Yao Ming: Tracy McGrady Needs Sacrifice to Adapt to Systems

It's amazing to see some of the posters here making a big deal of this article. IMO it's because they hate to really see this is Yao's team and not Mcgrady's. Facts are facts and whether they where Yao's exact words or not, they where true. Mcgrady needs to fit in too R.A. offense, and if anyone can't see that team has played better without Mcgrady is blindly in love with Mcgrady. This is Yao's team and has every right to call it the way he See's it. Some have called Yao arrogant, I've even seen one poster call him a Communist, but I tell you what, saying "it's on me' or "I can turn it on any time", now that's arrogant. How about quiting on your team? What does that say about you? I hope Mcgrady comes back healthy and plays within the system. I hope that Mcgrady makes me eat my words about him, but I won't be holding my breath. Sometimes looking at the past will help you see the future.

 

Absolutely TMac needs to fit into this team rather than the team fit around him. Personally I don't see any problem with that happening.

 

so are you saying that since he became a superstar years back he lost trust on hist teammates?

 

Not quite ... jopatmc pretty much captured it perfectly. The point is that T-Mac is used to having everything run through him, because that's how it has always been with the Rockets prior to Adelman. He has always been the only person on the team other than Yao who can create offense or set up teammates for buckets. One of the more interesting stats about T-Mac is that he has had one of the highest usage rates in the league over the past couple of years. The injury to T-Mac has had the effect of forcing him to watch from the sidelines while the role players learn to run the offense by themselves.

Now the ball doesn't have to be in his hands all the time anymore, and the offense does not have to run through him. The issue of "trust" becomes much less of a factor because now he's a beneficiary of the offense rather than a primary creator. If you will, think of it as T-Mac becoming a role player of sorts. He is likely still going to be the team's top scorer, but the offense does not revolve around him anymore.

 

I really enjoy your takes, but there is a big question in this one: Will Tracy actually become that role player? I don't believe he is going to accept the ball not going through him.

What I bolded above would be the ideal situation, but I highly doubt it happens.

Rafer has been out of his mind going to the rack, scoring on weaknesses in transition defense, and overall running the offense well. When Tracy is in, Rafer dribbles the ball up the court, and gives it to him. Tracy dribbles, runs a pick and roll, and doesn't really run the offense.

 

That's what we're all waiting so eagerly to find out. That's what this whole concept of "buying in" that the coaches have been talking about is. Like I said in another thread, the responsibility is on the coaches to get T-Mac to buy into the system. When I say "role player", it's not about reducing T-Mac's significance or even necessarily making him give up his scoring/passing ability. T-Mac can do all the things he has the talent to do and excel at them -- within the system. It can be done. It only makes the team that much better. He can still have 47-50 pt scoring nights. He can still post triple doubles.

The important thing is that the system is running, and that we don't revert to the old ways of everybody camping out on one spot and watching T-Mac do his thing. As long as everyone keeps moving, cutting, setting screens, rolling to the basket and grabbing offensive rebounds, we don't have a problem. In fact, those things should make Tracy's life even easier as much as he makes other people's lives easier, when you think about it.

 

I never gave a **** for news from sina.com. All trash.

 

T-Mac doesn't like getting upstaged. It's on me-Mac is all about being the "MAN". He said this stuff in Orlando, he said it in Houston. He sulks when the team is losing or he doesn't get his way. But Yao has called him out. Now it really is on him! It's on him to adapt. It's on him to pass the ball. It's on him to make the hard cuts.

 

Good post. But in a quote from the Yahoo article, it makes it seem that Tmac isn't going to completely buy into the system:

It's incredible to think that he would still have this kind of mentality even after the progress this team has made to learn Adelmen's system. EVERYONE on this team has adapted their style of play to fit this team, and we've seen the benefits so far. Is Tmac's ego so big that he can't realize this and that he must make changes to his game as well? There's no doubt that he can fit perfectly into the system, but he has to be willing to.

 

I just think a lot is lost in translation. I've heard Chinese fans say some of it does not sound as casutic or forthcoming in Chinese.

I am not Chinese. I cannot verify this.

 

Yao does have the will, but he is a big stiff. His physical attributes are the roots of his problems.

 

Yao is in no place to call out Tracy on this......Without Tracy, this team is not going anywhere. Damn, since when Yao becomes so arrogant?

 

Just a reminder, role players are role players because they are not inconsistent. Otherwise, they would be stars. I don't think the rockets' winning will last long without Tmac. I believe it is the coaches and GM want Tmac to come back soon, not just Tmac himself.

BTW, last year when Yao was injured, Deke and JH step up. But you need to remember Deke and JH were former all stars. Even like that, they couldn't insist too long time. Actually, before Yao came back, the rockets start to lose games.

 

And without Yao, this team would be an even weaker version of the Orlando Magic of the McPippen era. I love the fact that Yao is calling McPippen out. It's about time that someone puts that little biatch in his place.

 

Like I said in that other thread, given his history of foot-in-mouth disease, I'm more inclined to think it's just another case of T-Mac being a great player but a horrible politician (he just might be the anti-Battier). He doesn't ever seem to know how to fashion his words and communicate effectively without eliciting some backlash ... he probably meant something more like "guys are going to be getting many more wide-open shots because of the defensive attention I attract when I'm in the game", which is true even if he's playing within the system. I wouldn't read too much into it. It's the coaches' job to make sure he is properly re-integrated into the offense, and we'll have to read more from what he actually does on the court than what he says and how we want to interpret it.

Heck, the other day some reporter asked him a theoretical question about if he had stayed back in Orlando and ended up with Dwight Howard, and before you knew it the whole sports world had labeled him a malcontent.

 

It is too bad! I cannot edit my own post.

 

Good point. I think Tmac wants to win. We all saw how disappointed he was after the Utah series. He wanted to win badly. That emotion if not meshed well with new system could be very bad, but if it also will help him reintergrate into the team after he sees what other players can do. In many occassions, Tmac had expressed his disappointment of his teammates outside Yao, so definitely the lack of trust is there.
The other thing is that Tmac is a smart guy. He is not stubborn. That in a way is a good thing. However, that also translates into lack of killer instinct or warrior mentality IMO.

 

Or the roots of his susess. He is a limited basketball player, not necessarily a problem prone player like Shawn Bradley, agree?

 

It's on me ...
I can impose my will on this game ...
When he shot 1-10 in a quarter, he said: "we didn't shoot well".

Since day one T-Mac is so arrogant and couldn't pass first round.

 

Yao is not a big stiff. Looks at his stats and compare them KG's first 4-5 years.

I do agree that Yao's physical attributes has limitations. But you can build around Yao with good supporting players.

With someone who thinks he can take over, thinks he is the leader, but also quit easily and is no longer that consistent, it would be hard to build around him. Because when the leader quits, other players will follow.