I'm suprised tracy even got 25 a game despite all that double teams that were thrown he's way. it is near impossible for a wing player to be high scoring under Gundy. he's offense just invited all that pressure on tracy. Under adelman tracy will have a new lease on life...
JVG is a perfect inside-out coach. though tmac initiated a lot of the offense and is the primary playmaker, the offense was designed to give yao his type of shots more than anything else. he kept the pat riley's offense when it was catered to patrick ewing. and tracy getting 24.6 ppg is an attribute to tracy's greatness. that's why i'm for certain he'll approach 30ppg when adelman puts in HIS type of offense. tmac is too damn good. no way is a player like tracy be bogged down in a JVG's offense that gets 65-70 possessions, which limits his greatness.
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/skg_PKqQ8wY"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/skg_PKqQ8wY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> hopefully tracy will feel better next yr and get this mentality back, "I want to be the best player to ever play the game." this was said during his first yr as a superstar.
Wow, are we watching the same games? Watching almost all Rockets games over the past 3 years, I saw at least 6 different ways that JVG used McGrady. 1.) Isolation at the top of the key or the wing (this is what you don't like) 2.) Pick and Roll from top of the key/wing 3.) 15-18 foot wing/elbow post-up 4.) Elbow Curl/Baseline Curl play resulting in elbow/baseline jumpers 5.) Backdoor cut alley oop 6.) When Yao posts up, McGrady spots up for the shot when Yao is double-teamed. JVG's offense was supposedly inside-out, but really it was the McGrady-Yao offense. McGrady will get an iso and a pick and roll, then Yao will get a few post touches, then McGrady posts up, etc. McGrady had at least half the offense designed for him. Now blaming JVG for McGrady playing poorly is a new excuse that I haven't heard before, but it really makes no sense to me. JVG said point-blank that McGrady can do whatever the hell he wanted as long as Yao got his touches in the post. Not only did he give McGrady freedom to create, he also ran plays to get him easy shots, like the backdoor cut play or the elbow curl play, and arguably the post-up play. I don't think JVG was the reason McGrady didn't play as well as he did in the past; hell his usage rate rose to career high and league high levels. @blazer_ben McGrady doesn't draw very many double teams, but he's a wing player, he's not supposed to. Showing on screens isn't exactly a double team, but McGrady gets a lot of that.
1) yes that iso is bad considering we have no ther playmakers 2) that pick and roll is used 80% of the time and the other team ALWAYS shows on him and thus prevents him from doing anything but pass most of hte time. the rest are actually great plays for tmac but they are NOT used very often. that's what frustrates me. tmac scored consistently when he goes off the ball v. utah (e.g. going off screens to shoot w/o touching the ball or roll to the basket). he was ALWAYS at the top of the key v. utah. i get what u mean. JVG has more plays for tmac, but the plays he used most often often made tmac more of a playmaker rather than a scorer. but that's b/c it's necessary for the team since we have no other playmakers. hopefully adelman will use the last 3 plays you said. if he does that, tmac will go off.
also, JVG said tmac can do anything he wants. but the plays drawn makes tmac more of a playmaker. obviously when JVG said that, he says he'll live w/ tmac taking the occasional 3 on the fast break and things like that. but like i said, the plays the rockets ran (and the butter play is the pick and roll) make tmac more of a playmaker. and tmac does draw a lot of double teams. if he does not draw very many, he wouldn't get many assists right? since he does not penetrate as much as other perimeter players.
Tracy was the cheif playmaker, hence he had the ball in he's hand most f the time.but he wasnt a scorer with the ball. he was a playmaker. thats why to say the offense or scoring ran through him is wrong.
Exactly. thats why i'm so glad that adelman wants to make tracy a scorer once again and notkeep him as our cheif playmaker. when tracy decides to go on attack, thats when he is racking up big free throw numbers or is getting alot of he's points in the paint. when he is supposedly our playmaker, he becomes hesitant and starts jackingup silly shots.
exactly, when yao was out, he took on a "scorer" mentality. and when tmac scores a lot, the assists magically comes also . it's just when he thinks to pass first, and his teammates start to suck, that puts more pressure on him to score.
playmaking and scoring are VASTLY two different things. as a playmaker, you're basically looking to make the right plays for the team, not looking to attack and score all the time (ala a kobe/melo). playmakers look to do both passing and scoring. like i said, we have seen tmac most effective when he goes off the screen w/o the ball either shooting it or rolling to the basket or the back cuts. he basically scores at a high % off of those plays. but we don't see that very often b/c we need tracy to handle the ball and create for yao, rafer, battier, head... and those "off-the-ball" plays are plays adelman will draw for tracy? why can he do that? we have francis and james to handle the ball. they are more than adequate b/c unlike rafer, they can actually take the ball and go to the rim and FINISH, not the floaters.
Tracy might be a very, very, very good playmaker, but when he is in attack mode like that stretch without yao, he is probaly the best player or at the very least top 3 player in this league. adelman is not stupid. he has studied the tapes of tracy as a playmaker and a scorer and has pretty much decided tracy is much better when he is in attack mode.
well we sure hope tracy can have a chance to be that. it all depends on how francis/james/and other guards do in terms of being able to create a little bit. if francis loses more than a step, james is not as good as when he was w/ us, nothing u can do but put tmac back into that playmaking role. but i'm sure francis/james are more than adequate
I dont buy that james is not as good as he was the last time he was here. even last season when he played substantial minutes he played pretty well. just over 18 months ago he was dropping 38 points in the pistons. he's still just as good, bt he was in a very bad situation. i think he'll probaly have a very, very good season and regain he's star status.
Not going to argue with you on your points made here, maestro. My retort was more to the asinine analysis given to us by jerry36. Yes, I definitely would like to see more out of T-Mac but, one reason we stayed competitive for the playoffs is that T-Mac STILL makes the game easier for the other 4 players on the court because, he still has the ability to draw double teams, he still has the ability to elevate and draw contact and he still has the ability to make sharp dishes for his teammates to get easier, better looks for the finish. One thing, T-Mac is somewhat lacking is sometimes he doesn't finish well on his drives to the basket. I hope he will work more at getting looks at the mid range and make his few 3 point looks, quality looks. Recognition. That's the key. T-Mac has trust his basketball IQ and not doubt himself and his ability to make plays. I believe he will have the best core of talent that he has had thus far in his career so IMO other than being more judicious with his shot selection and trusting his teammates more especially in the playoffs to make plays, I think T-Mac will still successful at getting us deep into the playoffs this coming season. Go Rox!
Unfortunately therein lie the key words. If McGrady is in "full attack mode" he's hogging the ball and getting all the touches, and Yao kind of stands around, similar to how Zydrunas Ilgauskas plays with LeBron. This was OK when Yao was out, but if Yao is in, it's a waste of Yao's talent. Besides, we already know what happens with a dominant McGrady and an Ilgauskas-clone Yao; it was what happened in 04-05, and we failed to get out of the first round. I think the biggest fault of JVG's offense was that in the end he treated Yao and McGrady as if they were totally separate. They both got plenty of touches, but really all the plays were run for one or the other, not both, and the other would basically stand around on the play. Playing Yao in the high post would help solve this problem, but it introduces the problem of making Yao take low percentage shots away from the basket. Really, I don't have the answer; that's what Adelman's here for, right? He needs to find a way to use the talents of both together.
Besides, in the last 2 years, McGrady has only shown his best form when Yao is out, and even so he didn't do it consistently. I'm not convinced that McGrady can even play like that anymore on a consistent basis like he did in Orlando, especially if Yao is in the lineup. This problem isn't limited to McGrady.... Yao's 35/15/5 type games seem to only come when McGrady is out of the lineup.
well that has to do w/ JVG's offense. possessions are limited. the team is a fairly high TO team. when yao is in the lineup, he's more of a playmaker, not a scorer. remember that game v. the spurs on the road. tmac literally shot every shot from either the post or off a screen w/o handling the ball much at all. he dominated that game. u saw a lot of those plays for him when yao was out b/c we can't afford for him to do the pick and roll when yao is not in there. when yao is in the game, we have to try to get yao at his spots b/c he's so tall that any shot w/in 8ft is the best shot for us. obviously yao's 35/15/5 games comes b/c every freaking possession goes through him. but we were not winning when tmac is out of the lineup. that's the most important thing. w/ adelman, even when yao is on the floor, (w/ francis and james) u will not see very much of tmac handling the ball past mid-court like alston giving it to mcgrady and let tmac start every offensive play. now u will see tmac move and curl of screens either to shoot or pass. post up at the triple threat. or when yao has the ball, tmac or other cutters will cut more, giving yao more options. trust me, for a perimeter player to score 25ppg in a JVG's offense is tough. JVG's used this same offense that pat riley used for patrick ewing. he's as old-school as u can get. there's a reason patrick ewing is called his "savior."
u hit it on the nail there. the offense was ran for each player separately. in 04-05, that tmac-yao pick and roll was UNSTOPPABLE. but teams adjust and JVG doesn't have a new play that involves both yao and tmac. tmac creates more for yao w/ pick and roll or drive and dish. but when yao has the ball, w/ JVG, yao is always in the low post and he either has to shoot (as he should since he's the best post player in the L) or when he's doubled, he's so far inside he can't find cutters (if we had any cutting in the first place) JVG's offense is fine if our role players hit their open shots at a good clip. but we don't have very consistent perimeter shooters since alston always took the majority of shots outside of yao and tmac. w/ adelman, i think tmac and yao will fianlly be a true combo. you'll see yao in the high post (or scola) finding cutters (either tmac or other guards). and vice versa. that's why i don't think tmac is "deteriorating" like u said. look at mike fratello's grizzlies. mike fratello coached that team into a BORING offensive team that barely cracked 90 pts. w/ the other coach, they scored 110pts like it's nothing. fratello and JVG are the same way offensively. w/ adelman, trust me. tmac will have a dominat yr offensively. people will then think he has a rebirth, but no, it's more of the offense run for him. yao will be considered as one of the better all-around players, not just an offensive post player. hopefully we'll truly see the tmac AND yao combo offensively. it should be a beauty to watch. i haven't seen a yao passing to tmac for an alley-oop yet. we should see that next yr
In fact, he did without actually making any real contribution himself in many, and often the most critical moments. I somewhat agree with the article, he really needs to step up next year. It's his year to prove the doubters wrong. Otherwise I think we should shop him around.
