i fear that until the rox are able to win 5-6 games in a row, this is the tmac we will have to deal with. Shutting down tmac and letting everyone else score seems to be working for our opponents right now.
I really think this is typical for T-Mac. I've seen this before all the way back to Orlando. And I'm not really buying the he's slow and lost athleticism and hops arguments either. Like I said I've seen this before, he's just a really slow starter for some reason. In fact he usually looks exactly this way to start a season. He doesn't even become T-Mac until January or february then goes two notches higher in April. Somewhere between games 10-15 he will probably go off for 50 points on someone.
i keep hoping but i am begining to lose faith i dont seem to remember tmac ever having such poor shooting to start.. plus he just looks like something is wrong with him out there. not smoot. not agressive.. very fragile.. like he'sgonna break in half if he drives it to the hole or tries to play hard.. tmac is hmmmm maybe possibly done being the super all star he was.. very sad.. but i still have some hope
He was every bit this bad if not worse in 3 or 4 other seasons to start. There was one year in orlando (I forget which exactly but I THINK it was his last) that the start was so horrible he actually was going to retire and believe it or not he was dead serious. He even went so far as to tell management that he was at one point 80 percent to retiring. Rockets fans need to get used to it. I've been following Mac since those days in Toronto, he is an amazing talent and incredible player, he is also a huge drama queen. This is nothing new, just like in 04-05 he wasn't being T-Mac because he didn't like the offense, he's probably just got something he's pissed at right now or whatever. This is pretty normal for a start of a season for him, then all of a sudden BAM 50 points on someone. And YES he always looked "slow, unathletic, fragile, timid" etc before early in the season too. I guess T-Mac just tanks it for the first couple of weeks, this is one of several reasons why he doesn't exactly have the greatest rep around the league or by fans.
A shell of his former self. McGrady's just about done...hopefully he can at least stay on the floor for us a bit. Parallels to Grant Hill's career are getting ominous.
Im sorry but tmac shows absolutely no passion for the game and it does not even look like he is trying to get back in shape or get his game back. He is too concerned about his back. Its not like he just missed 2 seasons and he is making his comeback. If he is 100% healthy, as he claims to be, then it should show. He has had all year to practise, preseason games and we already played 3 season games, he has showed no progress at all. I have seen many players come out of injury after 1-2 seasons and they try hard to get back in shape and show passion for the game when they get on the court. Tmac shows absolutely no leadership and zero passion for the game and it just freakin pisses me off.
sure didnt sound like he want to tank it after all that crap and talk about how he is going to show the world how great tmac can be again. so far he has just shown how tmac sucks and hmm i honestly think he cost us the game tonight.. of course it was a team effort. .but he led the team in turn overs and jacked up 15 shots only making 5..... a few less turn overs and a few more makes. .bam we were in that game. oh well
ok ur right. i did some research and tmac shot 32% in his first 5 games in his last season in orlando... then he went off for 25 and 51 the next two games .. 20 of 30 in the 51 pt game.. this gives us some hope. of course he only shot 41% on the season in his last year in Orl
Man whats with this guy and his "retirement" statements.. what a sissy this guy is... yeah and a drama queen..
Even in the 2004-2005 seaon he started really bad. but we know how good he finished. those calling tracy washedup are nothing short of retarted.
You got me thinking, so I looked up some numbers. Hopefully I layed them out in a way that's easy to understand. Blue = First 3 games of season Red = First 10 games of season Green = Final season averages 2006/7: 15.7 ppg on 34.0% | ?????????????????? | ????????????????? 2005/6: 24.0 ppg on 47.4% | 23.0 ppg on 43.1% | 24.4 ppg on 40.6% 2004/5: 23.0 ppg on 39.2% | 21.1 ppg on 40.8% | 25.7 ppg on 43.1% 2003/4: 30.0 ppg on 40.5% | 25.6 ppg on 42.4% | 28.0 ppg on 41.7% 2002/3: 24.3 ppg on 51.9% | 32.2 ppg on 50.7% | 32.1 ppg on 45.7% 2001/2: 18.0 ppg on 44.4% | 22.8 ppg on 44.5% | 25.6 ppg on 45.1% 2000/1: 21.3 ppg on 39.0% | 22.2 ppg on 44.7% | 26.8 ppg on 45.7% Average: 23.43 ppg on 43.4% | 24.5 ppg on 44.5% | 27.1 ppg on 43.9% (does not include this year's first 3 games) It's late and I'm a bit too tired to thoroughly analyze this, but you can tell from the "Average" that the trend is for his points per game average to increase marginally from the first few games to the 10th game, but then increase more noticeably by season's end. His FG% is another story though, as it does not exactly show a tendency to start low and climb up steadily. Now don't get me wrong. I know it's ONLY 3 games, and I will certainly revisit this stuff when he's got 10 games under belt to see if these correlations hold up. However, the claim that he's started 3 or 4 seasons as bad or worse than this is probably an overstatement. This is pretty much as bad as it's been*. Hopefully he can get back on track, and quick. I don't want to lose anymore 6 point games that we easily could have pulled out with even an average Tracy McGrady chipping in some points. *Keep in mind I only went back as far as when he went to Orlando, since he wasn't superstar "T-Mac" back in Toronto.
I don't think he is focused on his game right now. It will take him a bit to get used to new teammates, rotations, etc. and then he will explode.
Having followed Tmac since his Orlando days, I also agree that he has generally had rough starts to the season in MOST campaigns. But this season is particularly worrying. Why? Because like so many of you have said, he just looks lost out there. There's a huge similarity between the way he's looking now through the first 3 games of the season, to how he was looking his last year in Orlando and his first year in Houston in the sense that he's looking quite lackadaisical and reluctant to drive and take contact. But that part I'm sure will go away. So what am I worried about? Like someone said, Tmac is getting very little elevation on his jumpshots now. Of course, he still gets up there, but it's far from his normal elevation. Couple that with his already flat jumpshot, you get lots of clanks. Anyone who's watched him long enough can see that he clearly has lost some explosiveness. If you date it back, I'd say that Tmac started going lower on his shots after he came back his bad back the second time last season. If you recall, that was when he was struggling from the field with his shots too. Whether or not his bad spasms have robbed him of some explosive, I can't verify, but I have some assumptions. First, I think he's over his optimum playing weight. I'm not fitness trainer, but I can tell you, everybody's bone structure is different. Some people's bones just aren't made to carry around huge muscles. I believe Tmac falls in this category. He's 223lbs now, and I think 228 or something the year before. But if you chart his career, based on actual game tape and not just stats, you'll find that he was at his most explosive in '02-'03. Even his last year in Orlando and his first year in Houston, he lost some of that explosive leaping ability already. I'm not talking about his vertical, in those 2 seasons, he could still rise up there, but I noticed he just doesn't go up high as quick or powerful as he used to. Having gone through weight-training programs myself, I can tell you this from experience. There is a fine point between being strong and being TOO strong, especially if you're playing a finesse sport which emphasises on aerial ability like basketball. At one point, I got so big that I felt that, even though I'm stronger and can jump higher, it takes a lot more effort to get to my maximum athletic ability, I felt...less quick, more sluggish and overly-bulky in a way. So I cut down on the weights, lost a couple of pounds, focused more on endurance and toning, and I found myself much much quicker on the court, while still finding a balance in terms of strength and jump height. What I'm trying to say is, perhaps his bone structure just doesn't lend him to be a physical, big player. Perhaps he might be better off playing as a lanky, wiry 210lb Tmac like he was in the seasons leading up to '02-'03. Perhaps, his back problems stem from the fact that all that newfound mass and muscle from his "great offseason workout regimen" is adding unneeded strain on his spine, which is already crooked to begin with. Or, god forbid, perhaps last season's injuries have really killed some of his freaky athleticism. Secondly, I think he's thinking too much now. He knows he was out for a long time. He wants to get back rolling, but he's not performing right now, and he's trying to shoot himself out of it. It's kind of obvious that Tmac's thinking too much about his shots now. Some of you have noticed that he looks upset by something in games, I'm betting he's consciously aware that he's missing shots he normally makes, and he can't seem to shoot himself out of it. Even in his drives, he's very very hesitant, he seems to be overly aware of the defense, rather than setting his mind on getting to the basket. Many times in these 3 games, he'd beat his man on the first step, but after his man recovers or when help comes, he kills his move and passes out, or bails himself out with a badly-balanced jumpshot. That's a big contrast to what he used to do in past, just take it strong to the hoop and try to make the bucket over anybody in his way. So what can be done? I think JVG will have to notice that Tmac is whacked out as far as his game is concerned now. There's nothing you can do when the problem is mental, except to build his confidence up by running more plays to get him open shots. So I'd like to see more catch and shoot off curls, more backdoor plays, more off-ball screens, and less isolation. If the problem is really physical and loss of athleticism due to the injury though, then it's up to Tmac to adjust his game. Shoot a higher arc on his shot, learn to go for the foul instead of trying to out-manoeuvre his defender in mid-air etc.
i agree with everyone that's posting so far. how can we motivate him to get his a$$ in gear? i say that, starting in our next game, we start an 'MVP' chant for him. i know it's hella early, but i'm not sure if Mac's fragile personality can take booing/heckling from the crowd. come to think of it, maybe we need Deke's corporate buddy from Orlando....
