what are you thinking? During the Van Gundy years Tracy was more dominant then Yao, who else were they gonna give the reigns to Alston? That's just pure McGrady bashing
You both are mind-numbingly clueless. You can't play the kind of defense the Rockets played for the last five years if you're doing it with four players. Not in the NBA. McGrady played an integral role in that defense.
No, not really. At least the way I look at it. Just as evident as Ariza not being a go-to scorer is, McGrady showed he was not a go-to LEADER. I thought that was evident from day 1, yet the organization codded him and let the team captain role get to his head. Dominant doesnt always equal unlimited free reign The 04-05 team was made up of strong willed veterans and professional self starters who didnt require "activation" from McGrady. Think Dikembe Mutombo, Bobby Sura, Juwan Howard, Jon Barry, David Wesley, Mike James gave a crap what some 24 year old McGrady thought? The vets did their thing, didnt need McGrady's leadership just needed McGrady to play ball and report to work like he's supposed to. The following year McGrady gets injured and is off in his own little universe. Barry and Sura and James dont return. Weak minded Stromile Swift and Rafer Alston join the team. Yao strong and silent but had not asserted his influence yet, especially when he himself is out with injury. Rockets were limited in the kind of player they could bring in. Didnt like the Battier deal from a talent standpoint but was what the team needed. But by then Van Gundy and the organization let McGrady have too much leeway.
I guess the tradeoff is when you're a terrible offensive player and can't create a effective play, you can at least play defense :grin:. In all seriousness, I've always thought of a guy like tracy that needs to be constantly challenged. I think he's a better player when he's challenged constantly. I think giving him a cruth like shane on defense really works opposite with him. Look no further than the years prior to getting shane. Look at the playoffs against dallas when he had to put all the fires out. He shut dirk down, then stack goes off. He switches to stack and now he's a 0 in the offense. That's how I've always felt tracy shouldve been treated. Look at his play when yao goes down vs when he's playing. He needs to be challenged all the time. As far as the fast break stuff, the closest man should always stop the ball. After stopping the ball, then everyone fan out and cut off the wings.
i like how you like to tonm interpret things this way. I am just glad none of this is a fact just your interpretation and we can leave it at that...
its pretty telling how lazy t-mac is on defense. he's the only guy who points to players to "pick them up". noone else on the team does that. trade this guy asap.
no, he just finds any thread to whine and complain about mcgrady because he thinks he knows everything about basketball...you can watch every game in the universe, but if you don't play it and know what its like to have an injury you'll never understand, which is why when it comes to mcgrady i just ignore dd's ignorant comments that he attempts to pass off as fact.
i think mabye mcgrady was pointing towards the guy with the ball for lowry to pick him up because it was Lowry's man(meaning he has been guarding him the entire game) Even so, it depends did the other team have any chance of scoring on that fast break and how many rockets where already in position to play defense in front of mcgrady?
Why does he need to be challenged in that way? Is the ring not enough? Or at least in his case getting past the 1st round in the playoffs? That seems to be motivation enough.
Here's the string of comments I responded to We're acting like there's one general book on McGrady. That there's just 1 universal right answer. Thats bull. Some people say McGrady should be challenged. Some day he shouldnt have been the top dog. Some are partly right, or everyone is a mixture of right. What we DO know is...just the very fact McGrady HAS required all this extra attention IS the issue. Its what what can be done make him go, what pushes his buttons, what pieces do you need around him. When other players dont HAVE that issue. Its generally what does the coach want, they adapt and thats that.
Would anyone be interested in uploading a file of this? I'd do it myself but I don't have the games on file. As for JVG, he always struck me as a coach who knew how to get the most out of his star players (McGrady, Ewing, Sprewell, etc.). Sometimes that meant preferential treatment and coddling, but it also meant knowing how to challenge them at the right time to get their best performance when it counted. It's not a strategy I'd necessarily agree with but it did have its advantages. It's obvious Adelman has a different approach, and all things considered, I prefer Adelman's coaching philosophy.
I just know a lot of players stay focused when a challenge is in front of them. That's why some guys play better in the post season than others. I've always knew as they get deeper in their careers, a kobe led team would fair better in the regular season better than a shaq led one. Some guys can just bring it all the time and some needs that challenge looking them squarely in the face. I remember clyde last couple of yrs in houston or in the 97 playoffs when he allowed hornacek cancel him out. I'm not making excuses, i'm just saying it happens.
I agree with this, and I think now it's up to McGrady to change to fit the system instead of having the system change to fit him. The question is, can he and will he?
Tracy never used to play defense,especially during Van Gundy time,the only thing for tracy is offense,his duty for defense was undertaken by shane,so there was a funny story say shane is more like a bodyguard for tracy. today we have ricky adelman ,this man emphasize more about team defense to make up our size,which means everyone on the court needs to help each other on denfensive end,unfortunately we don't see any change for tracy during his 7 min showing time,he still be accustomed to be slack and always be a weak pocket ,especially when facing quick break ,his pace was so slow....and always ask his teammate to do all the dirty work. we never deny his talent ,though sometime he was too ego-centered,and over-confident as well. just For this team I DON'T see he would be fit,we don't need a loophole on defensive end ,we don't need a ball-stop on offensive end. his francised time is over agree it or not,but still poor tracy believe he deserved the right to ask more,which makes more people hate him. self-change for tracy is impossible,system-change for our team is also impossible,so best way is let him go,to anywhere suitble,we will never has such stupid disscussion ever.
You can't draw the same comparisons to players that already received rings in regards to motivation. I'm not discrediting your theory on mcgrady's motivation, I just don't think its as big of a factor in his lack of hustle. I believe when you place Mcgrady in an underdog role, he performs to a certain peak level until he becomes expected to succeed, in which case he excuses become his favorite word.
