Rons percentage on three pointers may have been off in the post season, but thats a slump. Over the course of 82 games, you get a true idea of his ability, (see the last couple years) He is a better penetrator than Tracy and at least tries to penetrate, although lacks handles. Tracys shot selection is nothing to write home about as it is a lot of pull up 3 pointers, 20 foot jumpers and desperate floaters/weak layups brought on from his inability to finish and elevate consistently. which has been present for more than just this year. The idea of Tracy is a closer is a joke, besides the SAS 13 in 35, he really has had little success doing that sort of thing for this team. I want my closer drawing fouls, getting to the line, hitting freethrows, or going to the basket. Things we have been asking for him to do more of every season he has been here, with the exception of 04-05. He is coming off major knee surgery and trying for one more pay day. Even when he comes back, you think he is gonna push it? I dont. If you want your closer taking contested 20 footers, maybe trying to lean in for a foul then he is your guy.
txpratt- So what do you mean by hitting the 3? I could hit a 3, and drive to the hole 1 out of 50 times a piece, but since I wouldnt do it consistently (or well) I wouldnt be in the NBA. Guys that can generally hit a 3 and generally drive to the hole is about 75 percent of every pro team, and 40 percent of the college teams.
cmon now i am not the biggest fan of tracy but you are really letting those hate blinders get in the way. there has been many games where tracy has played big in terms of scoring to help the rockets win a game or seal a victory. not just that game against the spurs 5 years ago. also its not always about scoring but making the right play. he has set up his teammates quite a bit as well for the right open shot towards the end of games and that to me is also a sign of a closer, making sure your team has the best opportunity to score. in the playoffs when teams tend to key in on offenses sometimes the best offense you can have late in a game is no set offense and rely on your teams play makers create and take what the defense gives you. Despite the emergence of Brooks and Lowry late this season they are still no where near the playmaker that McGrady is. i am not saying I want him back on this team, the Rockets can get someone who can add to the team, fit a role better than mcgrady can then go for it. the biggest questions come next season is how will mcgrady show up when he does finally play (in shape? out of shape? how healthy?) and also will he play into the offense that Adelman has set up, a lot of times the past two season mcgrady has abadoned the offense and it has hurt the team. those are the two keys.
tmac hit 37% this year and is a career 33% from downtown. in comparison, kobe is a 34% career 3ball shooter. lebron is 32% for his career. let's not make this into a "if you can't stroke it like ray allen or chauncey billups" then it's not consistent. the fact is tmac is an elite perimeter scorer (or has been in his career - we will all see what he's like after this surgery), very streaky i know. but when he is playing healthy, he commands a double team and can score consistently from anywhere on the court. he does not have the luxury to wait for the ball to swing to him and take a wide open look. team defenses are geared toward stopping mcgrady, not von wafer.
Ok, name the games........ You cant just say Tracy influenced the games we did win and it was his presence that made us win. In talking about a closer, is someone who is making the final 1 or 2 plays, or hitting the final couple of shots. He doesnt do that. I liked Tracy before he stabbed us in the back, but he is not a closer.
to my point - all players the rockets have ZERO shot at acquiring (unless morey pulls another rabbit out of his hat - you never know EDIT: maybe carter?). but thank you for illustrating my point - tmac is as good as we're gonna get. and we need his playmaking ability on this team. you hope for a nice player in return if mcgradys days are over in houston, but none of these guys are coming our way. fine point. maybe so, but i think we would've at least struggled, if not straight up lost against utah like always. and i think we're silly to count on playing such a youthful team in the first round next year. my point is... we beat the youngest team in the playoffs in round 1 and in round 2 we still lost - cinderella story and all... so you think we can afford to lose tmac? i'm not as confident in wafer, brooks, lowry, artest, and battier as the rest of you i guess...
there was a game against sacramento where he scored basket after basket to and made some defensive plays down the stretch to lead the rockets back to victory, i believe it was the first time the rockets came back to win the game after being down going into the fourth quarter...there was a play where he stripped kevin martin of the ball when martin was coming down on a fast break, tracy trailed the ensuring offensive possesion, faked a three and then stepped in for a jumper to seal the win. then when the rockets were fighting for homecourt 2 seasons ago they faced the hornets and tracy scored something like 9-11 points in a row late in the fourth quarter to seal the victory for the rockets off of a variety of jumpers and also a drive to the basket where he was pushed in the back and he still dunked the ball. there was the double OT game against chicago where mcgrady first sent the game into OT, and then double OT and then led the rockets to victory in the final OT. this was also his first game or second game coming back from a minor injury. there was the game against the suns 2 years ago that ended up giving us homecourt where mcgrady came up huge in the second half and in the fourth which gave the rockets HC that year against the jazz. he hit the game winner against the mavs in the 05 playoffs in game 2 and set up yao for easy dunks late in the game as well. I believe it was 3 seasons ago? when yao went down mcgrady against the lakers drove in past kobe and the rest of the lakers defense in staples center to hit a left layup to put the rockets up 2 with .2 or .4 left. so there are 6 games off the top of my head right now and I am pretty sure there were more actually I remember one more there was a game in seattle 4 seasons ago (the stromile swift year) where two huge jumper with under 80 seconds to go to seal the win for the rockets. I actually remember this game since I didnt have league pass that year and it was actually on tnt and I was able to watch the game in the club house. so there 7 games off the top of my head where Mcgrady's scoring late in games has resulted in a rockets victory and this isnt even mentioning his late game passes/decisions that led to rockets Ws. So yes while you hate him for what has he done to the organization this past season please do not discredit what he has done for this team in the past. He is a good player down the stretch for any team to have if he is healthy and that is always the issue with mcgrady
why hasnt anyone brought up the fact that IF he came back this year and yao stayed healthy this would be the best team of role players he ever had as a rocket. as i said before with yao + mcgrady and this current group of role players we are a VERY VERY VERY good team the last time yao and mcgrady were healthy together for a playoff series was 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 factor in 2005 we were screwed by the refs but look at tracy's 2006-2007 playoff stats from all the losses to the jazz. game 3 L: tracy mcgrady: 9-23 (.391%) with 24 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assit, 1 steal, 1 block but he cost us that game? but lets forget luther head and juwan howard BOTH shooting for 0-5 each lets forget yao's 8 turnovers lets forget rafe's 5 turnovers let forget rafe going 2-5 cfor 6 points and shane going 4-10 lets forget our bench scoring 0 points, yes ZERO while the jazz bench had 33 BUT WAIT lets move onto the game 4 loss... tracy mcgrady: 6-18 (.333%) with 18 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assist yes, bad numbers but surely he was the ONLY reason we lost i'll overlook the fact that rafe shot 5-14 (.357%) i'll overlook the fact juwan shot 2-7 (.286%) i'll overlook those 5 turnovers and 5 fouls from yao but hey maybe it was just a bad game. i'll give you that game 6 L: tracy mcgrady: 8-23 (.348%) with 26, 9-10 from the free-throw line, 10 rebounds, 3 assist but alas, i'll forget rafe shooting 5-14 (.357%) i'll overlook shane shooting 20% (1-5) i'll overlook out bench losing 12-to-18 i'll overlook those 8 turnovers from yao but that in the past, game 7 is a must win!!! we gotta step up if we want to beat the jazz step-up tracy!!!! game 7 (the final game) L: tracy mcgrady: 12-25 (.480%) for 29 points, 5 rebound, 13 assist, 3 blocks BUT HE LOST US THE GAME. i'll forgive yao for shooting 9-20 with 4 turnovers and 5 personal fouls. i'll forgive rafe for going 3-11 (.273%) i'll forgive our bench losing again to the jazz 10-17 but it's all tracy' fault. the fact that we had CHUCK HAYES on PF who has absoultely no offense what so ever t-mac and yo both had to carry this team. but its t-macs fault, dont blame our bench for sucking, dont blame the fact that we had no OFFENSE from the PF position, dont blame the fact that rafe played terrible as well
I think we have a shot at getting Richardson, Carter, Johnson, or Granger. The Suns are wanting to unload salary and the Pacers are having financial difficulties. Joe Johnson's contract expires next year, and if the Hawks don't make progress, its plausible he might want to go to a better team. And there was already speculation this season that there would be a trade involving McGrady and Carter. Zero shot at acquiring? No offense, but your narrow-mindedness is bordering on being childish. What're you basing this opinion on? Our roster has changed a lot since last year, and we played with better chemistry and toughness. Not to mention one of Utah's biggest mismatches was neutralized by injury. Your argument needs to be supported by something stronger than "we'd lose against utah like always." We beat the youngest team in the playoffs without $20mm of our salary cap. I think we can afford to lose McGrady if we get an all-star caliber player in return for him.
for all your 'what-if' scenarios, it's just as likely mcgrady is either getting traded for young players and picks or for peanuts. just as likely to happen as your 'landing joe johnson' pipedream. and i don't see the nets parting with carter now that mcgrady would only be giving them half a season before he could walk. there is a reason that deal didn't happen... they own us. did you see the board going nuts previous to when the playoffs started? everyone and their dog wanted to avoid utah... it's widely accepted that they have our number... at least right now. you can't deny that. we split with them this year. are 0-2 in the playoofs against them in the last 3 years... and since 07 we are a combined 9-14 against them including regular season and playoffs. get over yourself.
here's my take on mac. he's past his prime, he's no longer able to get into the lane like he used to and he's no longer able to finish at the rim like he's used to, but he still brings a lot to the table. he can still score 20 on any given night, and he is a great passer as well as being a great playmaker. he can still play some d and isn't a liablility. he's an asset on both sides of the court anyway you look at it. he's not the player he was, but he still is T-Mac. now the part that worries me is, is he going to defer to the younger guys or the guys who are going to get you better shots? will he pass to ron or aaron instead of taking a 20 ft jumper with a man in his face. now, don't get me wrong, if he's open off a pick n roll and has a shot, he oughta take it, but i'd rather have him take it to the rack for 2 or draw a foul. it's time for him to either go or be the 3rd or 4th option behind yao, ron, scola or brooks. he's an asset, as long as he doesn't dominate the ball.
The reason it didn't happen was b/c McGrady chose to have surgery. Also, the Nets in a rebuilding mode, and McGrady's expiring contract would be a huge asset for them. Two things... 1. In a HOU/UTAH matchup, Okur plays a huge role. However, Okur got hurt at the end of the regular season. Even you were unaware of this. So there's a chance that the posters who were "going nuts" were also unaware of this. Because of Okur's injury, the importance of his mismatch with Yao, and the fact that our roster has changed significantly since last year, any conclusion made from past HOU/UTAH matchups are unreliable. 2. A significant amount of posters on this board are uninformed and illogical. Just because a notion is "widely accepted" doesn't mean its accurate.
oh in regards to a utah matchup this year we would have won that easily imo because the injury bug that killed us the past two years hit utah this year. okur missing pretty much all of the first round and when he did play he was very uneffective and boozer not being 100% from the injury he suffered during the season would have hurt the jazz big time, as that was shown against the lakers. the jazz were starting collins at center, Yao would be asking for thirds before he finished seconds against collins. defensively collins did nothing and boozer was hampered as I mentioned. if they are at 100% they are still our worst matchup in the west because of having Yao always having a mismatch offensively and for the most part okur does play him as well as you can on defense
tru that. thats all i'm really trying to say... with the talent on this rockets team, tmac doesn't have to be old tmac. he will get a pay cut after this season, he has to know that. he doesn't have to be old tmac. not with this much talent. adelman will find a way for him to be successful. if he's healthy he can do as well as he did this year if not much more... i think we all agree his knee never felt right this year. my big assumption is that is the surgery is successful and tmac can continue to play at 90% of his old self, that is PLENTY for the rockets. he played as crappy as we've ever seen him play and he still gave us: 15pts(on 38% shooting ) 4 rebs, 5 ast, and 1 st per game game. he can contribute in other ways. let him play out his contract and sign him for much less (10M). this team can still be great. let's get everyone healthy.
McGrady is not efficient enough at this point in his career to be an effective closer. Yoyo- kudos and I would not bother to look it up to refute you, I trust you on the generalities of what happened in those games. And believe me guys, this is not a blind hate. Its a combination of the reality of his current physical stae and as well, his transgressions against the team this year. He is not what we need.
which is my point precisely. McGrady right now is not an asset to the Rockets if he is not playing healthy and within the team concept, but that it no way should diminish or allow rocket fans to conveniently forget all that he has done for this team in the past 4-5 years. As I mentioned if there is a viable trade option possible that can help the team by moving McGrady then I hope its done, but if not he is an excellent addition to have if he buys into adelman's offense for at least the first 44 minutes of the game. the last 4 minutes if he can still create for others off of his pick and rolls, driving then I am all for that, he is still a better play maker than anyone on this team. I think right now Morey is going to weigh his options once the new season starts and he sees the condition of McGrady physically and mentally. Given McGrady familiarity with the current set of Rockets (outside of Lowry and artest in some ways) he would best fit in compared to any of the other "hopeful" players like richardson, carter, butler etc...
If it's Nash or Bibby or Miller, why not trade him? We'd missed one Billups, we cant miss another Billups,even smaller Billups.
