What it looks like to me is that Tracy is giving his team an opportunity to earn his trust and they are failing. Someone else on this team needs to show Tracy that they want this team to be successful as much as he does. I don't believe for one second Tracy hates this zone defense as much as it has been reported. I believe he enjoys being guarded by more than one player because no only does that mean he's a definite threat on offense/star player (which he always believed he was) but to score only increases his confidence/ego (which he seems to have an abundance of). As much as he passed the ball during that Minny game players' shots should have been falling. I think they are too comfortable with having last years scoring leader on their team/star player and they're not putting forth enough effort to shine while he's having issues. Forget, "Oh we have new players that have to adapt to each other"! When you got to the courts and pick players for your team you may not know them but you know you want to beat the other team. Simple! I picked this team as my "sleeper" team and I believe they will recover but the fix is not Grant coming back or Tracy having a "good" game. The key will be for these other players to have actions that speak: "Tracy, thanks for putting/keeping this team back on the map." "Tracy, thanks for winning us games." "Tracy, oh you feeling shi**y tonight, I'm ready to drop however many points or guard whoever so we'll get the W. "Tracy, f*** their defense, we'll run some plays that will get them off you." AND last but not least DOC WHERE ARE THOSE DAMN PLAYS?? AND MAKE SURE IF YOU HAVE THEM PLAYERS ARE RUNNING THEM CORRECTLY!! When I go on vacation or out of town for business I don't have people house-sitting that I don't trust. I've worked hard for those material things and sentimental things/gifts are priceless. Same concept with the Magic. This is Tracy's team and he wants to trust this team with running the plays, making their shots and a desire to win and they are coming up short. What's the use of having a Captain if there's no one on the ship?
I agree with you about the making him trust his teammates. He dishes to them, but they just don't make the shots. I also agree with you that I don't think that all just the zone. I think that Tmac just isn't in the groove and is just blaming the zone. I think he could beat it if he wants to. He just (to me) doesn't look like he wants to be out there playing, which leads me (and IceBreaker and Liberty) to believe that he is having a personal problem. I do think that Tmac needs to have a big game to snap out of the little slump though. He is in a slump though with how he's been shooting the basketball. It's horrible. He just is trying to get them to trust him too much. He drives down the middle of the lane and could shoot a layup, but passes it out to a wide open shooter, who then bricks it. I just want him to shoot the ball more when he drives.
Yeah I had a definite feeling that what he was going through was personal that's why I wrote "having issues". I saw the interview before the Minny game, shots of him in the locker room and that horrible smile/smirk on the bench and just felt he didn't want to be there because of something non-basketball related. Aside from all that and looking at the box tonight, Tracy had a "good game" and they lost. This goes back to my original point that the Captain has a bad crew. Maybe with the sunny weather in F L A players might still think it's summer and are slacking. Who knows?? Tracy is usually very honest and I anticipate within the next twenty-four maybe even twelve hours his thoughts (definitely negative and maybe positive) about his teammates. I'm thinking back to a report in the summer when Tracy mentioned he was not told about the Juwan Howard trade until much later or wasn't asked...something to that effect. I didn't believe him but now I'm starting to think maybe it was true. I'm also starting to think that maybe Tracy wishes he was at the courts and could pick and choose who should be on his team. Once again, the Magic are my sleeper team in the East(and it is early) but damn they are looking horrible. If the playoff race is tight as it usually is in the East then the Magic will have to credit it to their early season games (are these really games or freebies for the other teams??!!) and sorry play. Since they're playing like it's summer, they will surely be enjoying summer earlier than usual this year. "The Virgin Islands are beautiful in April." said Tim Duncan to Tracy McGrady during the 2003-2004 season.
I agree exactly with you. I noticed that too about the Minny game. Losing by 30 pts, Tmac's got a huge smile/smirk on his face. He just looked like he didn't want to be there. It's just when tmac starts to take over like he did through 3 quarters in the game last night, everyone just stands by and watches him. They don't try to do something.
Where can a team find heart? I guess I was wrong about the loss of Darrell. Tmac is more of an unspoken leader. Anyone think Andrew can step up and provide some spoken leadership for the team? He's a passionate guy (can't play 30 seconds without picking up a foul) Best candidate in my eyes. Shoot just about everyone else on the team is new this year.
Standing around and watching is a damn shame. I also thought with those comments Drew made ("I know where the basket is...") some weeks back that he'd be that spark for the Magic. Tracy's comments of showing his leadership with his play on the court isn't meaningful which is also a damn shame. Hopefully a teammate will step up, someone will take responsibility for this team's record and get the Magic some wins.
One of my comments earlier was: <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Asha11415:</div><div class="quote_post"> "Tracy, thanks for winning us games." </div> Earl knows about thanking his fellow teammates!! Why can't anyone on the Magic seem grateful?? "I think whenever you are an up-and-coming team and you have a game on national television, it is good to win," Boykins said. "If you make it to the playoffs, you will be on national television. Last year we won only 17 games. We have already won five, and I thank Carmelo Anthony for those games."
