Tmac is like a crazy ex-girlfriend. Yeah, you had some good times but when you see her again after a while, you get a weird feeling and you think "Man, I'm glad I don't have to deal with that anymore. She is nothing but drama. My life is so much better now without her."
YOU DO REALIZe... there is is the "CAPS LOCK".. you do realize that this is a contract year for T-Mac... and that he is not going to settle for mediocre stats... which means that he is less likely to play within the confines of our offense. T-Mac will most likely goto being T-Mac. Someone who averages around 20points with barely 40% shooting. he will want his 30-35 shots a game to get his stats buffed so he can prove that he is back. I cannot believe that some people think T-Mac will actually be able to play without dominating the ball.
T-Mac is great for the team as long as he plays within the system before taking over as the closer to end the 4th. The thing with T-Mac is that he is not use to playing a run and gun offense now (not sure if he ever was during his younger days) and plays in a half court setup. He is use to iso'ing with the ball at the perimeter and starting or starting and ending plays. If he can come in and play within the system of our motion offense, someone of his caliber would be great. As much as I hate on him for his work ethics and media intelligence (or rather lack thereof), I cannot deny the skills he once had. He has a sweet jumpshot, excellent court vision, and freakish athleticism, as well as scoring prowress. If he plays within the system for our run and gun motion offense, he will get his shots while avoiding the needless grind of banging that comes with him driving against opponents since we all know he is about as tough as china. This will also save his energy for the 4th quarter for when we really need him to close our games for us. While I would rather get rid of T-Mac (and Yao too), aside from the super duper All-Stars (LBJ and Wade) and Joe Johnson, there really won't be anyone else worth getting. Considering you have at least 5 teams ahead of us who can sign them for more money, who do you think the rest of them will chase after once they are taken. If we can get JJ, I would do so in a heartbeat, but our best hope right now is to either trade T-Mac before deadline (assuming he proves himself and has any trade value left) or hope that he either signs for a lot less or that Yao signs for a lot less and lets us pursue an All-Star.
blake, i think you should rewatch those games. during the streak, we averaged around 25 assists per game (and we were more of a halfcourt team then with yao for half of the game). the running team we have now is averaging 23.5 assists per game. rafer led the team in assists in more than half of those games so it wasn't just tracy holding the ball like you claim. tracy CAN play in this system or ANY system b/c of his skillset. the question is: IS HE HEALTHY enough to play at a high level?
This team is successful due to the players moving without/sharing the ball, scrambling/hustling on defense and getting transition buckets. McGrady's weaknesses are that he doesn't move without the ball, does not defend consistently and will not play "up tempo" basketball. He is game is basically the opposite of what makes this team good. Can he come back and change his game to fit in? Maybe but I doubt it. Can he be useful (if healthy) with his ability to draw double teams and find the open man? Definitely. I think what it boils down to is will he bring more to the team with his talent and court vision than he will take away with his unwillingness to move without the ball of give consistent effort. I prefer we never have to answer that question. I prefer he be moved before he puts on a Rocket jersey again.
thank you.. and people i hope people realize during the lakers game for the 22 game in a row (i should know.. i was at the game) Mcgrady had a horrible game in the first 3 quarters.. so what did he do... hmmm jack up shots? NO he passed the ball. go look at the first page on this thread and look at my second video at the end. he played in the system and had assist and as tmac1 stated, HOPEFULLY he is healthy so he can get the "last laugh"
sure its mcgradys contract year but who is gonna take a risk on giving him a big contract. he wont get one. it woould be more valuable to get a mcgrady that isnt selfish and passes the ball like during the 22 game winstreak. im pretty positive mcgrady will play liike that rather than hog the ball and ruin this team. this is his best chance to get a championship, more than ANY YEAR. yes even with yao, because of the roleplayers we have (if yao was playin i would still consider us contenders)
people also have to understand the value of rafer (YES, RAFER) during that streak. he handled the ball a lot and allowed tracy to "do things off the ball" moreso than usual. when he did came back to earth, adelman did put the ball in mcgrady more b/c we were in the thick of the race (and tracy was injured the entire time). there was a reason we missed rafer so much in the jazz series. him handling the ball ALLOWED tracy to play off the ball and conserve energy. it's ridiculous to think tracy can't play with the current IF HEALTHY.
He needs the ball to be effective, and he does not run the floor, or give consistent effort on the defensive end.
Our new strategy should just be, keep T-Mac on the bench until the 4th. This way he will have plenty of energy. Same with Yao!
You're right, people completely forget how well Rafer played after the all-star break that year. We were a better team than the Jazz, but Bobby Jackson gaves us nothing. When we lost Rafer again to that sprained ankle the team went to hell. Tmac was great during the streak. The team was great during the streak. Everyone was hustling. I still have R2K's highlights from every single one of those games. It wasn't just Tmac, he wasn't dominating the ball except for the New Orleans game. Everyone had highlights because everyone was busting their ass. The streak wouldn't have happened if it was just Tmac. That's why everyone thought we had a contender last year. We thought we had a big three and a hardworking supporting cast. That's right, fans on this board considered Tmac part of a big three! If Tmac were such a cancer, why didn't anyone want to trade him last summer?
Agree completely. You'd think t-mac would like to run given his athleticism, but he really doesn't. He's like a tall AI. However he would be nice to have for spot minutes.
Other than being part of a team that won 22 games in a row, what else has he done? He has failed us in the playoffs every time, not to mention going to the media first with his surgery and not his team. He hasnt come through when we needed him. I love to watch him, when he wants to be is the one of the sickest players I've ever watched. But, I think the team is ready to move on.
I agree that McGrady has done a lot for the team. I remember one comeback win in particular against the spurs where he scored something like 12 points in 35 seconds; and made plays on defense to get some of those points. I can also understand people being ungrateful because we all thought we were in for a 3-peat when we first had Yao and TMac. But we never even got close to what we were expected to be. I say TMac needs to put his money where his mouth is. I believe he can secure a new contract WITH THE ROCKETS if he wants. But ... words mean nothin' ... let's see some ACTION!
mcgrad has done more than the 22 game win streak. HE NEVER HAD A SUPPORTING CAST since joining the rockets.. except last year. but he was too hurt to play. this year he has the supporting cast. I dont know why ANYONE in thier right mind would want to mess up the chemistry that our supporting cast has done. Mcgrady wants to get out of the first round. he wants TO win. this is his perfect oppurtunity. if im wrong and mcgrady messes up the chemistry and we do bad. forcing us to trade mcgrady then i will eat crow. but its not gonna happen
Agree. This is his contract year. I agree that he probably wont get that nice contract hes looking for but hes looking for a conract none the less. He's out to prove himself. Out to prove he has recovered from a significant injury. He has that scorer mentality. We can all go back and say "Well he did this during this time or/and that during that time." Simple imo, it wasnt a contract year then and he wasnt really out to prove something. But just my $.02 One more thing, what if he has to come off the bench, maybe in the early going?? How is he going to handle that? We saw how it worked out, or didn't for that matter, w/ Iverson last year. And lastly if I may ask, what makes you think he'll stay within the "system" and would be willing to play off the ball and share the ball?
its also pretty sad that this thread. one of my first threads gets a low rating.. it is my opinion.. i made some valuable points. and this thread gets rated low like a bunch of crappy threads talking about whack stuff.
