Tyreke Evans: I make my game similar to Tracy McGrady

So you are saying because Shaq's better than YM, which I agree. Shaq could make either Kobe (fact) or TMac (assumption) better but YM made TMac worse (fact).

Mind you, Gasol wasn't any better than YM and still made Kobe better nonetheless.

I am not even comparing Kobe to TMac here. I am comparing TMac to TMac. TMac's fg% suffered a lot by playing along YM. A 19ppg YM should be still better than TMac's Magic teammates. I wonder what happened?

If you want to build around someone, don't you want someone that can elevate his game with help. If the player always play worse with help, it's 1+1 < 2 and that won't get you a contender. Exactly the problem with Rox.

I bet you TMac wouldn't play as well as Magic's TMac if he had Shaq, hell, LBJ and Nash couldn't. If TMac couldn't figure out how to play better with YM, what makes you think Shaq will help?

 

Do you realize there is a difference between the Laker-Shaq and the Suns/Cavs-Shaq?

 

umm did you know that as people age, they become less dominant..

 

Shaq was a 18/10 player in Phoenix last year and a deserving all star. He's not as good as his prime, but it's not like he's a bad player.

What made/makes Nash/LBJ suffered is the clogging paint and nothing else. It just doesn't fit their style.

And nobody has answered my question why had YM made TMac worse? So TMac was doubled and all that coz he had crappy teammates in Magic, I got that, now tell me why TMac got worse in Rox. And let's not bring up the injury excuse again, he's shooting worse even for the first year.

 

True, he's not a bad player. However, the disparity between Laker-Shaq and Suns-Shaq is great enough that your point is incorrect.

What're you basing this opinion on?

 

I have stated my opinion a number of times and people just dodge.

If TMac shoot worse than Magic TMac when he has a legitimate bigman in YM, what makes you think he'll shoot better than Magic TMac had he had Shaq?

You insist
Shaq > YM => Shaq can make TMac better
And in reality
YM > the magic crappy teammates, why YM didn't make TMac better?

This is bloody inconsistency and people just ignore. Shaq may help TMac to pass 1st round because he's better than YM. But it'd be blind to say he can help Tmac to win a championship.

 

I am talking about fg%. From .45x best in Magic to .43x best in Rox.

Kobe gets higher fg% when he has either Shaq or Gasol, TM got worse with YM.

 

You severely underestimate how dominant Shaq was and how weak the eastern conference was back in the early 00's.

McGrady is an inefficient scorer. That being said, didn't he have back spasms after joining the Rockets? That might have played a role. He could've also settled for more jump shots when he was a Rockets (as opposed to Magic).

Well, Kobe is better than McGrady....

 

The 00 one vs. Portland was down 15 points in 4th for game 7, TMac would have given up. The 02 one vs. Kings went to OT in game 7. Those were really close series, and mental toughness was enough to cost those series. I mean, Shaq was dominant, no doubt about that. But he didn't win a champion, with Penny, or with 3 other all stars in Lakers. And he got swept every time. It's not until Kobe was good enough to take over the 4th quarter Lakers started to win it all. TMac wasn't as clutch or as tough. Still good enough to be deep in playoff, but probably not championship deep.

I think he's quite healthy for the first season. He had to settle for more jumper coz Yao was inside. But he didn't like to run without the ball to get more open looks, that's why he couldn't make it up IMHO.

 

Shaq was the most dominant force in the NBA at the time and the eastern conference was a joke. It's highly probably that a healthy McGrady would've been able to piggyback his way to a championship if he were to replace Kobe for any of those championship years.

Feel free to argue it all you want. I doubt you'll be able to convince anyone.

 

Whoa whoa whoa, the eastern conference was not a joke. They had to go through Indiana, Philly, and New Jersey for the 3peat.

Nevermind that is pretty funny

 

How will Durant not reach his potential if he's shooting jumpers? Is he not still averaging 28 ppg on 48% shooting? How is a sweet, smooth shot a bad shot just because it's a jumper? Do you not realize that the jumpshot is a critical piece of offensive basketball? It is possible to be a great, impactful player even when most of your personal offense comes from jumpshots. Not having a jumpshot will hurt anybody who doesn't play the 5 just as much as not having an inside game, or an ability to get to the basket. Even guys like Kobe, and the later-years Jordan are/were primarily shooters.

I swear, it's like some people think every player needs to rely on getting to the basket in order to be great. There is a whole lotta basketball played outside of the paint, and you can't win games without it.

 

People seem to have no clue on how useful a jumpshot is today. Jumpshooting is a lost art. when you have a jumpshot as pure as kevin durant's you use it. Having that in your arsenal forces people to play up on you allowing you to get to the basket easier.