I feel like the board generally just doesn't like TMac. Back when we momentarily had him on our team from the Houston trade, people were already calling shenanigans saying he would be a cancer and this and that. This is the hate I'm talking about. Personally, I like TMac.
I think there's an obvious concern about McGrady's willingness to be a role player rather than be the #1 or #2 guy on his team, and McGrady himself said he didn't want to come to Sacramento (despite the fact that he was benched in Houston) while the deal was being worked out. If he doesn't want to be here, then it's a bad idea to try to woo him in.
I for one think TMac still has a lot left to produce. He got a solid amount of playtime in NY, and he produced well enough, especially having been so unconditioned.
In New York, McGrady shot .389 from the field and .242 from three. His scoring rate (PPG), his scoring efficiency (TS%), his effective field goal percentage, his free throw rate, his defensive rebounding rate, and his steal rate were the worst of his career. His turnover rate was the highest of his career. His win shares per 48 plummeted from his career average of 0.159 to a miserable 0.018. He had three 20-point games out of 24 played, so he was essentially a volume scorer who was not scoring. Conditioning or no conditioning, this really isn't "well enough", it's quite poor, and it suggests to me that he is done. You're free to think his New York numbers suggest he has a lot left, but you won't get me to agree.
Are you implying that he is so bad that you wouldn't even spend the vet minimum on him (isn't that like around exactly a million dollars?). I believe even Pooh Jeter, someone who I still haven't heard of is making around $500,000.
At this point, I would even rather have him starting over Garcia if he was willing to be a role player, which I believe he is.
Well, for still not having heard of Pooh Jeter, you spelled his name right, so you're off to a good start! In answer to the question, no I would not sign McGrady for the vet minimum. For a bench guy I'd much rather go after someone like Kyle Weaver, who plays good perimeter D and will know he's a deep bench guy than McGrady. You believe he's ready to be a role player but I don't see that kind of maturity out of him. Remember, this is a guy who went out and had microfracture surgery done on his knee in defiance of the Houston Rockets' team doctor, and without telling the organization until after he had done it. This is a guy who was benched by the player-friendly Rick Adelman while claiming he was perfectly healthy to the media, a claim that appears to have been false after his poor performance in New York. We don't need to invite locker room drama to add a player who clearly cannot be a part of our future. When we added Webber, we knew things might not be smooth, but we knew he could be an all-star for years to come. McGrady has a different career trajectory, and he's not for us. In fact, the idea that he
might start over Garcia, simply because he has the name recognition, is one further reason not to want him around. It sounds like it's all moot if he's going to Detroit, but I don't think we dodged a bullet. I doubt we ever considered him in the first place.
