A message from a die-hard Orlando fan

[Esko]

Now i'm sure nobody here wants to hear something from a fan of a team that is playing the best basketball right now (chuckles) but look, i think you guys are being hard on your team. Houston has been absolutely banged up all year, and that should come as no surprise. I think their starting lineup changes almost every night, if im not mistaken. but as well as an orlando fan, my favorite all time player is tmac. i've watched him my whole life, i know when he's feelin it, i know when he's not.

so i also know the frustration of watching this guy not school and entire defense and go in for the dunk like the good ol' days. but let's face it, he lost a step. he lost a step after 1 year in houston. you can tell it's just not there anymore. but i do agree, i've never seen him be so openly disgusted with his team's play. at least in orlando he would get the job done without caring but now, i think he's starting to realize that his natural talents will not be enough. he has to work harder than ever before and it's clear he doesn't want to.

but none of this matters. none of it.

the season was blown back in the beginning of the year, i believe the rockets were maybe 4-1, or so. i was watching espn and i saw tmac in an interview with stephen a. smith. of course, tmac had some swagger about him, talking about how good this team will be with another scorer like ron artest, talking about how houston will be a top seed and this should be the year they finally get out of the first round. he said things that i thought i would never hear out of a professional athlete's mouth. it was at this moment, i knew the rockets were going to have a rough year. in no way shape or form should a leader of a team, especially somebody like tmac who's known to have his difficulties at times, pretty much guarantee how good a team will be just because of an addition of one player. i can't imagine what was going through his head, but i knew it was not the right mentality to lead a team to the championship. his commercials, his interview with stephen a., all of it was leading towards another meltdown come playoffs.

so now, what to do? personally, i've always thought this is mcgrady's team. it's his offense, it always will be his offense when he's on the floor. so it's no shock that when mcgrady struggles, his offense will as well. it's a shame too, because mcgrady and yao certainly have what it takes to get them to the finals, but perhaps adelman doesn't see it in mcgrady, and mcgrady has almost admitted defeat, half way through the season.

but as fast as a season can downturn, it can also go up in the right direction again. as bad as tmac has been playing, as bad as the injuries have been, look, they are 21-13. 8 games above .500! that is an amazing record for having only 1 consistent player in yao ming.

if the rockets are going to do anything this year, it's going to be with mcgrady. that's just how it is. so if you plan on trading this guy anytime soon, don't expect anything from this team come playoff time. it's tmac's team, he plans to shoulder the load, i just don't know if he wants to in the type of offense he's in.

[TMACFORMVP]

Agreed with everything, trading McGrady as bad as he is, translates to rebuilding, because we'll get nothing positive in a trade for him. I do disagree with you saying his comments on the Artest deal foreshadowed anything though. What else was he supposed to say? "Yeah Artest is a nice addition, but I still don't know what to expect." He was expressing optimism on a trade that was expected to take us to take us to the upper echelon like most analysts had predicted.

But the McGrady situation is more than that, he's complained about the lack of touches in the offense, doing absolutely nothing on the court when he gets the ball. He's not mentally tough enough to lead us where we want to go and I don't think that will change. It's not the 2-10 performances, the statline he puts up that irks the fans, it's his attitude. Lot of fans quit on McGrady last night, because it looked as if he quit on the team too. He was standing at halfcourt doing nothing to get involved in the offense, didn't hustle back when Moon was on a break-away and seemed to try to send a message that he didn't care about the team, and some change had to happen.

It's sad, I don't know what to believe really. I used to love McGrady, the guy did no wrong, was one of the ELITE players in the NBA, the only wings in the league that had any argument to claim they were better was Kobe, Wade, and LeBron. All of whom are set for careers to finish as the top 30 to have ever played the game (Kobe, LeBron, top 10). He's never played as hard as some players, but he still impacted the game, yesterday, and other games this season, he's been a LIABILITY on the court. It used to be when T-Mac was just on the court, created a positive impact no matter what he's doing. What do I think, is he done?

No, he's not done per say, physically he's lost some, obviously, but he can still be that all-star wing player in the league. Maybe not the elite wing he used to be, but he's shown this season, that he can still be that 20/5/5 player in the league, something only very few can still do (LeBron, Kobe, Wade, JJ, Roy, Carter). But I'm not questioning his ability, it's the mental aspect of the game, he lets things get to him, and is extremely passive. It's rare that he even puts 50% into the game these days, that's what has to change. As flawed as Adelman's system is, it's McGrady's mentality that needs to change, that cockiness you listed at the top, that's exactly what he has to get back, the one that felt he was the best player when he stepped onto the floor and PLAY like that. Truth is nobody knows what's going to happen, we'll see as the season goes on and go from there.