Man, I really feel for Adelman. Last year it was Yao, this year it is Tmac. I feel for Tmac and wish him well, but 21mil is a staggering contract. We took the risk and failed badly at the end. Yeah, I know that we can't predict future. But this could go down to one of the worst contracts. We can't even trade him now. We're stuck with him. But I think this is the chance for Von Wafer, an absolutely big chance! He will be our 6th man now, and without Tmac, I would us like to concentrate more on defense, because if we are going on an offensive war, I still don't have confident yet on our team as we like to go hot on one day and dead cold the next day. We have the personnel in Battier, Artest, Hayes, Mutombo, and Yao. I still have faith in this team
I really don't understand this...either the Rockets' entire medical staff sucks, or the other "specialists" are simply telling TMac what he wants to hear. How can a trained doctor miss MICROFRACTURE surgery as a requirement while rehabbing from this injury? You don't just change your prognosis from "just play on it and it'll get better" to "oh **** he needs microfraacture surgery". Makes absolutely no sense.
On 610 radio, he said that were are stucking with Tmac's rotten courpse...I laughed for a long time until I realized how sad it was...The rockets went to vegas, put it all on black, and lost
they might not miss it. it's probably been missing all this time. but the rockets doctors feel he can play through it and eventually learn to play with it. and apparently he can't. so now microfracture will hopefully restore cartilage so he can regain some strength, or at least tracy hopes so.
The very same medical staff didn't realize what was causing Yao's feet pain last year either. They have all the facilities and equipment in the world to catch that injury, but they didn't. It took Yao telling them that the pain was unbearable for them to find out about the stress fracture.
forget tmac! i'm tired of his act. Les alexander is out of his mind calling him a superstar at this point. Give me a break!!
Go for it. It really isn't that complicated. Just go play in the NBA, and have 4 years where you average 28PPG 5APG and 7RPG (and for good measure throw in a block and a steal and half). You may not get 20 million any more, but you can get 2/3rd of that.
Why would you apologize for doubting T-Mac! He deserves the criticism, even if he's still hurt. People are responsible for rehabing their injury. These players are supposed to be professionals and not amateurs. McGrady should announce his retirement at this point. He has been in the league for 11 years!
For the people who are mad that he's having the surgery, I don't understand. He was hurt. He was told he could play through it. He tried, and it didn't work out well. He took time off to try another option, and rehab so that he could play. It didn't work out well. So now he's going to do something more long term to make sure he gets back to being the kind of player he needs to be. I'm not mad at him for trying to play. I am sick of the back and forth, and claiming he's ready when he isn't. But I'd rather have the guy take care of the problem so that it isn't a distraction. I would rather have him do this, than watch the team try and play with half a McGrady like they have been. For those upset that he's having a surgery, would you really rather the team play with a guy who can't get it done? What's wrong with fixing the problem?
Playing hard and being a HARD worker are two different things. He has always been more physically gifted than others, let's see if he is willing to put in the work to come back from Microfracture. DD
hey for those who are still in disbelief: "Wed, Feb 18th 2009, 09:28 Season has come to a close Hey everyone, As some of you may have heard, my season has come to an end. My knee hasn’t been right all year, and we can’t seem to get the pain to go away. We’ve tried just playing through it, taking back-to-backs off, and extended periods of rest, but none of it has really been effective in limiting the discomfort and allowing me to just go out there and play. I’ve met with numerous doctors and gotten a number of opinions, and unfortunately I will be undergoing microfracture surgery on my left knee immediately. Microfracture surgery is a serious procedure, but I’m confident that I will be able to return next season with the same strength and explosiveness you are all used to seeing from me. It has been extremely frustrating dealing with the knee injury this season. It’s been tough on me both physically and mentally and while we’ve come to this conclusion after much deliberation, we truly feel this is best for both me and the Rockets in the long term. As I’ve said before and will say again, I have the best fans in the world. Thank you for all your continued support through the good times and the bad. I will make sure to keep you all posted on what’s happening with me. Peace T-mac" Quoted from www.t-mac.com Source: Here If somebody has already posted this, then just ignore my post. Sounds like he is indeed going to have the season-ending surgery.
Les alexander need to realize that Tmac is selfish and only worried about himself and what's good for his future not the team. At this this point I would rather deal with Terrell Owens. At least he is more competitive. I GUARANTEE that Tmac is not gonna get any better and that he will be a JOKE from here on out! GURANTEED!
What is selfish about trying to play when he is too injured to do so? It might be selfish to not admit that he couldn't make it, but trying to do so isn't really selfish.
This whole thing is not a doomsday scenario. #1 Tmac wasn't playing well this year (a zero on/off court). #2 Tmac wasn't a trade asset right now because of his contract (salary and years) plus #1 #3 Nobody is actually going to do microfracture surgury if they don't need to and if there isn't potential benefit. The bottom line is Tmac was deteriorating physically rapidly the last 1.5 years, something that shouldn't happen to most 28-29 year olds. If microfracture surgery is done, I'd say there is at least a 50/50 chance he returns in better form than we have seen in 2+ years (get the knee and back a lot stronger--all these things can be related). Kidd and Stockton were older (30s), and they rebounded, Amare and McDyess were younger, but they are even more reliant on athleticism and have less BB skills & mind than Tmac has to draw upon. Basically if the surgery is done it means there was something pretty big there (again, nobody would choose this surgery to prove a point) and there is a chance we could get a 90% peak Tmac back. Otherwise (there really isn’t anything big there and no radical surgery) Tmac is on a dreadfully fast decent from star status for good and there is much less of a chance of getting a star Tmac back. #4 If he ends up not needing surgery, maybe we can get something out of him by the playoffs. More likely he just turns out to be a big expiring next year, and we can use it or try to get room for 2010 free agents. Since there only is next year on the contract, worst case scenario (we never get another meaningful minute from him as a Rocket, microfracture surgery or not) is not horrific. For now the team just has to further center on Yao, the best offensive player anyway, with Artest as the clear #2 (and work on him getting into the last couple year form, which is a good offensive 2nd option). Other guys need to step and see what we have. I think we can be an opportunist before the trade deadline, but we only want to do clear upgrades on talent that don’t take apart depth and value contracts. Nothing like the desperate and not good enough for a title run anyway Carter for Artest+Battier+Landry type scenario. Yes title hopes this year are probably caput, but when did we really look like a contender anyway and the long term financial/team damage is not great. This team still has an infinetly better chance to get out of the 1st round than previous teams. This news IMO is not as bad as the Yao thing last year.
There is no doubt T-mac's head has been messed with over the last couple of years, because of injuries, etc. But it will pale in comparison to what he will feel if the team goes on to playoff success without his contributions. A huge blow would be to watch his team advance to the conference finals -- without him. And if by some miracle they pulled off a championship?? Even if he has surgery, comes back in great form next season, and the Rockets are strong contenders, he'll never be able to claim his part of bringing a championship back to Houston after a long drought. Never.
