SG - Tracy McGrady McGrady has been an NBA celebrity ever since he signed a contract with the Orlando Magic in 2000 and won the league's Most Improved Player award. However, that celebrity has started to dim as people are beginning to realize that as talented as McGrady is - and that is very - he doesn't have the indefinable intangibles that make a team win. Aside from the storied Playoff failures he is a player that has quit on one team while they were losing (the 2003-2004 Magic) and entertained thoughts of retirement a few years later when Houston was having a rough go of it (2006). He's continually expressed frustration with the process of team building and has an obsession with instant results.He has made no apologies for his me-first interests on every team he's played for despite also insisting that he needs more help from those around him. If Houston can make it deep into the post-season this year then McGrady will pass into his 30's with a newfound pedigree for winning. However, if he flames-out again the fact that he's crossed the big 'three-oh' will no doubt only expedite his departure from Houston. SF - Ron Artest If coach Rick Adelman wanted to be really daring he could put Artest at the power forward slot and start Shane Battier here, but given the size of most of the Western NBA power forwards (Pau Gasol, Carlos Boozer, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, etc) the safe bet is that Artest will start at his natural power forward position. He has a preexisting relationship with Adelman from their Sacramento days, all positive, and so there is a chance that he'll actually behave this year and play up to his potential. However, people have been throwing around that circumstance for years without satisfaction, so just because he is in a contract year that shouldn't insinuate we'll be seeing a golden boy Artest. If he can play his game and stay relatively healthy then his importation will have been a success. If not? At least he's an expiring contract. C - Yao Ming The frustrating thing about Yao Ming is that he should be the undisputed best center in the NBA. He's huge but he's also skilled. He's world famous but he still works at developing his game. He has all of the tools and he knows how to use them. However, he is only able to use them for precious few games per year. Yao, like McGrady and Artest, is a fragile body that has every fan holding his or her breath every time they make contact with another body or the floor. For all of the strategic and personality reasons that one could knock the Rockets down a peg or two for, the fact that Yao simply hasn't been able to stay healthy far exceeds any other. Talking about Yao in any other capacity at this point seems not only fruitless but irrelevant. Until he can prove that he can stay healthy there is no reason to expect that he will and, thus, there is no reason to expect that the Rockets are going anywhere when their best player can't stay on the court. just seen it on the web thought i would share http://www.******************/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=838776
I always find this funny. If it's indefinable, how do you know if he has them or not? How do you even know what they are?
Wow, that is quite possibly the worst bit of journalism I have read this year, and I have read a lot of bad articles! These people need education before they post anything on the net. What source is this TSN? Not The Sporting News? Edit: Never mind I figured it out. .ca tsn. ca if anyone is looking for the link. The rest of the article is even more crap than what is posted here.
It is a really crappy article, but i thought i would share it with everyone just to keep other people's opinion out there. if you want to lock it up you can. just trying to keep new articles, whether good or bad, out there for people to see!
Oh I wasn't blaming you.. it amused me in a sick sort of train wreck way for a few minutes. Sharing is always good.
it's a cliche people use when a guy doesn't win. people said that about peyton manning before he won his super bowl all the way he was in the tennesee. after he won a superbowl, nobody says a thing anymore despite him struggling in the playoffs last yr. if tmac wins, all this nonsense will stop.
It's just more of the same things nearly every spotrs writer or blogger has already written. nothing we already havent said or didn't already know. the games can't start fast enough.
I like it!! Just wait till our Rockets show them up ! I think it is good to be the under dodog and come out on top!!
Wow, guys... And if TSN had written everything positive about the Rockets? "Yeah, TSN's credibility is TOTALLY legit!!" would be coming out of everyone's mouths right now. Stop being such homers, PLEASE. At least address the other side. Tell us WHY the article is so bad. I agree with the Yao part of the article. I guess you guys don't, since you are all so quick to hate.
because as I stated in my first post.....it's more of the same, nothing we havent already heard or discussed a billion times.
WTF?!?!!!!! This is bad journalism right here (kind of of goes hand in hand with sports journalism in general). Me-first attitude??? I can see how he can perceived to be a selfish player during his first couple of years in Orlando (well, duh-he was the only legitimate NBA player on his team!!). But ever since coming here, he has been anything but that. He NEVER talks bad about his teammates nor does he ever blame anything on the team without partly taking blame for himself. His assists are proof that he is not just a one dimensional player and in fact a great teammate. I just hate how the outside public who knows nothing about a certain player or topic, but just speaks on his/her own self perception, which is most of the time WRONG. Atleast do some research before making general statements like these.
You seriously want me to tell you everything that's wrong with it? As a blog, it's an opinion and would be just fine, as an article it uses false suppositions about McGrady and theories about Artest to try and debate a point. The point being that the Rockets are all talk. Virtually the only facts in the whole piece are that Yao is skilled and hasn't played a full season in the past three years and the number of games we won during the streak. Let's not discount these gems: He has to bring more defense to a team that was already number 2 in the league? Wrong, we want his offense more than his defense. His natural position is power foward but they have him listed as the starting SF.
The T-Mac section is awful. He would be better off saying the usual "if T-Mac can stay healthy" line. That whole paragraph is pure BS. I guess he/she needed to write something different about T-Mac Since when is Artest a PF. BTW, he's here more for offense than defense. PF for little stretches if it provides a favorable matchup, but not full-time. We all know about Yao already.
It's like he took my brain and used it to write that paragraph. Everything is exactly true. He doesn't say his problems are injuries like everybody else. His problem is his mentality towards life. Dude was going to retire and play baseball?
No, he wasn't. He was talking about what he might do after his contract. The whole piece was garbage.
It's not that he doesn't bash his teammates or get assists, it's his attitude. Ask a Rocket's ball boy who sits out through half the practices, never comes to team functions, who makes excuses about why he had a bad night shooting .
