Not true...T-Mac might have been the first one to express it. Also, most of the team was not contributing in the Jazz series which means that T-Mac had to step it up. That added on stress might have led to his exhaustion.
Are you kidding me?. you know kobe?. he gaveup a 3-1 lead and didnt bother even showing up for game 7. is'nt he a superstar?. 2 years in arow kobe has dissapeard in the clutch. atleast mcgrady showed up for the series. he did all he could. it's not he's fault he's teammates couldnt grab a rebound or play any interior defense.
He sure didn't show up to the 3 road games. If we fail to get out of the first round again.... IMO everyone should be on the trading block, including Yao and McGrady, and Adelman's job should be in jeopardy. I think that if we fail yet again, with the talent now on our team and holes filled.... the team needs to rebuild. Not sure what McGrady would bring with his injury history, but some team looking to make a lot of money quickly will pony up a lot for Yao.
Couple of points on Tmac 1. He's not a leader, never been and never will be. He doesn't have the qualities. He doesn't have the LBJ, Kobe, MJ, Magic, Bird qualities. 2. He gets tight in big games, yes he scored in every elimination game, however, down the stretch when the above mentioned players do something to bring out a victory, Tmac doesn't, period, full stop, no debating 3. He's definitely a jump shooter, due to the fact that the back is out of whack and doesn't allow him to use his handles like he did earlier in his career. He used his handle only once against Utah and had Giricek falling backwards. LMAO!!! 4. He needs the help the Rox have now to limit him to 35 minutes during the season and possibily 40 during the playoffs to keep his Barkley back in playing condition 5. Still a legitimate top 15 player in the L. If his back allows his handle to come back, he's definitely top 10 w/o a doubt.
Maybe you didn't read the last sentence of my post. And he didn't even run out of gas. He was still giving guys good looks. And here's a list of superstars who went AWOL in the clutch. Garnett(doesn't want it), Webber(doesn't want it, let Bibby get it instead), Kobe(No show game 7, WTF!!!), Arenas(Lebron of all dpeople talks to him and he bricks 2 crucial freebies, and he's an 85%+ shooter), Dirk(no need to explain), and Lebron(aside from the 45pt game, where was he in the playoffs!?)
T-Mac is still an elite player. Just ask the other NBA teams who devote their defense to contain TMac or Yao. Did you not see how he carried the team on his back last year? IMO, he had his best overall season. He ran the offense, he scored, he defended and probably sold jerseys at half time. The guy did everything for us. What more do people want from him? Even in the playoffs, he had a great series but couldn't win it all on his own. He was an MVP candidate last season, how does a non-elite player get MVP considerations?
I think its utterly hilarious how the media still treats Garnett like he's GOD meanwhile T-Mac is just some washed up loser that is smothering Yao's development. Right?
blah blah, let's say we do decide to trade Tmac...what do we get in return? Who would be an acceptable replacement(s)?
Yao will never get traded because he generates insane amount of $$$$$$$$$$$.I do agree that if we dont get past the first round, changes are gonna be demanded not only by the fans, but by les himself. Teams will suit up for tracy IN DROVES. he finished 4 in the MVP race. yes 4th. he was rated 4TH MOST VALUEABLE PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE. .and was our best player and still is. As for tracy not showing up for the road games?. well who did?. noone did.
We got McGrady in his absolute prime for SF3 and Cat. Shaq was traded in his prime for Odom, Butler, and Brian Grant. AI was traded, while still viable, for Joe Smith and Andre Miller. Ray Allen was traded for some green rookie (pun intended) and expiring contracts. Vince Carter was traded for random crap that I don't even remember. Sure, KG got traded for a lot, but that's the only such example in a long time, Ainge was extremely desperate, and the young talent wasn't producing wins anyway. The odds are still against us if we want to get fair value for McGrady if we fail again next year. If Yao played the whole season and merely produced at the same level, he would have been in the MVP conversation too. I don't believe McGrady is the Rockets best player, because his game is declining from his peak, while Yao has more upside to grow, and at this point their games are about equal, as much as you can compare them. Yao produced at about the same mediocre-ish level on the road as at home in the Jazz series, while McGrady played very well at home and seemingly vanished on the road. So you are wrong to say that nobody showed up to the road games.
So putting forth mediacore performances = showing up?. noone showedup on the road. noone played to there potential on the road. showingup means playing to you're potential or atleast something that resembles it.thats the main reason why we lost. we didnt have anyone who could arrest the tide during the runs utah made on the road. Hopefully with james, scola and francis back, we can have that scorer who can come in and help us on the offensive end when yao and tracy are bogged down. we need players who can creat a momentum's during crucial part of games.
Lebron plays in a weak eastern conf. and won. Tmac played in a weak eastern conf. and lost. One guy step up and one didn't. It's plain and simple, folks.
I'm not hating on tmac, he just doesn't have that refuse to lose mentality. It's a lot of people on this board that just don't understand it. They always keep making excuses.
The truth is that Yao and T-Mac both are lack of the ambition to win or to fight the game. Both of them are the superstars no doubt, but they need that ambition to achieve to another level -- Champion. Hopefully, the addition of SF3 can bring such chemistry to the team!
Dirk is definitely a choke artist. Garnett is a guy who early in his career didn't step up always deferring to him teammates. As for kobe, surprise how lakers got off to 3-1 lead when the Suns was clearly the better team. And they demonstrated by winning the next 3 games. The Rockets and the Jazz not the same, as some will say the Jazz were the better team. I disagree. It's a game 7, sellout crowd, you have "It's all on me" Tmac, you're suppose to win that game. Tmac was suppose to deliver, but he burn out and starting deferring to his teammates. He just was ready to step in the defining moments of the game.
I agree with you on the point that Yao will not get traded.....at least not in the near future IMO. But if we do not make it past the first round of the playoffs, we may just have to consider rebuilding. To be honest I don't feel rebuilding with Mcgrady is the best idea, as a lot of you have mentioned, the back is a major problem. I am not saying building around Yao is any better than Tmac (the toe, the knee...). Tmac is still an incredible player, but if the Rox are to let one of the 111 go, then I personally think (not hope) it is Tmac.
