Thats not really fair to t-mac---the heart and hustle team that overachieved it's way to 41 wins was largely broken up to make cap room for he and hill. And Hill. Oh boy. He leaves Detroit where he couldn't lead the team out of a paperbag and now Stackhouse is taking 'em places. What does that do for his rep? And his new team--Orlando--- needs a big man. The perfect guy for them is in D-Town and they traded him there--->Ben Wallace.
Funny thing is---he took leadership classes at some Florida college last summer. I wonder if he's frustrated---or these are just his true colors. You mean------he's RASHEED WALLACE?
If he can back up the talk, then there will be no dicussion. Everything he's ever claimed about himself on the court in the past has been proven to be true...so let's just watch game 4 and see how it turns out. As for Hornets vs Magic....the Hornets have an infinitely better squad around Davis than the Magic do around McGrady. Armstrong is slightly better than Wesley - but after that, it goes down fast. Mashburn has been out - but Miller has hardly played for the Magic either. Nailon/Lynch/Augmon is better (and more depth, obviously) than Monty Williams, and Brown and Campbell are lightyears ahead of Garrity in rebounding and postplay. McGrady has made his teammates better, considering the injuries they have faced over the past two seasons. Without him, they'd be down with the Bulls. You may not like the player for his comments or game, but give him the chance to prove himself right or wrong.
mfclark it wasn't a matter of him being right about winning -- it's his leadership "qualities" if you will .. He was an ******* in his comments to the media about his team. That's not a leader - HELL of a player, but one crappy leader..
TMAC was misquoted..Well they didn't use the entire quote on the ESPN AP Article. The Orlando Sentinel had the entire quote..its not as bad.. "I can't do this all by myself," McGrady said. "Baron has it easier. He has lots of help. Look at his team. Look at my team. He has guys that can score, that can rebound every night. Our guys have been sort of inconsistent at that. We're searching for guys who can rebound every night. But we're going to make this work." <b>"There's no question I'm the better player," McGrady said. "He is definitely one of the best, but he is not the best." </b> And today in the Florida Today.. "He didn't mean it to be critical, but the message could be: 'I need help. Guys, give me some help,' " Rivers said. "When he read what he said, his first thought was, 'Geez, what was I saying?' I have no doubt about that because he told me that. "But he's a great guy and a great teammate. If he wasn't, we might have a major problem here. But our players could care less because they know he's 22 and he says some things he shouldn't. They shake their heads all the time at some of the things he says sometimes." Also Davis said he would have done the same thing.. "If I was in his situation, I probably would have said the same thing."
Amazing... T-Mac didn't say any BS with what he said... If Barkley had said something like this, everyone here would be saying how much they love Barkley.
Fact: McGrady is probably the best all-around player in the league. Fact: McGrady has a huge ego. Fact: As stated earlier, if McGrady wanted to win, he would still be in Canada. His ego wouldn't allow it. Fact: He is better than Baron Davis, and it isn't close. Fact: The Hornets have more depth and will prevail.
2 reasons on the barkley comment. 1. Barkley rules. 2. he isn't a player right now so he can say stuff about other players, big difference. anyway, even if tmac meant every word, he's yound and will learn. whoever said something about not wanting him for the next decade, i'm pretty sure people aren't the same at 32 and 22. while i'm sure rivers was trying to do a little spin control, some of rivers analysis was true. maybe he was just asking for help. anyway, way too much being made of this. leadership is not wrapped up in a nice little sound byte. it's shown on the floor and for all i can tell, he has lead orlando every step of the way this season. plus, he helped me win my fantasy league so i can't get mad at him.
I disagree. At that time the Raptors didnt know what the future of Vince Carter will be, Antinio Davis was a question mark as well. Vince never told TMAC that he was gonna stay, if he did they did it would have increased their chances of keeping him. Also they didnt offer him the max the summer before, he said he would have signed(duh). Plus they tried to ship him to Philly for Larry Hughes. In Orlando hes in his hometown, hasn't even played with his side kick superstar, and in 2003 Orlando has room to add a Tim Duncan, Antinio McDyess or Jermanie O'neal. He made the right choice for himself.
I always thought he was the silent type too (guess i was wrong) But come on the guy is 22 years old, i think part of his comments just came out of frustration. I don't look at him any differently now than before he made the comments. Hopefully he'll learn from this mistake (it was a mistake to call out your teammates in public like that, even if it was the truth)
HA! I love it! Davis is going out and about to record another triple double on T-Mac's punk ass! Yeah, T-Mac...you're the better player that is about to be on summer vacation............................jackass!
C'mon McGuarantee! How can you guarantee a win when the guy you're guarding, who you are so much better than and is alot shorter than you, pretty much gets 3 times as many rebounds as you and almost twice as many assists as you?!!
Yeah, the so called second best player had a pretty good game. I'm not going to start , but does anyone still believe Francis is much better or has a higher upside than Davis? Maybe I should go to the clutchbbs and start so $hit.
KR, flat wrong. Barkley tried to help and not criticize fodder like Matt Maloney, Brent Price, Oliver Miller, etc. Huge difference from Tracy with how they treated lesser NBA players for the betterment of the team. Barkley might call out opponents, but he wouldn't do that with teammates he was playing with by and large. Even Doc River's said he shouldn't have said what he said and his team got pounded worse that any other game they played this series--it is obvious his teammates heard the message. On another note, though I still dislike Jazz fans and their team, Sloan, Malone and Stockton were all class yesterday. No whinning, b****ing, scapegoating, got to give them credit--they admited they were just beat by the better team.
Why isn't it fair to TMac? He knew that the roster was going to be depleted to create the cap space for him and Hill. If winning was the highest priority for TMac; he could have signed for less and given the Magic a chance to retain/acquire front court talent. Getting the Max was a higher priority, so his complaints about playing on a low talent team are just pointless whining. The Lakers had to move some players to create cap space for Shaq.........it took several years for the new supporting cast to come together and win. The Magic have plenty of draft choices, so they have the chance to get better, just not in the immediate future. Mango
Just media coverage/NBA trying to get a story. Another player does or says something that isn't liked by the majority.........earth-shattering. I'm probably a bit bias since Tmac is my favorite player, but he only spoke what any NBA fan already knows......media just found a new story to exploit............just like whenever M. Cuban makes some comment, it's on SportsCenter, FoxSports, and SI for weeks.
Ok here we go. Im defending tmac at every board possible. What Did you expect him to say ? hes your leader what did you expect him to do? say we may win if we keep it close? he was trying to syche himself up. Get under his team mates skin anything to get help he hasnt gotten all season. We are lucky to have even made the playoffs. Please don't hate on tmac for these comments. He's still learning.
T-mac can say whatever he wants but facts are facts the NEW ORLEANS Hornets are advancing and the Magic are now on summer vacation. My guess alot of his banther comes from his frustration ( hell he thought he would at least have Hill when he went to Orlando) and not the fact he truly despises his team mates. Sounds alot like the same things the residents of Charlotte have to say about the Hornets nowdays. Its not that they truly hate the Hornets or NO, but are frustrated at the whole situation, kind of a psychologicial defense. Just my opinion. All of that said I don't see Franchise running his mouth like this and the Rockets seem to have far more issues than the Magic. Unless you move them (Rockets) to the eastern confrence where I bet they would be at least the 6th or 7th seed.
Last I checked, it's still the Charlotte Hornets advancing. At least that's what NBA.com says. Now to the rest of the series.... TMac can say whatever he wants, sure, as long as he can back it up. Did the Magic win last night? No. Did he prove he's a better player than Baron Davis? He did this past season and his stat line is just as impressive as Baron's (in differing areas for each player), all while having less talent around him. Is Baron Davis a great player? Definately. He's one of the top points in the game today. But is Charlotte deep? Yes, especially with a healthy Mashburn. Their problems - backcourt depth - can easily be solved in the draft and they easily have the most talented roster in the East (nay, most complete roster) when healthy. The Hornets are a good team and as a Magic fan, all I could hope for was what happened (except game 4). If the ball bounces the other way a couple of times, the Magic could've swept the Hornets, or the Hornets swept the Magic - it was definately close. I, too, was peeved by McGrady's remarks, but there's nothing I can do about it except hope he backs them up. It'll be fun to watch both teams next season, hopefully fully healthy.
MEMO TO NBA PLAYERS: Guarantees are weak when you are on the verge of elimination. I don't even consider it bulletin board material anymore. If you guarantee a victory and then get eliminated, nobody is going to even care about it, and since you are going HOME, nobody is going to be around you to rub it in. Now what I'd like to see, is somebody guarantee that they'll win an entire series before game 1. THAT would be bulletin board material, but nobody would put themselves that far over the edge, which is why guaranteeing victories before you pack your bags for Cancun is gutless.
