Comments on: On McGrady – Part 5

By: Former Houston Rocket Tracy McGrady returns to Toyota Center | Red94 | essays and musings on the nba and houston rockets

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 16:05:39 +0000

[...] know how he’ll be received but I will applaud. I have not forgotten the memories he gave us, carrying this team until his body could no longer allow it. I have not forgotten the sense we felt that a game was [...]

By: Bcrockets16

Bcrockets16 — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:42:00 +0000

t mac could have been the best player in history if he had a team and didnt complain about stuff. he was god for the rockets and they may never see a player like him again. R.I.P T MAC much love

By: Game review of the Houston Rockets win over the New York Knicks | Red94 | essays and musings on the nba & houston rockets

Sat, 01 May 2010 02:31:42 +0000

[...] of proverbial bus-throwings is just too rich. No further comment on this. I have made my stance on McGrady quite [...]

By: Rockets 116, Knicks 112 | Red94 | essays and musings on the nba & houston rockets

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:36:15 +0000

[...] of proverbial bus-throwings is just too rich. No further comment on this. I have made my stance on McGrady quite [...]

By: Kade

Kade — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 08:11:26 +0000

As I alluded to before, check out his 4th quarter stats. A player who leads his team and can't get out of the first round ever falls on him. No excuses.

By: VBG509

VBG509 — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 06:49:58 +0000

I meant, KG was always on a terrible team except 1 season and he's not considered a loser.

Game 6 against the Mavs before the 40 point loss. Win and stay alive and T-Mac played brilliant.

Game 7 against Jazz in 07 he played well. 29 points, 13 assists, 3 blocks.

Game 6 against Jazz in 08 he played solidly with 40 points again.

By: Kade

Kade — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:38:25 +0000

I don't remember TMAC stepping up in a final game or elimination game to send them into the second round of the playoffs. Ever. In fact in many cases he was a ghost on both sides of the ball. As for KG, they also had Ray and PP and KG was a winner for one season with two hall of fame players with him.

By: VBG509

VBG509 — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:24:58 +0000

But he's stepped up his game in the playoffs. This is like blaming pre Boston KG for sucking because his team sucked.

Now Garnett is suddenly a winner because he is surrounded by talent.

By: Kade

Kade — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:11:26 +0000

As I alluded to before, check out his 4th quarter stats. A player who leads his team and can't get out of the first round ever falls on him. No excuses.

By: VBG509

VBG509 — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:49:58 +0000

By: Kade

Kade — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:38:25 +0000

By: VBG509

VBG509 — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:24:58 +0000

But he's stepped up his game in the playoffs. This is like blaming pre Boston KG for sucking because his team sucked.

Now Garnett is suddenly a winner because he is surrounded by talent.

By: Kade

Kade — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:59:31 +0000

Excellent RH

By: Kade

Kade — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:59:08 +0000

I don't buy the unlucky part at all. We are talking about a player who on more than one occasion (three?) has had a chance to eliminate the other team and advance to the second round and couldn't. We can make any excuse about any player but the truly great ones simply win when it counts. TMac has never done that in his career.

By: VBG509

VBG509 — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:43:20 +0000

I think this shows how unlucky T-Mac is.

In 2002-2003 they changed the first round to 7 games.

T-Mac and Orlando go up 3-1 against the number 1 seed before losing. If that happened a year ago, T-Mac would be a legend for upsetting the top seed alone. But oh well, he sucks cauz he lost right?

Same season, regular season PER. T-Mac's was over 30. 2nd highest for people who played half the season at least was Darell Armstrong at 14.7. 15 is the league average. Except for T-Mac, his whole team was below average. Yet somehow he led the team into the playoffs.

By: rahat_huq

rahat_huq — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:26:50 +0000

kade – I have a piece on Yao coming sometime in the next few weeks.

By: Random Musings :) « In-Vaid-Ing the Blogosphere

Random Musings :) « In-Vaid-Ing the Blogosphere — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:39:22 +0000

[...] As an avid Rockets fan since childhood (Hakeem being the catalyst for that decision), it was bittersweet in seeing T-Mac traded. Rahat Huq wrote an excellent piece with parting thoughts on the trade as it relates to T-Mac and the Rockets: Link. [...]

By: drae110790

drae110790 — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:21:20 +0000

Dam most oof you guys are right. Tracy McGrady was and still is my favorite player but it just sad at how unfortunate his career has been. I always wanted hum to win big or at least get out of the 1st round something to atleast keep him motivated to keep working hard but none of it has happen. I hate watching him play now. I want him to break out so bad and just play like he used to but i know he can not. His stats been decreasing ever since he reached houston. Now he's in new york and im scared he won't even be in the nba much longer… Its just really sad, people hate him, people down him, he can't win, he's losing skills. I wish i could know how t-mac feels. Despite all the negative i think he will always be my fav till he retires..

By: Kade

Kade — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:34:34 +0000

I have seen TMac enough to know that leaders, clear cut stars, there job is to take over games in critical playoff games in the 4th quarter, not pass your shots off to lesser tier players. Win or lose. The problem is that with TMac and Yao, both are great players but in terms of having “IT” I just don't see it. They can't be the alpha dog / ride on my shoulders to the next round kind of players. I wish they were but they are not. The Utah series was horrible, in fact they were up on both years and only needed one win to close them out. They didn't. If they never had a chance from the beginning that's understandable but when you are up and able to close out a team a player deemed one of the best / a true star needs to be there to ensure he gets to the next round.
I have no issues with a player speaking honestly but if you can't back it up you come off looking like a phony. You talk the talk then you need to show your dominance in the series closing out games in the 4th. No passing off to Sura, no absent on defense, just back up your words. That was one of my biggest issues with him. He would talk about “his team” then act like a role player when we needed him most.
I'll take a canned reply talk from a player who simply dominates when it counts over a player who is candid but doesn't back up his words.

rahat_huq – I would love to start a discussion on Yao. What are your thoughts about him coming back? I know Morey has said on podcasts that once he gets back they will be much better but are they secretly assuming he'll get injured again and molding their team in the highly likelihood than he'll not stay injury free? We are talking about a career 20/10 player and while that's solid that's not really the kind of stats a super star player should have given his size. Heck, over the last few seasons David Lee has 20/10 so why isn't he considered a better player? I would rather take him on than worry about when Yao goes down again. I hope I'm wrong but I'll be shocked if Yao can ever play an entire season – playoffs w/o getting injured again.

By: zk

zk — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:18:20 +0000

oh, and he only lost 1 playoff series that he should have won, '07 against utah. every other series his team was severely outmanned, don't let the overachievements of the dallas series and magic v. pistons series fool you. mcgrady's team was clearly not as good.

funny how when kobe blew a 3-1 lead against the suns, he was praised for nearly lifting a bad team to a huge upset. t-mac has been killed for the 3-1 detroit loss for years. yes, he didn't help himself by speaking too soon about being out of the first round. but really, why does it bother anyone that he speaks honestly? i enjoy listening to his candid interviews much more than the canned responses 98% of the guys in the league give

By: ZK

ZK — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:12:55 +0000

great post. only thing i would add is that he could still recover from microfracture and help a good team win a ring next year. of course, these last 2 games with the knicks don't bode well for that prediction, but he still has a shot…

By: Kade

Kade — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:40:05 +0000

Am I the only one who saw T-Mac vanish in playoff 4th quarters? What I disliked about him was that he would always say “my team” yet in crucial playoff games he would get his stats then come 4th quarter would not only pass up his shots but fail to cover his player defensively. It's a shame but what separates him from the likes of Kobe, Hakeem, etc. is heart. To not win one playoff series in his career speaks volumes. Too bad he didn't get a chance to play with an alpha dog true leader with the Rockets which is his natural fitting order, just like Pippen was to Jordan.

By: Erod

Erod — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:33:45 +0000

Exactly!!! Tracy McGrady has been scapegoated for as long as he's been here. He was never surrounded by a good supporting cast in the beginning, and then when he was, there were injuries (to either him or Yao or both). Rockets had a lot of bad luck during these past years. I think the egotistical T-Mac came out because he got tired of everybody blaming him for everything when in fact his stats were pretty damn good most of the time. I know the “W” matters in the end, but it's surprising how he gets praised for a good game because of his stats when they win, but when they lose and he has comparable stats he somehow didn't play well.

Tracy McGrady – A victim of circumstances IMO.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:11:26 +0000

It's a shame those early Rockets teams didn't have better supporting casts. That was the real downfall of those squads.

To think what McGrady (3-4 years ago) and a healthy Yao Ming could do with what Morey has built … with players like Scola, Battier, Ariza, Landry, Hayes, Brooks and Lowry. Truly a Championship caliber team.

By: Texas

Texas — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:46:41 +0000

I think Red94 is on with this one.

"The McGrady tragedy is that once the cavalry did arrive, his body had completely failed him."

Love him or hate him, I think we could all possibly/maybe agree that T-Mac did have to play through some unfortunate situations.