Who's more important to the team success, Tmac or Yao?

I disagree. I think we could win 45-48 games w/Tmac, JVG DEFENSE, plus Sura, Howard, Westley, Barry, Padget and James's shooting and defense. Plus Deke blocks and sometimes scoring. That team above IS BETTER than the past Francis/Mobley teams; which were around 42-45 win team. Why do I think this? We play controlled, intelligent and efficient. That goes a long way. Think of it like this: TMac - Yao is = Magic team that plays DEFENSE and that's not dumb like the Francis lead Rockets. That's better than what we had in the past. Now, do we want a TMac lead team w/out Yao? No way. That's why Yao is the talent that gets us to the next level: 50-55 wins. And it gets better from there.

If there are some Yao fans out there that think that Yao can do it alone w/out TMac. You're wrong! Yao can't lead now. He can't give the amount of minutes we need for him to lead. Plus he's too foul prone right now. And him having to carry more of the load would just increase those fouls; more fatigue.

 

Yes. I agree w/this. Neither TMac and Yao are able to lead by themselves in the long run. Even if Tmac is better than Yao overall. It really doesn't matter in the end. Either way, we lose if they don't join forces. And BOTH of them lose if we don't get the right ROLE players around them.

 

If Tmac were carring the team alone, he would slack off on
defense. Same thing would happen when you replaced Tmac
by Yao. When your leader plays little defense, the team would
play little defense and you would have a new version of Magic.

 

That's assuming you didn't have a coach that would prevent that from happening. Johnny Davis didn't demand defense. JVG does demand it. Both would gain from the demands that JVG would place on them. And that defense would increase the win total a bit. As far as replacements...both of them couldn't play the same minutes, nor score the same amounts of points.

Now, I'm getting off topic. Because in the end, those STATS really don't matter. It's like saying, TMac's 26PPG is better than Yao's 18ppg and just because of THAT he's "better." This is just splitting hairs and it's pointless. Because debating about stats is fine, if it's just for fun. But debating about winning the title should be the goal. That's why they both need each other.

 

Equal. We need both of them at different times. We're a team.

 

You da Man!

 

no yao no defense

 

Really? Then what's that stuff we see on the court when these guys are there?

Sura
Westley
TMac
Howard
Deke

Huh? Guess that's NO DEFENSE, huh? Yao gives us more defense and interior shot blocking. Yes. But lets not go overboard and say that we play NO defense w/out Yao.

 

You're right about the foul problems, but Tracy has his tempermentally chronic and nagging back problems which will never go away. No doubt Tracy's offensive lull is directly related to his bum back. Hopefully his stick legs will hold up. Yao is prolonging Tracy's career right now. Tracy would rather shoot long jumpers than penetrate, risking injuries. Remember earlier in the season when TMac was driving to the hoop more frequently? What resulted was, injuring his groin and seeing him numerous times lying on the court clutching his ankle, writhing in pain. He's the total opposite of Bobby Sura...who doesn't shy away from contact like Tracy does.

Bottom line....Tracy needs Yao, just as much as Yao needs Tracy.

 

Geez, I knew this thread wasn't worth clicking on. It's degenerated into exploring whether this team would be awful or merely mediocre without one of our stars. Come on. If this team wants to be worth a damn, then we need both Yao and T-Mac. Period. Excalmation Point!

 

I voted equal. Yao's growth is still the key. Yao has more upside than Tracy who is close to maxing out.

Yao needs to keep progressing if we are to talk championship contender.
Tracy is already a stud.

 

What games have you been watching?

First, McGrady never had a "chronic" back problem. He developed a back problem in Orlando as the result of a knee injury he chose to play through. He aggrivated his back as a result.

Last year was the first year since he was playing mainly backup minutes in Toronto as a 19-year-old that T-Mack played FEWER than 75 games in a season. He still managed 67 last year though if he were on a good team, you can bet that number would have been up in the 75 range like usual.

So, we can just eliminate those discussions immediately - missing an AVERAGE of 6 games per season is NOT injury prone.

Second, McGrady was averaging 30+ points over the last 18 games prior to the two losses. The problem in the two losses was the fact that he was having to handle the ball, not his strong suit. He is a very respectable 44% career shooter from the floor.

McGrady is widely considered one of the top 3 or 4 athletes in the league and, very easily, a top 10 if not top 6 or 7 player in the NBA.

I totally agree with this. To win a title, they do need each other. No question. But, if you want an answer to who is most important to the team's success RIGHT NOW, it is T-Mac because he is the better player. Again, no knock on Yao, just the reality of how good T-Mac is right now.

 

Every single game

Every time Tracy is struggling offensively, what does he blame as the culprit? I always hear him say his "back is flaring up or the cold weather is tightening up his back". In fact, during All-Star Break, he was interviewed and was asked if they could expect any specacular dunks. His response not to expect anything spectacular, due to his back being, "hurt". If you would like, I can make a video file of this...it was on NBA TV, if you don't believe me. I don't know what your definition of chronic is, but when he mentions it time and time again....to me, it's chronic. Just because he averages 6 missed games per season doesn't negate the fact his back is troublesome and affects his game.

I personally think his recent offensive lull is due to his back bothering him. It's plain AS DAY to see.

I'm not disputing that.

You're entitled to your opinion, as I am to mine. I say BOTH are EQUALLY important.



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Good post. What is sad is that over 50% are picking Yao over T-Mac or vice versa.

 

I agree with ya...this is how all us us should think of our duo, but everyone has an opinion which makes it interesting.

 

And it could be that more objective posters have voted for "EQUAL." Thus taking some votes away from TMac. Do you think that a Yao fan would vote for Equal or Yao? I would say that most Yao fans would vote for Yao. That's just the way it is. Oh well...

The poll is about who's important for success (which to me, means championship). That's why I voted EQUAL. If you started a poll about who has more over-all talent; scoring, assists, and rebounds. The poll would reflect those type of advantages towards Tmac.

But that poll wouldn't relate to championship, though. Just player vs player comparisons.

 

No doubt about it.. I've been following Tmac since his rookie days, and Tmac is the more skilled and better overall player. I would almost say he's probably the most talented player in the league. (James, Kobe, Carter are others)

However, Yao definitely has the bigger impact on the game itself (if he plays like he's capable of). His presence on both the defensive end and offensive end disrupts opposing teams overall flow of the game. If Yao doesn't reach his potential, the rockets will be hard pressed to win a championship, regardless of who he has on the wings.

 

I totally agree. But I don't think McGrady and Yao will run into the problems that occured between Kobe and Shaq. Kobe's just a control freak, and Shaq's just an insecure whinnie little baby. Back on topic now... McGrady and Yao are both pretty lay-back kinda guys from what I see on TV. Also my mom knows Yao (not extremely well, but I wish she did!) so she has told me some stuff about him. I never liked Yao (even though I'm chinese and our family's from the same hometown), but now I'm starting to like him alot. He's extremely polite and just a great person in general. I wish the refs would stop blowing bs calls on him so he can stay in the game longer and put up bigger numbers!

I can't say who's more important between McGrady and Yao because it all depends on the situation. I think when the game's down the line I'd much rather see the ball in McGrady's hands. However if the Rockets run their offense through Yao, I think our options open up alot more. So I'd say they are equally important.

Go Rockets!

 

I never really paid attention to Orlando's games. I was just wondering, from watching all our games, is this the way McGrady played before he joined us? I barely see him attack the basket and draw fouls. He's just shooting jumpers all day from the perimeter... =\ I always athought the Orlando T-Mac was more like Kobe, and thought T-Mac must have changed his style of playing when he hurt his back. I just wish he'd be more aggressive and attack the basket more and get more FT's.

Go Rockets!

 

this lineup is as mediocre as any team, and they will hv trouble making playoff even in East. TMac and Yao are equally important.