after accquring T-Mac, and trading Stevie Franchise away, how will houston fare on the court and what will be the system? will it still center around the The Dynasty, or will T-Mac argubably the best scorer in the nba, take center stage. i think in order for houston to make it to the finals, T-mac has to realise this isnt solely his team anymore and dish the rock more often. yao muz continue his game and improve on defense. but still, good teams on paper can still self destruct, examples the lakers of the previous seasons, and the houston rockets of 1999
I just hope that Tmac doesn't F up and destroy the Rockets by trying to be the man.. cause he ain't the man no mo. At least not full time now. He actually has a team.
Tracy should be a nice fit for Yao. A fit. For Yao. If T-Mac learns how to occasionally give up the ball again, the team can be killer at halfcourt offence, and good at overall defence...
I think they will go deep into the playoffs this year and have a chance to be the Western conference champion. But they're ego's could also get in the way and they could just barely make the playoffs.
Definately a playoff contender in the West, what does worry me is they don't have much in the way of point guards. If Bobby Sura can make the transition smoothly, then they will be a very dangerous team, but if they have to rely on Charlie Ward, I don't see them going much further than last season. It all relies on McGrady and how he settles in, because we all know how unselfish Yao is, sometimes too much, and it will be easy for T-Mac to take advantage of that.
The Rockets will be a playoff team,and there's going more agressive basketball this season for the Rockets than last year.i see nothing but good things for the Rockets this up and coming season.
I dont know how well Tracy will fit in with the Houston system because when he came to Orlando he said he didnt want to be that one guy he wanted to be that one guy with another guy meaning he wanted to be the number one option, but he wont be that is generally what cost francis in the end in Houston the system van gundy placed which ran around Yao. He will let Tracy get his shots, but not 25-30 a game like T-mac would like and Tracy probably wont get the ball as much in clutch time unless they need a three. I will have to see how well the system goes, but they will very well be a playoff team hopefully for them they become the next shaq and kopbe without the egos.
I think we'll still be the same halfcourt, defensive-minded team that we were last year...we'll definitely have more fast break scoring opportunities with T-Mac and Sura on the break, but JVG likes forcing the defense to make decisions, so he'll play halfcourt ball...he's surrounded Yao and TMac with two 3-point assassins in Jim Jackson and Charlie Ward, and Juwan Howard is a great scorer/rebounder at the 4 spot...plus you've got some tempo boosters in Sura and Maurice Taylor off the bench...the Rockets will be the same in terms of concepts and ideals but they'll be a much more dangerous team than they were last season...
T-Macs scoring production will probally go down even if he plays a lot of minutes,a lot of his shots will have to go to Yao more often..so that makes me bealive his PPG will go down,the year Steve Francis was playing alongside Yao with Gundy there I think he was able to put up 20 5 and 5 numbers,when Gundy came his ppg went down to about 16ppg,but the Rockets did make the playoffs. So my point is Tracy Mcgrady needs to realize there is a good chance that his number will have to go down a little(scoring wise).And I dont know if T-Mac is going to want it to be that way,so maybe if he isnt happy with the number of shots he is getting and if the Rockets dont win he might opt out of his contract next season?
McGrady has said he'd defer to Yao if that's what the coach wants. I don't think that'll be a problem.
Remember Yao plays very few minutes, 30 minutes career avg. T-mac plays about 40 so hes gonna get a few minutes to himself. When they bench Yao, it's T-mac time.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting slugzilla:</div><div class="quote_post">Remember Yao plays very few minutes, 30 minutes career avg. T-mac plays about 40 so hes gonna get a few minutes to himself. When they bench Yao, it's T-mac time.</div> I expect (hope) Yao to play more minutes next year. Maybe 34 minutes a game.
I hope Yao gets a big ego just because this duo just makes me sick. I don't think a duo of T-Mac and Yao is nearly as fun as Shaq and Kobe. T-Mac already has a huge ego and one little fight could ruin it as Gundy does'nt look like he'd be able to fix it up again. Anyway on topic, I think T-Mac will start complaining he doesn't get enough shots or some crap like that. T-MAc is not going to help Yao develop at all. Even Francis would of been bettter. THe Rockets should just build for the future. T-Mac will still get his 25 PPG,but Yao PPG will get lower. like 17 PPG or something.
I don't think there will be a problem with egos.. TMac could have chosen to play for any team, but he told Orlando he wanted to go to Houston. Why? Because Yao takes pressure off him offensively, so he won't kill his back again this season trying to do too much on every possession. I think he'll definitely appreciate what Yao will bring to his game - which is, easier shots and a big target to pass to. He knew coming in that this was Yao's team and Van Gundy wants the offense to work inside-out. He knows what he's getting into so I don't think there will be a problem. And apparently he's working out this offseason like he's never worked out before - so watch out
First of all I like T-Mac. I followed him closely as a young player up in Toronto and I liked his maturity up there. He has Butch Carter as a coach and I think they got along well and T-Mac learned alot. His career in Orlando was just doomed from the time they discovered Grant Hill would't be around to help. Every time I watched an Orlando game, it was almost expected he do everything offensively. I remember some games where his back was sore but he felt he "had" to be out there because nobody else could fill the hole. This trade is a gift from god. He'll come out next year and be re-freshed and ready to start over again, and not be doing it by himself.
i think rockets coach jeff van gundy will focus his offense on yao ming, not tracy mcgrady--although mcgrady might just score more points than yao. van gundy will retool his offensive sets so that yao will always get his touches in order to take advantage of yao's underrated passing skills off the double team. it'll be a grind-it-out, ball-control type of offense like in his days at new york. boring, mind-numbing basketball is jeff van gundy's calling card.
