He's totally dogged it for sure this year, agreed. Totally. He most likely may have even ruined our season. Fine. But what's up with the constant revisionism that makes an effort to claim this is a yearly thing with him? That he's "always injured", "you can't win with him", "this is a yearly thing with him, you can never count on him" etc... Last I checked Tracy McGrady has singlehandedly carried this team on his back 3 of the last 4 seasons with NBDL level talent surrounding him. And hasn't caused a single problem up until allegedly now. Does his past history with the team excuse him for this year? No, I'm not claiming that. But I'm just sick and tired of people having one track minds, feeling the need to narrate history as fitting to their argument. If he's dogging it now, he must have always been dogging it, right? If he's holding us back this year, that was the case all 5 years, right? If he's hurt this year, he misses games every year? Come up with better arguments because the last 4 years are set in stone.
We fans are disgusted with the bouts of quitting that McGrady will show during a season. He's done it the past two seasons. 06-07 a home game vs GS, which I believe Clutch attended 07-08 at Philadelphia -- checked out in the 3rd quarter 08-09 at Toronto He's our No. 1 player, but he doesn't want to win bad enough. He should be healthy this season. He had all offseason to heal from his injuries of last season, but he apparently didn't do what he was supposed to do to heal.
Cabbage, nobody is re-writing history. McGrady has been in position to win multiple times throughout his career, but he just never did what was needed to get over the hump.
He's been the go-to guy the past few years no doubt, but I don't think he's given full effort since the 2005-06 season. And this especially goes for his offseasons. Great players add new skills and refine their existing ones in the offseason. Great players lead by example with effort on every possession. Tmac tires out like a cranky toddler every postseason because he typically coasts during the regular season. He foolishly believes that he can just turn it on in May when need be. But it doesn't work this way. The conditioning and work you put in the offseason and regular season pays off in the postseason. He is so immensely talented and naturally gifted that it's always covered up his lazy habits and mentality, up until the postseason. And up until now when he's actually lost a step. His half-assing it has pretty much always been there, it's just more exposed now that he no longer has the quickest first step or ability to rise and shoot over the defense.
Poeple forget easily what he has done for the franchise. He has been lazy since he was the best in Orlando, but then nobody talked about his defense. Seasons playing along with Wesley, Jon Barry, Ryan Bowen, Hayes as starting PF... 50 wins thanks to Tracy. He almost beats the Mavs by himself. People forget fast. But no need to go so far, last playoffs he had very good performance.
His next paycheck isn't for what he's done in the past, it's for what he's expected to do every single game he plays.
I'm actually surprised the Rockets of the last couple of years did so well...come to think of it, Juwana Man is out of the league, Stromile might as well be, Chuck is our third-string PF now, Luther is...Luther now and Rafer...Rafer. And Mike James. not to mention old corpses Wesley, Barry and Jimmy J (though Jimmy J did alright I guess) and Ryan Bowen...hoo baby Basically, with the obvious exception of Yao, I'd argue the only significantly above-average players Tracy has played with over the last few Rocket years is Battier. And MAYBE Sura.
Multiple times? When? Look, I am as baffled as anyone as of why he is behaving like he is. The theory that this is Orlando II doesn't hold water. In Orlando, they were losing. They did not have any talent other than the injured Grant Hill. And they had an idiotic GM in Weisbrod. This is completely different here. We have a talented team. We have a great GM. And most important of all, we are WINNING. And this is the first time in McGrady's career that we have something resembled a contender. WHY would he quit?
You make it sound like he had a little booklet with the secret to winning the last game of the play-off series and said, nah. I dont feel like it. I'd rather go home. I think its more of: His best just wasnt good enough. I have no doubts that all of his play-off series he did everything he could.
Also Expectations Look . . If you got a Man playing among boys and he scores 30 pts a game while scoopin up 15 rebounds and he does that in the 1st half of everygame are you ok with that? he averages 30 / 15 in the 1st half of everygame then takes the rest of the game off? Are you satisfied with that? just because T-mac gets 'his stats' . . .. . isn't enough it is not about stats. . . well it wasn't the last i checked Doing just enough to 'look good' is not enough doing just enough so 'no one can say it is my fault' If he goes off for 44 . . . and then loafs on the last 5 minutes of a game and we lose. . . you know what . . YEA I'm PISSED! the 44 really don't matter saying. . well . .if he didn't get the 44 we would not have been in the game . . DOESN'T MATTER RUN TO THE END . . not just get 'close enough . . . I think alot of folx Feel like Tmac can do anything on the court but doing it at will then shutting it down at points is not enough This is not revisionism Rocket River
Anybody who believes this team didn't accomplish more than they should have with McGrady and a host of nobodies last year is blinded by some true hate. Anybody who believes that this team should have won every playoff series they played in with McGrady is also clouded. They were favored ONCE in their 3 playoff series... and that one time they went to 7 games, and last I checked, McGrady was pretty damn good that series (it was our other star that may have been able to play better... on both ends of the court). This is the first year that they've had overall talent comparable to that of the other contenders... but there is the fact that a lot of that talent has either been injured (Artest, Battier), regressed (Yao), been inconsistent (Alston, Brooks, Landry, Scola), and the overall killer instinct/defensive tenacity of the team has been suspect at best. Yes, McGrady has been a huge ? this year... but does that erase everything he's done the previous 4 years with sub-par talent? I'm sure someone will say we should have beat superior teams... teams that ran out Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitski against our Bob Sura and Clarence Weatherspoon. Teams that were able to neutralize Yao with 3-point shooting flopping Euros. Teams that were able to go 4-5 deep off the bench, while we were bringing in the likes of Bowen, Padgett, James, and Wells.
ugh... Tracy has a good game, lack of effort. Tracy has a bad game, lack of effort. Guys, get it into your heads, Tracy isn't God. There's a limit to what he can do, especially if he's injured.
QFT. if tracy doesn't get his act together this year and win with this group though, it's going to be tough for the legacy of his career. fortunately, the season is not even half way over.
Even if he does get it together... this team doesn't do much with Yao not dominating nearly every night, Artest injured, Battier injured, Alston/Brooks inconsistent, and the defense lacking. They still have a lot of work to do REGARDLESS of McGrady. If you're just counting on McGrady getting his act together, you may end up with 50 wins, you may even get a 22 win streak... but if you don't have the other components that I mentioned above playing consistently, you likely have another first round exit. I thought we were trying to do better than that this year... also, I could care less about Tracy's "legacy"... I'm simply pointing out that a lot of you can't remember more than 1 year ago, let alone 4-5 years.
i think the team knows yao's main strengths and his weaknesses and have come to terms with what yao can do (note how yao's minutes have drastically gone down the past few weeks). outside of the lakers, we don't need everything to be clicking to beat the spurs, hornets... and i'm sure we'll be healthier in april than we are now. that's why morey is very patient and i applaud him for it.
Mcgrady has been a downright fantastic playoff performer. i find it funny that people choose to ignore that fact. It's lazy to say, "but he's never been out of the first round." sometimes you need a little luck on your side. mcgrady's had none.
Yao is far more effective in breif streches where you're able to target him, keep him involved, and get the most out of him while he has his stamina/legs. I haven't seen much of that done this year consistently... almost as if it takes the team a ton of minutes plus a deficit to realize that getting Yao going is the single-most important asset this team has to get easier wins. And, I guess you haven't been watching much of the Spurs or Hornets lately... but we do need a consistent Yao, a healthy Artest/Battier, good PG play, and a solid defense to beat those teams. You eliminate any of the above (along with McGrady), and we're not winning a 7 game series. I also hope we're healthier in April, and develop some tenacity/mean streak on the defensive end. That's the best shot this team has.
