Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 9:15 am  |  95 responses

What’s Next for T-Mac?

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

As you’ve likely heard by now, Tracy McGrady’s relationship with the Houston Rockets has soured, perhaps to the point of no return.

T-Mac’s employer sent him home for the weekend, disactivating the once co-franchise player for two games. There’s no telling if and when he’ll suit up for the Rockets again.

The Rockets’ über-careful plan of playing him extremely limited minutes (likely out of fear that he’ll tweak or break something else) isn’t sitting well with McGrady, so they’ve decided the best course of action is to not play him any minutes at all.

From the Houston Chronicle:

McGrady, a 6-8 guard/forward, was told Saturday morning he will sit out the weekend back-to-back against the Nets and Cavaliers and was given permission Saturday afternoon to return to Houston from New Jersey. The Rockets host New Orleans on Tuesday.

“I’m a player, man,” McGrady, 30, said. “I don’t make these decisions. I just abide by whatever they bring to me. That’s the plan. I’m not going to argue and fight with them — just run with it. I felt it was time (to increase the routine of playing seven to eight first-half minutes). “I’m not going to cause any confusion or confrontations. As a player, that’s what I felt. They obviously feel different. That’s what I have to roll with.”

It’s very likely that Daryl Morey and the rest of the braintrust in Houston is working the phones and emails very hard to try and find a trade partner for the former scoring champ. McGrady is clearly no longer in the long-term picture for the Rockets.

It would be ideal for both sides if Tracy found a new home, and soon, but that’s obviously no guarantee. And if that doesn’t happen, things will be tense and awkward in Houston for a while.

UPDATE: McGrady has officially asked for a trade, and Morey appears ready to try and make that happen, beginning by granting T-Mac an indefinite leave of absence. The Houston Chronicle has the latest.—Ed.

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  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    Have they given up on T-Mac? It’s not like he didn’t play well when healthy in Adelman’s system. The Rockets of now have a really solid supporting cast stepping up as centerpieces. Add T-Mac to that and you have a contender. Why not at least play him some to show prospective buyers that he isn’t damaged goods?

  • Buschfiya

    Its most likely mutual, but i don’t care where he goes as long as he doesn’t come back to the Raptors, coz he’s just a Bit## anywayys.

  • Buschfiya

    plus he’s a broken player I don’t want him in T Dot and I know he doesn’t want to be here. he’s old and out of his prime.

  • Buschfiya

    only MJ can dominate a game at age 40 back in ’03

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TkvX356cpQ&feature=related

    43 points at age 40 wow. GOAT!

  • Jose

    I still say T-mac 4 Arenas but idk.For curry sounds nice to0 hell. For Maggette? for Redd? a washing machine and a pack of gatorade?

  • http://twitter.com/wealwayswin Hersey

    That’s a nice chip for the Rockets to deal with.

  • max

    the rockets should keep him and try to sign a top free agent next summer (Stoudemire,Bosh…).

  • max

    Oh and what do you think about a deal with the Pistons: Hamilton,Maxiell and Wilcox for T-mac?

  • subs11

    i think tmac just wants to prove something, given the injuries and the playoff bug. and knowing that could still play, you would not want to waste your time right? especially you know that time is running out given his age and the history of injuries. so rockets should trade tmac and stop screwing him. its a win-win situation anyway for both teams involved for the trade considering tmac’s expiring contract. plus you would also want to play knowing that you have the biggest current salary right? that’s my opinion.

  • http://slamonline.com Dave

    The players are crybabies? Give me a break. The teams dumb enough to sign a guy for that much money ought to suck it up and pay him to play and deal with their own idiocy.

  • http://www.basketballnonsense.com Melvin

    trade him to NY.. for eddy and jeffries

  • http://slamonline.com/ niQ

    I just want to see him play again.

  • ron

    oh… T-Mac is 30 only !!!???

  • http://slamonline.com NUPE

    His salary makes him ‘difficult’ to trade. With only a few exceptions, any trade partner would have to give up 2-3 maybe even 4 players for the numbers to work out. With his injury history it’s hard to justify giving up so much. Unless at team is just positioning itself for next years free-agency and just wants the expiring contract. If they can’t find a good trade for him, they need to just accept he’s here for one more season and plaly him. Letting that kind of talen sit the bench is not the right thing to do.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    houston has agreed to trade mcgrady. they just haven’t worked out where yet

  • derrick

    shyt they could trade t-mac and scola for amare and jrich. we already know phoenix wants to clear cap space.

    pg-brooks
    sg-richardson
    sf-ariza
    pf-landry or the other dude
    c- amare.

    they could move amare back to pf when yao returns

  • MBE18

    Knicks send Curry, Nate, Mobley and Hill to Houston for T-Mac

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Scola needs to be kept.

  • BostonBaller

    Due to injury/brittleness, McGrady hasn’t done a thing in years except garner All Star votes for wearing a suit.

  • tavoris

    what does a player do to get out of favor with a “player’s coach”? He’s playing well in those few minutes, but it just feels like they were WAITING for him to get frustrated 2 have a valid reason to send him home. The Rockets are playing well, but this stinks.

    SN:Ariza is gonna burn out in a month or so.

  • MagicChicken

    There’s only two scenarios that I can think of that would make some sense. 1) The Rockets trade T-Mac for Jamison and some pieces … J is a hard worker, they have a hole down low (but J won’t compete for yao’s spot), and the Wiz are talking about deconstructing and rebuilding. 2) The Rockets don’t move him at all … Seriously, there are few pieces out there that the Rockets need right now, especially considering what they’ll have next year if they just wait. Imagine a team doing this well, then adding Yao, plus a $23 mill gap to buy a top FA this summer. What if this team had Bosh for example … Houston could pull it.

  • http://www.cracked.com litetitan

    I personally think any ‘hate’ directed T-mac is coming from higher up…not from his coach.

  • mems

    mcgrady for jamison would be a terrible trade. dude has like 3 years left on his deal, he’s only 6’9 and he’s old.

    tmac for amare would be good but would the suns be dumb enough to go for that? who else would we have to lose? we cant lose scola or landry, we’re already short on forwards

    mcgrady to the knicks would be TERRIBLE!! it would be a gigantic steal for the knicks and since when do they make any right decisions?? i dont see our GM being stupid enough to trade an expiring contract for two huge contracts on crappy playerss.

    kevin martin would probably be the best option but we’re set at the wing so we’d probably have to trade battier or ariza unless one of them accepts a big cut in minutes.

    idk, id rather they just let his contract run out and try to sign a big name free agent.

    we need size and there aren’t enough quality big men on the market to make this work.

  • Donovan

    Trevor Ariza sucks. Why not just play McGrady? So what if he gets hurt. The Rockets were dumb enough to sign him to that much money. Either way they get him off the books for next year. I’d be shocked if any teams give up a good player when Tmac can bolt after this season. There is no way a superstar is coming back to Htown for Tmac. Why are so many people hating on him? When he was with the Magic he had to carry the load while Grant Hill was on the chill list. Give him a break. He just wants to play.

  • Tedddy-the-Bear

    It really annoys me when people talk about trades and only consider the amount of years on a stupid contract. Jamison for T-Mac would be an absolute STEAL right now. Jamison has been playing great basketball for years now… so what the hell is so wrong with taking on his 3 year contract? I’d be more concerned with the PLAYER than the stupid contract. Just ask Donnie Walsh and Mike D’Antoni how shedding salary cap in exchange for their best players is doing.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Cosign Tavoris – Ariza is a light bulb

  • http://www.twitter.com/JoshElam JE

    I was playing around with the espn trade machine for like 20 minutes before I got this to work, but it actually makes sense based on rumors and actions taken by these teams over the past couple of seasons (as in last season and this season). Three team trade, involving Houston, New Orleans, and Detroit.

    Detroit would receive Tracy McGrady and Chuck Hayes.
    Houston would receive Tayshaun Prince, David West, and James Posey.
    New Orleans would receive Richard Hamilton, Chris Wilcox, and Kwame Brown.

    Last season, New Orleans tried to obtain Wilcox in their failed Tyson Chandler trade, and there were rumors as recent as this past summer that they were seeking Rip and/or Tayshaun. Reports have indicated that Houston is seeking All-Star level talent in exchange for McGrady (which is ridiculous based on the way they’ve handled the situation thus far, but whatever, and if that’s accurate, this should be right up their alley. Both Chuck Hayes and McGrady would come off the books for Detroit this summer, although Hayes — to me — would make sense in their long-term plans as well.

  • BK All Day

    They should do a trade of players no longer wanted by their teams: T-Mac for Nate Robinson. Both teams would benefit because each team would only have to put up with their player for this season because they both have 1 year deals i think.

  • BK All Day

    That is Robinson has a 1 year deal and McGrady has 1 year left on his contract.

  • http://www.twitter.com/JoshElam JE

    ^if only McGrady didn’t make nearly 6 times as much as Nate.

  • Sporting-Lisbon-Blazers

    well JE thats the stupidest trade Ive heard in my life…might as well close shop in New Orleans after giving up West for Rip AWFUL CONTRACT

  • http://www.twitter.com/JoshElam JE

    ^Maybe, if there hadn’t already been similar trade rumors over the past year.

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    I said this on the post-up, but I’ll summarise it here.
    McGrady to the Wizards for Caron Butler, who trade Foye or Miller to the Bulls in exchange for Brad Miller, or to the Bobcats for Nazr Mohammed.
    Wizards get: Tracy McGrady
    Houston gets: Caron Butler and Nazr/B. Miller
    Chicago/Charlotte get: Foye/M.Miller
    …
    You could also add a player like John Salmons in to the deal for either Chicago/Wizards to serve as a 2/3 back-up.

  • mems

    that wouldnt be bad at all hursty. miller would fit perfectly on the rockets

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Caron Butler is far and away a better player then tracy mcgrady. @ this point you could even argue that mike miller and randy foye are more valuable. The wizards wouldn’t do that.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    The Wizards probably WOULD trade Caron Butler. Gilbert has been whining about Caron all season and the big 3 tandem clearly isn’t working.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    yeah but not for just tracy mcgrady. they would demand budinger, or some kind of prospect….especially if they give up miller or foye – you don’t give up that much talent for an expiring contract…unless your chris wallace

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    Caron Butler is not far and away a better player than Tracy…now or in the past. That is crazy talk. McGrady was injured; he didn’t lose all of his skills.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Butler is one of the best defenders in the league. McGrady hasn’t even proven he can run. i never said butler used to be better. im only talking about today going forward. gtfoh if you think McGrady is anywhere near the player he used to be

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    TMac was arguably the best player in the L in ’02-’03. So of course he isn’t the player he used to be. I also know Caron is a good defender but he isn’t an All-NBA defender. TMac, when healthy, is an All-NBA player.

  • “The Philosopher” is a Phoney

    “Like Iverson, Marbury, Antoine Walker, Nate Robinson, the list goes on. Those guys aren’t real men. They are babies who have long disrepected the game and the League. ”

    >>>The Philosopher,

    Please explain to me how Walker disrespected the game and the League…

    What…because you don’t like his shimmy? Because he did something stupid OFF THE COURT(Gambling/Housing/etc.)??

    Just…SHUT THE F*** UP, OKAY? JUST STFU. You know NOTHING.

  • MagicChicken

    No one should be hating on T-Mac … he’s been nothing but reliable. Point in fact, a team with him on it has not missed the play-offs, no matter what other stars on the team have been injured. Try and discredit that however you want, but it is a fact.

  • tavoris

    Holding on to that expiring deal to throw a max contract is their best short term & long term solution. They arent gonna find a serious taker, & they arent gonna buy him out. Insurance is already covering most of his & Yao’s salary, so its best to hold on him till this summer

  • http://www.twitter.com/JoshElam JE

    MagicChicken: I’m all about defending T-Mac, but the Magic had the worst record in the league the last year he was there.

  • TmacFanAli

    Hey people listen. I believe if Rick Adelman gave McGrady the Minutes he would have performed well he looked good shooting threes and going in side in his sixth game. i believe the rockets should keep tmac until the rockets big center Yao Ming gets back and better. by then tmac will be flourishing and will b abosolutely back into form.

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