The stress level on the board is sometimes on the level of road rage. I just can't seem to get why curse out a fellow member is good for anyone. We all just want to see the team succeed and hopefully they go all the way this season. Whether TMac is on board or for that matter a trade is made that involves other players so be it, its the Rockets team that we all root for anyways.
Are you kidding me? Because he has been scoring more lately he is playing selfish? That is an amazing concept.When he doesnt score alot, people like to complain, when he scores alot people think he is selfish? That is amazing. If Tmac didn't want to play "team ball" he wouldnt ever pass the ball. When plays are called out he follows them. Like when its a post play for Yao, Tmac gives him the ball, when it's penatrate and kick out, he does that. This topic is dumb IMO.
. Allow me to remind you what led up to that 22 game win streak, http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6218475.html Straight from both Fran and Rafer.
Yes he play very well without the ball, but looked gas late in the game. When he comes of screens his shoot look a lot better, to bad he don't have the explosion yet to finish strong, he blew or got block a lot because of lack of elevation, and blew 2 alley up dunks. but when he was playing early on the games before getting tire he was looking really impressive. But it doesn't help the team when Yao didn't play or play very out of sync in his first game after the bruise on his knee.
Tracy has never been fundamentally sound and doesn't know how to help the offense when he doesn't have the ball in his hands. It's the way he has learned to play basketball, with him being the focal point of the offense ever since his days in high school. His perception of team ball is deferring to his teammates. While dishing out high number of assists is fine and dandy in fantasy basketball, usually when this happens, the Rockets lose because he is not playing aggressive. The best way he can help the Rockets is by not deferring and playing aggressively with the ball. He's detrimental when he holds onto the ball and tries to play point guard, that's not his game. His game is attacking off the dribble, attacking at the high post, and attacking coming off screens. Tracy has to make quick decisions as soon as the ball touches his hands. Him trying to play isolation basketball especially when he is not 100% hurts the Rockets more than it helps.
That's true of most stars in the NBA. The NBA fundamentals have declined gradually over the years. Now it's more about raw talent and athleticism. Lebron and Kobe don't help their team if the don't have the ball. They don't set great screens and they don't cut hard to free up other players. Tracy sets up Yao in the post nicely and makes an effort to get him the ball whenever possible. He is good at reposting Yao.
That's ridiculous. Fran is incompetent when it comes to basketball. He doesn't know much more than the average poster here. Rafer can't shoulder the responsibility of being the quarterback of a team with championship aspirations so he hides behind the veil of "moving the ball". That's because he knows that if the ball keeps moving it's not going to find him too much and that way he doesn't feel the pressure of running an offense the same way a guard like Paul or D. Williams or Nash would. The reason the Rockets won 22 was the heart and inspiration of Dikembe Mutombo who anchored the defense and Tmac who we ran the offense through. It gave the Rockets a foundation and everybody sacrificed. All the scheme talk is bs. They basically played harder than anybody and they played together. You play hard when you have a common goal, last year that goal was defense. I also feel that the last 6 weeks all the talk of "insufficient body and ball movement" is code for "this team doesn't have an identity" and doesn't play good enough defense. Over the last 5 years the Rockets calling has been their defense. That's why they won 22 straight. Now Adelman is making offense his priority. That's why this team is struggling. We are at the same point where Phoenix was last year after they got Shaq. They went from High Octane to Diesel and they were inconsistent because they had to change their whole way of approaching basketball. I still think the Rockets--because of their personnel--have much more potential to be a great defensive team with Yao, Artest, Battier, Tmac, Chuck than being a great offensive team. This ball movement stuff is great, but let's not regurgitate and overuse Feigen, Blinebury and the rest of the sheep in the media. They are Adelman's mouthpiece. Nobody ever argued that ball movement is not good. The way you guys use it, you make it seem like Adelman has a monopoly on ball movement. Even if I were to accept the assumption that "ball movement" during the previous 12 games led to the 22 game streak, did the Rockets move the ball during the streak or were they dreaming about it?
would you please show some respect? how old were you when fran was the beat writer for the chronicle?
I prefer seeing him traded to a team I hate so he can ruin them from the inside. San antonio or utah are awesome places to ruin
I disagree. Kobe is probably the only current players who came out of high school that is fundamentally sound. His mechanics on his jump shot is so smooth, it's the same regardless where he is on the floor. His fadeway jumper and post up game is Jordan-esque. He can finish with both hands very effectively. Also, he can handle the ball extremely well in traffic and is able to contort his body to create contact and finish the play, things that McGrady was never great at even in his Orlando days. Tracy had the quickest first step in the league 3 years ago before all the injuries mounted up, and he still has one of the quickest first steps despite his balky knee, but what separates him from Kobe is that he doesn't have good change of direction after his first step. When Tracy drives, he usually heads in one direction, which is a reason why it's difficult for him to draw contact. Only Kobe, Lebron, Wade, CP3, and Parker can change direction and handle the ball in the paint well, so it's not really a knock against Mac. Tracy was the best player in the league when he was in Orlando. Most of his game thrived on his athleticism. He could jump out of the building and his jumper was unblockable because he got up so high. His jumper was always streaky and his mechanics were never perfect, but his athleticism and his ability to get his shot off whenever he wanted masked those deficiencies. Now, with all the injuries, Mac isn't what he used to be. This season, he can barely dunk the ball and his jump shot doesn't have the lift it used to have. So, those deficiencies and the lack of fundamentals become glaring weaknesses. In Tracy's defense, 99% of the current players in the NBA will have the same problems that Tracy's facing right now. The other 1% is Kobe Bryant, the best player in the world. Nothing to be ashamed of really, it's just a testament to the greatness of Kobe.
Good post Beachboys Its seems the team plays with GOOD VIBRATIONs when it plays team ball and everyone scores within the system. I wish they all could be CALIFORNIA Girls or MVPs but that's why the team cried HELP ME RONda so we can finally get past the first ROUND ROUND ROUND, I get AROUND. Maybe we can CATCH A WAVE of good team play and hope that one of our superstars didn't pack it in early for KOKOMO cause that's where we want to go, but after winning the championship.
