Funny how Juwan Howard always seemed to step up whenever Tmac is out, and the same can now be said for Scola, I wonder if it is in the way Tmac dominates the ball? Tmac is clearly one of the biggest problems and solutions with the Rockets, he HAS to buy into a team oriented style of play or this team will fail again. DD
Juan stepped up when yao was out. Scola has taken his teams a lot further in intl play then tmac has anywhere,
So has Vspan. Whats your point. Who cares what players did in international play. Maybe the Rox should cut/trade everyone and just sign the Argentinian National Team.
They are all in the NBA on other teams. Scola Ginobli Nocioni Delfino Hermann Oberto That would be a good NBA team. DD
So, your suggesting that we get rid of a near superstar (sorry T-mAC, SUPERSTAR status revoked until further notice) so that we can let a nice role player develop???? Really dumb.
Obviously we are not better without Tmac based on our record when he is out, but that doesn't mean we might not be better after trading him for some one else. The problem is who would really want TMac that could give us good value? He isn't some one a team is going to build around for the future at this point. He hasn't gotten past the first round so you can't expect him to push your team to a new level if you give up significant pieces to trade for him. The most likely candidates who would consider trading for him are eastern conference teams who think they have a real shot at winning it all, but consider themselves to be under performing. The Bulls offering something similar to what they were willing to give for Kobe perhaps.
Of course we wouldn't trade T Mac so Scola can develop but the guy has a point. When T Mac's in there, he dominates the ball. While he does make plays for others, other players including Scola rarely get a chance to make a play for themselves as did Scola tonight. I've always wondered why don't they post up Scola more even when T Mac's in there. This would be especially helpfull against small teams like golden state and phoenix where Scola would be allowed to go one on one as opposed to the coverage that Yao gets.
feigen couldn't have said it better: (The Rockets have moved the ball better for several weeks. Prior to that, the ball moved badly whether McGrady was in the game or on the bench. Rockets 116, Bulls 98 was with McGrady in. Stunningly, it is a team game. -- Jonathan) Team game, I know people understand this concept, so why look to pinpoint our issues on one player? (Unless its rafer- kidding!)
glad to see you are taking your own advice to the op: I believe they can do well together, time will tell.
He dominates the ball because he has to - because his teammates weren't getting the job done and we'd go through massive offensive droughts and he'd be the only one able to get a score. Yao has been calling the guys out on their offense, so has Adelman. They aren't calling out t-mac - T-mac's been frustrated with his team's slump. What's happened is that FINALLY the team is starting to move the ball around and now tmac HAS been dominating the ball less and less. If you;ve watch the last few games it's pretty clear that the time the ball spends in his hands is down considerably. You can tell by the fact that he turns the ball over less, because he's not needed as a playmaker as much and can just be a scorer. I don't mind if T-macs assists drop because I think it means other players get more touches. It's not that T-mac hogs the ball, it's that he's using his talents to create opportunities. He had one game this year where he had 12 assists but 6 turnovers and we lost. When he tries to be a playmaker, the ball spends more time in his hands and he either shoots or passes with the shot clock winding down. Now, if he isn't a playmaker and just a scorer, he still takes lots of shots, but the ball doesn't spend time in his hands as much. Instead, it's being passes around and generating lots of touches for lots of guys, and tmac gets the ball in his comfortable spots and can just catch and shoot or pass it off quickly. Also, the ball goes to him to score, and that's his job, he doesn't have to carry the burden always of being a playmaker and getting his teammates involved. I think he'll welcome that role more and everyone will benefit. The other thing is that he needs to play less minutes because clearly his body isn't up to the 40 minute a night grind. I'd like to see him limited to 30 a night for a while - not only does that creat more playing time for others, and more touches, but it saves tmac for the playoffs. Look folks, you have to give time for the evolution of one system these guys have had for four years to one that is more open and is a completely different philosophy. At first I was skeptical of Adelman's coaching making that much of a difference, now I understand what he's trying to do and I think it will make a big difference - and we're beginning to finally see it. Earlier in the year, we'd have struggled to beat any team without T-mac. Now we beat a team by 20. And with t-mac, we crushed Chicago even more. I suspect we'd have done ok against Detroit if we weren't so fatigued.
I don't blame Tmac for our struggles. He is our best player, but the fact is that Tmac and Yao have not proven to be enough to pass the first round, much less contend for a title. The ability to get quality role players or a 3rd star is limited because of Yao and Tmac's effect on the salary cap. And most of our current role players have minimal trade value, either because they are not that good, or because their contracts are small and won't net much in return. We have been good enough to not get high draft picks, but not good enough to win it all. Since Yao's off the court value is so high, he is unlikely to be traded. That means that if you want to make a major change to the team, trading TMac has to be considered. Certainly we wouldn't be better just getting rid of Tmac, but depending on the trade, we might be better off with who ever we got in return. The question is what is Tmac's trade value? He isn't a player you can build around for the future. He can't be considered a player that will carry a team further in the playoffs by trading another star for him... So who would want him that could offer the Rockets good value in return?
Put deron williams on this team and you have Scola putting up Boozer numbers, their game is so similar that i can´t belive it.
Ok i've read all this bs about mcgrady in this thread and now i have to speak. If anyone wants to tell me tracy is oft injured, cool. If you want to tell me sometimes he settles for jumpers, cool. My breaking point is when people on this board complain s that tracy is a ballhog or doesn't pass enough, thats crazy. Of yao's 20 ppg, how many come from t-mac penetration and pass to yao for a eazy dunk or layup? How is hayes even on the floor to score anything if tracy didn't get attention, hayes cut and scores a eazy layup. So now ignorant people want to tell me tracy overlooks scola?I think scola should start in front of hayes. I think scola brings more to the table. Scola has also been foul prone like most rookies. It does seem he has played well when tracy was out, but how many of those 20 point games were wins? 1 and that was last night. the others were blowouts so someone has to score. Get real.
That s true that Scola plays well when T-Mac is out but it doesnt mean that we should get rid of our best players just to develop a role players. It s time for Adelman to make Scola a starting player. Like that, he will get more minutes and he will develop more.
Another thing people failed to realize is that this is their 4th season together. They won 50 games and lost to dallas, won 30 games because of injuries, won 52 games with yao missing 34 and losing to utah and this season. I dont know how anyone with any sense can say this team is a failure with this combination. My problem is that they are trying to do something that hasn't worked since the shaq/kobe duo. The reason that worked is because shaq was way better than Yao and kobe is better than tracy. So the rox need to do what SA,Phoe,Dallas,Det, La(now) do. Get better players other than the star to take the load off and guard against off nights. If the Rox had a a legitimate 3rd guy, they could overcome on nights when yao or Tracy is struggling and still win. Like the teams above, when 1 or two have off nights, the other 1 can take up the slack .Thats the major problem with this team. Now if yao was avg 28ppg and 12 rebs like a young shaq and tracy was at 26 or 27, then the need for that 3rd guy wouldn't be as great. Yao is at 20 and tracy at 24 so thats 44 instead of 54. This team can still get in this thing and play good ball and it really is built for the playoffs, but they need to get that legit 3rd guy and keep tracy and yao healthy, especially tracy.
Wow, why are you setting your expectations so low? Didn't you mean 40+/20+? Only a handful of players put up 20/10 each season. Get real, dude!
