Injuries were clearly the biggest reason the Tmac/Yao era failed. Tmac's inability to keep his mouth shut just made the situation worse, but if both Yao and Tracy were not so injury prone the results likely would have been considerably better.
It was never the Tracy era, it was the Tracy and Yao era because one cannot go without the other. THAT era failed due to a combination of factors: 1) Injury prone stars. Had both players been healthy we at least would've had a a better shot in 2007 and 2008 2) Coaches and management awful team management: Ryan Bowen, Juwan Howard, Charlie Ward, Charles Oakley, Rod Strickland, Boki Nachbar, Vin Baker, Kirk Snyder, Bonzi, John Lucas, Spanoulis, Jake Tsakalidis really ?? (damn Van Gundy, and whoever was involved with it, for ever bringing in those dumb ass NY friends of his, those Greeks and all those inept so called basketball players ) 3) Coaching decisions: Yao getting 10 shots a game, really ?? I read somewhere Van Gundy was the one putting the pressure on Tracy, making T-mac feel and say: "It's one me". Also under RA when Yao and Tracy were both healthy, Yao never got the shots he should've had. 4) Refs: Both Yao and Tracy were never respected by the referees. The 05 series is just the cream of the crop. 5) The supporting cast: During the playoffs nobody besides Yao and Tracy stepped up. 6) Tracy: He made his teammates better, had some amazing plays, some clutch moments, even played through injuries but his problems were and always will be: his EGO, his lack of playing defense and giving up. He wanted to have the ball in his hands, playing PG, he wanted the most shots, wanted to make the big play, was ready to do everything not to get the blame for failures (throwing coaches and teammates under the bus), always had excuses for everything etc. 7) Yao: The only thing you can blame Yao for is not being aggressive enough at times and for taking the bad treatment. For the rest Yao is doing everything humanly possible to win.
It wasn't really about the Tmac era with the Rockets so much as it was Tmac failing himself. He was one of those guys who basketball came so easy to him that he didn't develop the work ethic to keep himself healthy and develop his game. As his body changed with age, he simply wasn't equipped to cope. It's a shame because he could have been one of the very best scorers all time if he had the drive to. I think he meant well and wants to win, but it's been pretty clear during his Rockets tenure that he has increasingly looked out of shape and soft(even before getting hurt for long periods of time) for an athlete expecting to be an all star. The injuries didn't help and sometimes injuries just happen but I can't help but feel if he took better care of himself he would have avoided at least some of those injuries.
