What the Management / Ownership Must do regarding T-Mac

Man, I always try to avoid these hate topics but Tmac is really disappointing me. The problem with Tmac and the Rockets is that the leader (a weak one at that) of the team was and still is TMAC. It's not Ron and it's not Yao. Therefore, anything TMAC does has an impact on the team. If he keeps saying day-to-day and doesn't suit up for the game, it impacts the team. If he plays lethargic throughout the game, it impacts the team. If he quits on the game, it DEFINATELY impacts the team.

However, anything he does positive also impacts the team (positively). I think they need to hope that Tmac comes back strong and take this team to a championship or trade him after the season.

 

Put him in the inactive list for 20 games and see how the team responds, if it goes well Trade him and Rafer Alston for Hinrich-Nocioni/Gordon, depending on what we want to do with Ron Artest, if we want to keep artest go for Gordon, if not, go for Nocioni.

 

Injured reserve or send him to the developmental league to join Dorsey in order to "rehab his knee."

 

I disagree. Tmac was the leader and the captain of the team. I never said he was a good one. In fact, Tmac being the leader of the team may be the most important problem to the team.

 

Sit him....until he begs to come back and play....let him realize how much he really misses the game.

And before you let him back, make him apologize to the team for what he has been doing.

Then give him one more chance.

DD

 

You've got it all wrong. Benching tmac is giving him what he wants. Tmac and Adelman have been butting heads over whether he is well enough to play. That long meeting resulted in a compromise (no consecutive b2b's) that neither side is happy with.

Let tmac have his way. Let him sit out until he feels he's ready to come back. In a month or two, he'll come back to prove a point, 'I told you so'. Just let him do it so this team can get back on track and focus on basketball instead of drama. We can still repeat the magic of the 2nd half of last season.

 

Wow I agree with DD? I want to win a championship. I'm tired of Rox being a good team, a team you "don't want to play in the playoffs". We're obviously a long way from being a contender...but I keep remembering the 22 game win streak with the exact same group of guys we have now...plus Ron freakin' Artest. Running away from the problems isn't going to fix a damned thing.

 

hear, hear.

"i fully commit to playing and with intensity." sounds familiar, eh? who said it just a few days ago? liar...

 

I guess I'm not getting this whole "we can't trade T-Mac because we won't get fair value" thing. What's fair value for a guy getting paid 21 mil while scoring 15 pts on 39% shooting and blatanly not involving himself in the offense unless the ball swings to his side.

I mean come on, IF he retires as a Rocket, Les will have to immortalize him by placing an imprint of his latest Adidas shoes three feet behind the three point line because that's where he's spent the majority of his time the last three years. With the words "It's my fault, everythings my fault" on a brass plate.

Listen, the Lakers were never going to trade Kobe for Tracy and a GM would have been and would be a fool to trade any other "Star" player for him. The point of trading him is to try to get pieces back that are useable (and get from underneath that god awful contract) We don't NEED a Superstar calibar guy to win. Sure it's exciting and all but when you depend on one person to do everything for you, a lot of times you'll be disappointed when it counts.

I understand that people look at our record without him- and it is bad- but what people don't understand is if the players know that Mr McGrady won't be there, say for 2 months (or longer hopefully...can you say trade) AND we get some practice time knowing that he'll be gone, it's inevitable that we'll actually be stronger. Our problem now is that since he handles the ball so much and plays his brand of ball, ie driving and passing, our players aren't confortable without him on the floor. They don't know their roles. Again, that can be reshaped with a few good practices or if we can't make a trade this year, good offseason workouts and preseason. We actually saw them do this right before the streak when Tracy went out for 12 games or so and we ended up gelling. I still remember Bonzi telling the media that "Tracy would have to adjust to us now"

I still think that we can pry Kirk Hinrich from the Bulls for Rafer and change and even though Detroit is playing better, I still think that Dumars would do a swap for Rip and Sheed. Make a Outlaw, Rodriguez, Frye for Battier and Luther and a future pick trade and we're set for now and the future.

I know alot of people are thinking that that screws up the Lebron Lotto but let's be real. Lebrons not coming hear, Wade and Bosh will probably end up in the same city, Carmelo and Stoudemire don't fit, outside shot of Joe Johnson but I think he'll resign-actually, I think a lot of guys will resign- after that, you're pretty much over paying for a shot at the summer of love.

legend215

 

great post.

i think it all is up to les now to make a decisive move. but he's got a tendency of not cutting losses with his investment.

 

MY HEAD IS IN THE SAND? LOLOLOL, so lets just ship Tracy out, and we are going to roll off 22 in a row again and coast to the Finals?

maybe my head is in the sand, but at least I am not utterly delusional. Tmac is playing like a b*tch, no doubt, but he's just the tip of the iceberg. Everyone is playing like garbage, and has been for quite some time. If you think that ALL stems back to one player, you are in LALA land bro. Everyone is contributing to this funk, if Grady needs to be your scapegoat, I can undersatnd, it's the hot cookie right now. What is popular is not always right though. Cheers mate.

 

I like your dream scenario, but how about you also be honest, LBJ will land in Hobby Airport wearing a Rockets uni before all those cards fall into place, especially this season.

 

Other than the Pistons, who had stellar defense and really good offensive players when was the last time a team won without a Superstar.

I know everyone wants to believe this care bears scenario where all you need is guys who work really hard and every thing is going to fall into place but I've rarely seen that workout in the NBA. You need a superstar to win a championship period.

 

Not necessarily. It's pretty much a given that the Bulls would want to rid themselves of KH's contract. Rafer's deal expires next year and it wouldn't hurt to have a veteran guard on the team to help Rose's development. We can say all we want about Rafer but you can't discount the fact that the man knows the game.

Dumars has made it pretty obvious that he wants T-Macs contract and I won't say that he's written the season off but when he traded for AI the writing was on the wall. If they make the playoffs, cool, if they win in th playoffs, cool, the bottom line is that AI's contract comes off this year. We also heard rumblings about RIP's extension which lead to trade talk. Rasheed is just icing for us. 10-15 mins a night backing up Yao with another 3-5 playing with him would be golden.

And the Portland trade has been dicussed now for what, about three years now. The Blazers are severely lacking in veteran leadership and we're severely lacking in athleticism at the wing position.

I know that all three scenarios would probably never happen but aside from the Chicago trade, have been looked into by our teams

legend215

 

Basketball is a team game. You win as a team, you lose as a team.

To me, you just sound like those bandwagon fans in 2000/01 who wanted to trade Olajuwon because of his numbers, even though he would be retiring after the following the year.

So bench him. I'd love to see how far this team could go in the Playoffs then.

1-4 most likely.

 

So what is different?

DD

 

LOL. Right?

What's the worst that could happen? Blowing home court advantage or being rolled by 40 points in a game seven?