I believe Yao is the more probable MVP candidate at this stage of their respective careers, that said I would not say it is beyond Tracy's ability to win the MVP. However you slice it they will be THE dynamic duo of the NBA this season.
outside of the SPOTLIGHT of the playoffs, yao played STATISTICALLY pretty much the same post injury. points, rebounds, fg%... everything. he actually was rounding WELL into pre-injury form in the last month w/ 25.7 ppg, 10.1 rpg, on 54.4% shooting. if yao was inconsistent post-injury, then u can say that. but i thought about 12-15 games after post injury, he became his consistent self and looked great. i just think it could have been the spotlight of the playoffs and the jazz's rough play that caused yao to struggle.
Yao is more likely simply because Tracy have to be compare to other elite guards or swingmen in the league such as Kobe,Lebron,Wade etc. And there's really no other center can be Yao's opponent in a MVP race. So if both play outstanding next season and without major injury, Yao can be a serious candidate of regular season MVP.
Sigh, durvasa, maybe you shouldn't have made this thread... it has broken into infighting again. I think if both Yao and T-Mac can BE HEALTHY and play AT THEIR BEST best ALL YEAR LONG, who gives a rat's @$$ who wins the MVP? It should be the OTHER TWENTY NINE teams that fears our dynamic duo. It should never EVER boil down to "this is Yao's team... no this is Tracy's team... no Yao is the MVP of the team... no, it is Tracy who is the MVP of the team"... Like I said... you want to share the honours? Yao becomes regular season MVP and Tracy becomes Finals MVP Oh, Rockets bring home the championship too.
No reason to call people idiots here, as no one knows for certain how events will unfold. I expect both Yao and McGrady play a prominent role on the team next season, and that's why I think there's a good chance both will get MVP votes. In my view, if both players play up to their abilities, it will be difficult to choose one over the other. I actually expected the votes in the poll to be closer to 50/50.
what did you REALLY EXPECT from this thread?? There is absolutely no reason to think this would NOT turn into a Tracy v Yao thread, and of course it has...
Actually, I am not calling anyone an idiot. Just abit disappointed with how the thread is turning out. Like I said... if Yao and T-Mac actually play like MVPs next season, it is the other 29 teams who should be scared. There is no need to make comments like T-Mac is brokeback or Yao is soft or anything of that sort. Hell, comments should be something like: If Yao and T-Mac play like MVPs, I would be the happiest fan in the NBA and I will flip a coin to choose the winner because they both deserve it
A lot of us have been on this board long enough to KNOW that your fairy book scenario will NEVER happen. It will ALWAYS turn into a Tracy v Yao argument...
Oh, I know that. I was referring to some other posters. I basically agree with you. I was expecting people to give their predictions and maybe state why they think one will be considered the more valuable of the two a year from now. But, we're dealing with a very different team, with a different coach, and all predictions right now are largely guesswork. There's no point getting into heated arguments in such a thread. But you're right, I should have expected this reaction.
Which is quite a shame isn't it, that it turns into a sad case scenario? I also then start to wonder what fans of other teams would give to be in our predicament. Hmmm... Yao and T-Mac playing like MVPs. Hmm... who should we vote for. Wait... thank god they are on our team in the first place. Let's anoint them co-MVPS
but let's be real, none of our stars will win the MVP (b/c u have to show u have won before) or unless your team has so good a record (unless we have the best record) and our stars go OFF statistically, it's tough for tmac or yao to win b/c of their playoff failures. i don't care for the reg. season MVP. as long as yao or tmac win the finals MVP, this board will be smiling.
Stats is one thing, but watching him play, Yao had clearly lost a decent amount of quickness post injury. I can't even remember him getting off his signature baseline spin move once since coming back from injury. He was doing it successfully at lease once a game before that. Outside of that, his movements still looked far more mechanical than normal. I really him he can 100% recover from that.
McGrady failed against Derek Fisher, all 6'1" of him, while probably he was distracted by the cancer issues of his daughter. BTW, if you didn't bother to watch the WCF, you may be surprised to learn that Okur managed to contain Tim Duncan, forcing him into almost 5 TO/game and holding him to 21.8 ppg and 9.6 rpg, both lower than his playoff averages. Yao said himself that the injury caused him to lose conditioning, quickness and explosion. I will take Yao's word over yours any day. I would love to see McGrady work on his jumper, since he shoots so many of them nowadays and doesn't like to drive. Perhaps eventually he can reinvent himself as more of a shooter. However, his back will continue to get worse as he racks up more mileage on his body, and his athleticism will continue to slowly decline. Even his jump shot showed signs of slipping. You have a right to be optimistic about McGrady, but I see a player in a slow decline. I hope his career will not fall off a cliff soon; I think he will have to work on his shot to make sure that doesn't happen. Oh, blazer_ben, McGrady didn't show up 3 out of 7 games of the playoffs, very inconveniently all 3 road games, where if we could have stolen one, we would have avoided the pressure of game 7 that did us in.
again, no one is denying tmac's struggles in the playoffs. but he showed up in 4 games at least and dominated those 4 games, esp. games 5 and 7. and tmac didn't wilt in the pressure of game 7. thatw as one of his finest playoff performances EVER in game 7 - 29 pts and 13 assists, along w/ his game 5 performance. sure we can argue about game 6 or game 5. (game 3 was a total loss regardless). but at least he showed up in the biggest game of his career. none of our role players showed up in any game. and the reason i point yao out is (besides the injury recovery), he had little pressure on him. outside of the rocket fans, no one put any pressure on yao to perform. you hear little of from the media about how yao has to perform and all that. it was all on tmac. thats why i'm shock yao nor our role players step up more than they did. they had very little pressure on them.
Actually, McGrady didn't show up for 3.5 games: the first half of game 1, game 3, game 4, and game 6. Even his fine game 7 performance was flawed; he didn't get it done in the last 4 minutes. Game 5 was the only game he really dominated, perhaps game 2 as well but he shot very poorly in that game. Regarding pressure, Yao said in his movie that no amount of pressure put on by American fans or media could ever compare to the pressure he faces every day of representing his country and his fans in China. In fact he seems to make a point of essentially ignoring what the American media has to say about him, while others might be provoked into making a response. In short, your assertion that Yao has no pressure on him is absolutely false. McGrady does not have to walk around every day knowing he is representing a nation of over a billion people.
In order for Mr. 11 to get a nod, we will have to be tremendous this season and win like 60+ games for him to get some respect and play real big in games against Suns, Mavs, Spurs to WIN it!!!!
tmac is being called a choker. a selfish player. a softie. not a leader. the american media is as bad as they come.
