Comments on: In defense of Tracy McGrady

By: frankie d

frankie d — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 07:44:33 +0000

again, wrong.
while you were right about me being a pistons fan, you are totally incorrect about me not being a pistonpowered fan.
the fact is that i read the site routinely, often agree with what is posted, but i sometime disagree, especially when the subject turns to mcgrady and stats.
when i disagree, i’m inclined to express that disapproval, while i most times do not post something when i agree.
i definitely appreciate the work done here and if i wasn’t a fan i wouldn’t read the site regularly and get such pleasure out of irritating the various writers like you and dan.

By: mikebass14

mikebass14 — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 03:36:51 +0000

I never liked T-Mac’s game, probably because I only started to watch him when he played on the Rockets and he seemed to take a lot of difficult/bad shots. My emotional reaction to him has also been negative because I live in China and whenever a guy tries some ridiculously difficult one on three maneuver, misses, and seems proud of himself anyway for trying, I privately blame McGrady. That said, I’m all for liking players even if they aren’t model workers, all the more so if they lead admirable private lives.I liked Sheed, I will always love Antoine Walker, and he even has a distinctly un-admirable private life (though I’ve heard that he’s a sweet guy, which came through on tv. Just no discipline).
But I think it’s fine to enjoy a player’s game/talent, and admire/like them for their personality and off-court activities, and at the same time admit that they could have worked harder. Your points about the rosters he played on and the value of his speaking up about Darfur are taken, and it’s all good to defend what you like about McGrady and say the good things he did outweigh his shoddy work ethic, but don’t fault Morey and Van Gundy for speaking the truth about it. They didn’t even say anything about winning titles, they just said that with the mental and physical talent he had he could have been a lot better. How hard you work at your job is not sensitive private information. Obviously Morey and Van Gundy preferred having a lazy McGrady to not having him. They weren’t saying that he is a bad basketball player or person, but working hard is working hard, and being lazy is being lazy and there’s nothing wrong with calling it like it is.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 03:30:20 +0000

Again, I think Morey is a fantastic GM and Van Gundy is a solid coach. I just don’t think McGrady is a good example of a player who didn’t live up to his talents. Injuries certainly robbed him, but he was one of the best players in the league when he was healthy. Just because they thought he could’ve been better doesn’t mean he underachieved.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 03:28:37 +0000

He is a Pistons fan. Just not a PistonPowered fan.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 03:28:21 +0000

No one is undeserving of criticism when you blow a 3-1 series lead, for sure. But the dude averaged 31.7 points/6.7 boards/4.7 rebounds/2.0 steals per game in that series and shot 45 percent. The fact is, Orlando was the worst playoff team that year and Detroit was the best team in the East. McGrady put them on the bring of winning a series they really had no business being in. They certainly collapsed, and his comment was certainly dumb, but hey, it happens. The better team won that series.

"by the way, what superstars did the pistons have when they beat orlando?"

Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups were both top five players at their respective positions statistically that season.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 03:21:24 +0000

I don’t think Morey and McGrady were purposely trying to bash McGrady. In fact, I think they both like him. I just think, if you’re point is some players don’t realize their full potential, there are much, much better examples to use than McGrady.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 02:45:40 +0000

One of the better what-ifs in the NBA was when Phil and Shaq tried to push a Kobe for McGrady trade in 2003. But Buss sided w/Kobe leading to Shaq’s trade and Phil leaving. Beyond what would have happened in LA,Kobe would have likely forced a trade to Phoenix that summer(where McGrady forced one to Houston).
What kind of numbers would Kobe have put up under D’Antoni?

McGrady’s Play-Off lack of success is two-sided. He had some really bad teams,bad luck(Juwan Howard going down w/heart problems just before the Dallas Series,leaving Ryan Bowen as the starting PF!,Luther head going 0-for a whole Series against Utah,Hunter twice fumbling away balls under basket against Detroit late when game was tied,last Series against Utah w/Yao out and Alston missing 2 1/2 games w/ankle injury-and team lost all three). OTOH,there were 3 Series that offered multiple opportunities for him to take over and win the Series and it didn’t happen.
To be fair to Morey,he wasn’t the GM thru McGrady’s first few yrs in Houston. Once he got to Houston Morey has steadily improved team,to point he has a perfect supporting cast,just no star.

By: DAGURU

DAGURU — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 02:06:51 +0000

Please, listening to Van Dummy(which some of us called him when he coached my Knicks) on tv, shows that he talks too much and recklessly.He is even worse as a commentator than he was as a coach ok.The last time my team went to the finals in 1999 was in spite of him,he wanted to slow it down,even though our team was better suited to run.He also almost refused to play Camby at first because he was mad management traded him for Oakley without his blessing,he only got the job because Don Nelson wanted to have the team focus on Anthony Mason instead of Ewing and Ewing got Nelson fired and told them to hire Da Dummy,Ewing has a job with the Dummys for life if he wants,he’s also a good big man coach..Da Dunce-y also staged a him or our GM Grunfeld had to go,so because it was late in the season management sided with him,He showed back then he’s a snake. So the players decided to run on their own and when it was successful he couldnt do anything.HE SUCKS OK.He thinks basketball should come first in life.I remember last year ABC did something on Vince Carter and how he built a drug rehab center because his brother had a drug problem and he wanted to help him and the snake Van Gumby no more than 5 minutes later came on and talked foul about Vince.Maybe his, the coach has to call every play, slow down ,grind it out approach drained TMAC and his team.The Big Van dummy sucks as a coach ,that’s why Morey fired him and brought in Adelman,because he knew that coaching style was killing his team.And all we ever hear is how futurisitc Morey is but his teams are nothing great.It’s funny Da Dummy talks about TMAC’s lack of desire but we in NY remember Jeffy quitting on the team like 20-30 games into the season.It seems like he and Mark Jackson get paid by the word and they both say so many stupid things,which is killing Jackson’s chance to get a head coaching job,who would hire him off his tv work.Bottom line TMAC is more successful at what he does in basketball and in life than Morey and Da Dummy combined and has more bank.How TMAC always says Da Dummy was his best coach I dont get,maybe he forgot about Doc Rivers,was coach of the year I believe with Tmac who has a ring and would coach circles around stupid Van Dummy. I guess its the old their ice is colder mentality.Glad I ran into your article from ESPN,keep up the good work.

By: Joe Schlmoe

Joe Schlmoe — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 01:14:08 +0000

I’m OK with the premise that McGrady is a “good guy”, and his talent/career was robbed by injuries. But he’s made his share of bonehead moves and/or comments. On top of that when you accept a “Max” contract, you have a responsibility to be “The MAN”. He’s not the only one not to live up to that very high standard, but it is what it is.

We heard from his Rocket ex-employers, let’s take a poll from the Orlando area to get their opinion of his tanking (again, he’s not the only one to do that, or be accused of that).

All and all, I’m glad that he has had some good moments with the Pistons this year. If nothing else, to show the rest of the league that he can change, and he does have something left.

By: wowzer

wowzer — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 00:13:09 +0000

Frankie is not even a Pistons fan. my guess he is a bitter YOF and Rockets fan