopic surgery to clean up the joint and cartilage. They hoped it was gonna help and the knee was gonna heal on its own. Well, as we all saw it hadn't gotten any better by playing. Maybe he rushed his comeback, I don't know. But he should have done that microfracture earlier, just after they discovered that he was missing the cartilage.
The assumption that T-Mac will be "healthy" is just that, an assumption. a "healthy" t-mac is the 07 t-mac who was a high volume shooter and inefficient scorer. if that's a "heathy" t-mac, then we are better without him. Some people are confused and think a healthy t-mac is the 04 t-mac. Well news flash, that t-mac is long gone. our best case scenario is the t-mac from 07, who was still very inefficient.
I think it just comes down to the personal level, so people just don't like him. I think Tracy is smart enough and versatile enough to be extremely valuable in this system with these players, but his health is a question mark.
Maybe the problem is with hiring Rick Adelman in the first place (I don't truly believe this, just an interesting thought). Rick Adelman has coached teams where he has had very good role players, and maybe one megastar type player (McGrady, Yao types) i.e. undermanned teams. He figured out how to handle Yao (most probably credited to Yao's work ethic and humility) and make him effective for us, but not McGrady (everyone knows he is less motivated). His CV reflects that he hasn't experienced coaching someone of McGrady's mold and the whole issue brought forth this season might have been avoided if the front office looked for some other coach. Last year's record and 22W streak happened after Yao was out. That team was also undermanned at that point with no good interior presence, thus Adelman could draw up most of the plays for McGrady since he was the most reliable option. When reducing McGrady's role this season after Yao came back (and of course Ron Artest's addition), McGrady didn't get the same ball handling time from where all our problems with him began. I love RA's decisions in the postseason games as well as his handling of our guys once we had a fixed roster midseason onwards, and I don't know enough about his coaching strategies, BUT maybe the issue was bringing him on in and not sticking with someone like JVG who's offense was predominantly inspired by the megastar on the team.
I don't know man. I always thought Chris Weber was very talented, and whiney player, with great passing ability. I always thought of him as the PF version of T-Mac.
have you seen tmac how to defend dirty kobe one by one when we do not have battier and when tmac is in magic? but tmac's body is getting old. even if he get come back this time, i dont thank his speed will not like the young tmac...
I like where you took this thought, srrm. Personally, I thought that Rick Adelman was just about the PERFECT coach for these Rockets when he got here. Especially because of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. In spite of what the prevailing popular opinion about either Yao or McGrady may be, I think the one thing most can agree upon is that neither of them seem to be the horses that you could ride for 40+ minutes a night, every other night for two months while you try to win an NBA championship. Not the way Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were for the Lakers when they were paired. That's not to say that Bryant and O'Neal didn't get help from their teammates. Nobody wins without teammates that produce. But whether you think Yao's too soft or fragile, or McGrady sulks or pouts and is too fragile, neither of them have really been able to dominate a series they way it was expected when they were put together. And I don't feel like going over all the reasons why that hasn't happened anymore. Especially when most people think those problems start with a "T" and end with a "Mac". In any case, Yao and McGrady need teammates who would produce consistently. And a coach like Jeff Van Gundy would not seem to expect other players around his "star" players to produce, at least on the offensive end of the court. The biggest reason why his offensive approach never improved while he coached here was he was stubbornly wed to McGrady and/or Yao scoring or creating scoring opportunities. I never thought that there was anything sinister with that. Van Gundy loves and respects both Yao and McGrady. He believed in them to a fault. It's a lot of the reason why he goes out of his way in his new gig to cut both of them some slack. He's seen enough of the league outside of that dour coach mood of his to understand how unbalanced his teams were collectively, and how that ultimately did as much as anything else to undermine Yao and McGrady's reputations. Which is exactly why Rick Adelman makes sense. Adelman took this job wanting to refine McGrady's role, in particular. Adelman wanted McGrady to be a SCORER. Not necessarily a playmaker as was his primary role under Van Gundy. Van Gundy saw McGrady as a point guard, in essence. Adelman wants McGrady to be a scoring wing. Adelman wants the responsibilities offensively to be spread around, and to make it more difficult for teams to load up on McGrady because you always knew where he was going to be offensively. Yao's ready now to be the main cog offensively. And McGrady being active away from the ball (especially on the weak side, away from Yao) would cause a lot more problems for people to defend than the both of them already do when they're healthy. So, when people bring up how McGrady chaffed from time to time because of how he was going to have a different responsibility offensively, I understand. McGrady's played kind-of on-on-five basketball for the balance of his career. Top of the key. Spread floor. Take whatever shot you can get. And because McGrady's had the ungodly ability to make that work more often than it's supposed to, it's hard for him to change it. He needs to. He hasn't had the luxury of teammates who would make people pay for crowding either him or Yao Ming. He needs to adjust how he plays on offense and be more active off the ball. Defenses are going to chase him whether he has the ball or not. He could be a great decoy, and probably get more open looks and opportunities to finish at the basket than he could trying to get to the basket from 25 feet out with the whole stadium dug in to stop him. I won't entertain anything about whether or not he can or won't or doesn't want to. Every player of great ability has to do that, sooner or later. But without Adelman here, I seriously doubt that the rest of the team would have made any strides in that department. Adelman expects EVERYBODY to play on both ends of the court. That's the only way you can win. It's two sides of the same coin, if you give Shane Battier a pass on offense because of his defensive responsibilities, and McGrady doesn't go as hard on defense because he's constantly fighting off two and three defenders on offense. Adelman's done something I didn't think he could do, in a much shorter time than I'd have guessed. But then, that's why he's a better coach than anybody else around here...
I also hate to break the news to everyone but, tmac isn't going anywhere. He just had major surgery. No team wants a guy who just came off major surgery, so stop coming up with these ridiulous trades that aren't going to happen.
