Talent wise: Tracy McGrady - If T-Mac to this day were in his prime, the only two players arguably better than him would be Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Just talent-wise though. T-Mac was one of the best scorers in the league and was extremely versatile. These were the days when Tracy McGrady would play defense, rebound, block shots, etc...... He doesn't do that anymore, I am not sure whether it's because of his health or whether he has just cared less and less of the game, but he doesn't do that anymore. Who I would rather have? Yao Ming (easily) - Tracy McGrady has always been in Kobe Bryant's level in terms of talent. However, one thing that Kobe has that completely separates him apart from Tracy is his intangibles. Kobe Bryant has toughness, High IQ, Heart, etc..... Yao also has those things, while Tracy has none of the above. Another reason why I would take Yao is simply because he is a more efficient scorer/player that you can run in the high/low post (You would much rather have low though) Not to mention, the nightly 20/10s you can get from Yao, while Tracy is just a high volume scorer. Just like a 6'8 version of Allen Iverson. As far as talent goes, It's Tracy just because of his versatility so it's close, as far as who I would rather have? Yao and I'm not looking back.
LOL that Yao is actually leading this poll! I don't really know what to say. These poll results are pretty much your answer as to why this board is incapable of any intelligent, objective discussion with regard to either player.
I don't see how its even a debate. The poll question was comparing their peaks, not comparing them overall as players. The only thing that has brought Tracy down from the stratosphere he was inhibiting in 2002 are his body and injury concerns - the qualification in the poll query eliminates that. This is just plain stupid. Tracy McGrady at his peak averaged 32ppg and was arguably the best overall player in basketball. Yao Ming - has he even had a peak? Really nice player but not a guy who you can count on to give you anything when it matters.
The poll question was also comparing who you would rather have, Not who was the better player. If the question was who was the better player, then Tracy should have won and would have won, but that wasn't the question. Also, I do not recall Tracy McGrady giving me anything when it matters. Maybe individual stats for my fantasy league, but I do not recall Ws. Yao, on the other hand did lead us to the 2nd round, It may be nothing special but it is further than what Tracy has ever given us or ever gave.
I'm not even going to get bogged down into another one of these debates as this board has proven an incapability to honestly debate McGrady with this pervasive 'what have you done for me lately?' sentiment, but if T-Mac had averaged 15.8 ppg in the first round, he would have been crucified by this board. And yes, he would have been double teamed as well. Again, this topic has been beaten to death, but this statement couldn't be more disingenuous taking into consideration the other relevant factors contributing to our win. We pretty much won with a balanced attack against an inferior team.
To this board? Maybe, I don't know too much. To me? It would depend on what else he did, how many Assists, Steals, Blocks, rebounds? He would probably get at least 7-8 APG and that would've been the excuse for his lack of scoring. Just like for Yao in the 1st round, his excuse for his lack of scoring along with the constant fronting was his Rebounds and Blocks. As far presence and impact, Yao had the most out of every single player in the Rockets-Blazers series.
I guess brooks killing Blake early had nothing to do with it either? When both are healthy, and that's a big when, tracy is the better player and has a bigger impact on the team winning. The games yao has missed, he was replaced by deke and chuck hayes and the team won at 65%. The games tracy missed, he was replaced this past yr by artest and wafer and the team didn't win at a 65% clip. Now you tell me, who were the better players, hayes and deke or artest and wafer? You are not suppose to be able to replace the best center in basketball with deke and chuck hayes. Before this year, the rockets record was terrible without tracy because they replaced him with luther head. Without question, tracy in his prime, which he actually had one is a better player and more conducive to wins than yao.
Tracy has averaged 7 assists per game in his playoff career with the team and this is to go along with his 25+ ppg and he is still crucified by this board. So you are essentially saying: *yao's rebounds and blocks made up for his paltry scoring average. *tracy could only make up for such a hypothetically low average by getting 7apg the fact that he already did get that many assists while also dropping 25+ ppg pretty much proves the bias on this board against mcgrady. he can't do anything right. And the fronting is what makes the most damning case against yao. he is too easily shut down. again, this is pretty disingenuous considering the balanced effort. that statement presents the idea that he had far and away more impact than any other player, when that just isn't the case. scola and brooks came up huge as did shane.
Tracy failed to win the Series, that is why he is crucified, If anything. Nobody would hate on him, if he actually got out of the 1st round. I'm positive Yao would have been hated on maybe not as much as T-Mac if he failed to get out of the 1st round. Plus, I don't recall Yao guaranteeing a series win, do you? Or him saying It's on me? I sure as hell don't recall that. Yao being fronted, opened up jump shots for Scola, Battier, Landry, etc..... From what I recall, when Hakeem was fronted Robert Horry would get open jumpers just like that. As far as Impact and Presence? Yes, Yao did make the most in the series. I've already said it in this page, but I've said Talent wise Tracy is the better player, as far as who I would rather have which is an opinion, I'd take Yao.
Well that's quite the intellectual acid test for their respective contributions. It's well established that McGrady isn't too prudent with his words. Unless that somehow has impacted his play, I fail to see the relevance in this inquiry into his contributions in the playoffs. And Tracy being doubled opened up jump shots for Alston, Head, and Battier. The difference? The former group was actually able to capitalize on the opportunities presented. I honestly don't recall Hakeem ever being fronted or at least not effectively. Already granted. Your statement presents the notion of a 51% Yao, 49% remainder of team impact ratio, when in actually, everyone was relatively close with Yao being the greatest. Tracy really was over 50% of the team in his playoff series'.
Selective bias is great isn't it, Lee? Yao is God reincarnate because he had the fortune of having the surrounding talent to finally advance this year, but let's just all agree to overlook his pitiful performances in year's past when he couldn't even stay on the court against Dallas (not to mention the team actually looked worse with him on it), got his lunch money stolen by Okur in single coverage, and wasn't even available the next year. But yeah, that's the guy I want in his prime! Why? because we won a playoff series this year!!!!111
The Knicks fronted Dream with Mason or oakley and had ewing weakside so he would get in foul trouble and dream still averaged 27ppg for the series. You think the rockets could win a series or even games with dream scoring 16ppg? Like it has been said, tracy gets doubled and he's kicking to rafer alston and chuck hayes. We probably won't admit it, or most wouldn't, but portland was the perfect matchup for the rockets to advance. I'm not sure, but I don't want to take credit from the group, but if they had another seed or played another team, they might have been 1 and done. That doesn't matter and i'm happy they did win, but missing utah, dallas, or those teams were a blessing. Although portland had more talent, they had 0 experience and that does count for something.
TRUST ME, if tracy averaged 15 pts, the whole world would have crucified him. hell, i would have crucified him. if we won, it was b/c we were the better team. no great perimeter player would average 15 damn points in the damn playoffs. he put up 29 and 13 in a game 7 with 8 points in the 4th and STILL got crucified by this board.
if tracy averaged 15 points v. the blazers, wouldn't you doubt his ability as a player even if we win?
Tracy is suppose to be the playmaker and is incredibly high volume scorer....so It would probably be why he would be crucified like that. He's not doing what he's best at. Yao's best ability may be scoring, but he can make it up with his rebounding, defense, shot blocking, passing, etc.... Yao's job is not to make plays for others or beat players off the dribble or whatever T-Mac does. Yao is a big man and Tracy is a wing player. Tracy can't impact in ways Yao can do, and Yao can't impact in ways T-Mac can do. Can T-Mac set hard screens and fight for hard boards? I don't think so Can Yao beat players off of dribble and drive and kick it off? I don't think so. They are different players and they have different values.
