Tmac's Magic even at it heydays was only a ~45 win team in the then weak East. I would say 1-2 wins depending on Tmac and role players' performance. But if the role players really sucked like those 3 games strech, 0-1 wins at best.
I started as a YOF and even I have no problem admitting that T-Mac is more important to this team than Yao. Heck, T-Mac is probably a bigger impact player than ANY OTHER PLAYER in the league, with maybe the exception of Duncan. My rank of impact players: 1. Duncan 2. T-Mac 3. KG & Lebron 5. Yao 6. Shaq 7. Nash 8. Kobe & Amare
That's better than any other one star team in recent NBA history (Lebron, Kobe, AI). His best complementary player during that time was Mike Miller (role player) for one year, 42yr old Ewing for one year and Darrell Armstrong the rest of the years. Nobody can carry a team like T-Mac. The players sucked cause they weren't getting wide open shots. That's why they're role players. When you have a great player next to them, they can shine. Yao provides great offense, but he doesn't create offense the way that a great perimeter player does. Evidence is his .8 assts/gm last year. We need both to succeed.
Without Yao, this is Tracy's Orlando Magic version II. The opponents can use double team to contain TMac and dare the Rockets role players to beat them. If our guards cannot shoot fish in the barrel like they did in the past 3 days, Tracy would only lead us to a 0-3 or 1-2 record.
Some YOFs feelings might be hurt, so they're trying to bring up this point to stir trouble and division among the fan base, incredibly annoying and childish
I have heard that argument so much, and it couldn't be further from the truth. You're saying Lue and Armstrong are as good a supporting cast as what the Rockets have now? That's just plain ignorant
this is useless poll. need YAO and tmac BOTH. tmac IS the soul and leader of this team. yao is the ancher of the O-D
^^^ What he said. The team was built around BOTH stars, following the Shaq-Kobe model of winning (dominant inside player, dominant outside player). I don't know why people want to be divisive. Both our stars are very unselfish "good guys" who are sacrificing their egos and even their health at times in order to accomplish one and only one goal: winning a championship. Both guys love playing with one another, and they believe in one another. This team is built on BOTH, and we will live and die by these two guys, so if you don't like either one of them, tough! Enjoy them for the next 6-10 years of Rockets basketball or find a new team to root for. Like KG? Great! Root for the T-puppies, because we sure as hell ain't trading Yao for him or ten of him. My point: get over it people, and get used to it.
Last year there were plenty of times when yao would suck at the end of the game when Deke did such a great job that would just use him instead of Yao. We can't win a championshp without Yao, but we coul win more games with Tmac w/o Yao.
Just answer TWO questions for me... 1. Is Tracy a better player than Yao? 2. Are we deeper at SF or at C? Both of those answers are obvious, therefore I rest my case. EDIT: Actually there's one more point to make. If Tracy would struggle so much without Yao, then how was McGrady able to put up the numbers he did last night if he played 38 minutes and Yao only played 21 1/2? Where were the struggles again double and triple teams and zones when he was setting the whole state of New Jersey on fire?
You can't count on Deke to be a starter for several games. His current role fits him the best. Rockets would be a mediocre team at best without Yao. We will win games when Tmac and the backcourt gets hot but will lose otherwise. In other words, a 0.5 team.
I wasn't counting on Deke to be a starter... And I agree with the .500 comment. But the question here is the record in 3 games. I didn't say they'd win all 3 and I since it's an odd number I can't say they'd win half of them. I chose 2 out of 3. Tracy is unbelievable but he isn't God and I realize that. I'd rather have him on the court than Yao is all I'm saying. He makes other players better and seems to be taking a more vocal leadership role this year, on top of being our best playermaker and scorer.
Tell me this isn't serious. I hope your referring to the fac that T-Mac can't be covered on any 3 he wants to take. The open 3's that are there when Yao's on the court are ridiculous. It's not that Yao is as good as T-Mac, it's just the fact he's 7'6 and is more disruptive even when having a bad game than all but a handful of guys in the NBA. I'm not one of the guys that prays for Yao's stats, I just watch what he does and his D has really stepped up this year. It looks like he knows his assignments better than anyone on the team. Oh, and the guy who said Yao's not a playmaker either needs new glasses or a better vocabulary. I can't wait for a new poll: do you like 2's and 3's better than everyone else who's not on ESPN everynight?
First of all, Tracy does a better job of freeing up shooters than Yao does. Sure Yao draws double teams, but as a stationary player it doesn't disrupt defensive rotations very much. When Tracy drags 2 guys with him all the way from one side of the court to the other and then drives or throws the skip pass, defenses start to crumble. Second, I'm the guy who said Yao isn't a playmaker. Sorry, but maybe you should read my post again. I said that YAO IS A GOOD PASSER, and hell, he's a GREAT passer for a big man, but he is NOT a playmaker. Making 1 or 2 nice passes out of the post does not constitute being a playmaker in my mind. In my mind, a playmaker is someone who can make something out of nothing at any given moment, both for himself or for a teammate. I don't know what your definition is, but it must not require very much if you think Yao is one.
