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I've listened to and read quite a bit of commentary from the media lately that has acted like Tracy McGrady has never had talent around him before in Houston, that no McGrady-led Rockets team has ever been near as good as this one.
Let's not completely forget the 2004-05 Rockets squad.
That team had a gutsy leader in Bobby Sura, outstanding guard play in David Wesley, Jon Barry and Mike James and was forced to run with a power forward combo of Clarence Weatherspoon and Ryan Bowen, yet they won 51 games and closed the season 45-20. Under today's NBA rules, they would have faced (and more than likely beaten) the 51-win Sonics in the first round rather than have to face the 58-win Mavericks, who they fell to in 7 games.
Mind you, this year's team has Shane Battier, Chuck Hayes, Luther Head, Juwan Howard (healthy) and a much stronger Yao Ming, so the case can be made. And it's no massive deal here. Sura got injured. Barry got old. James got traded. The Rockets had to rebuild quickly and did a fine job of it.
But, when McGrady himself disrespected that team, I knew there was some selective amnesia going on. Said McGrady recently about the current Rocket cast:
"This is the first time I have been to the playoffs and have been excited about what the team can do. We can accomplish something. This is the first time I've felt like I had a great supporting cast and I feel we can hopefully advance past the first round. We have a great core of players."
However, keep in mind that this is what T-Mac said before the playoffs in April 2005:
"I feel that this could be my time. This could be my chance to not only get past the first round, (but) I feel like this team could be a contender. I've been in the league eight years. This is the first time in those eight years I have this feeling. I feel like we can do something really special as far as making it to the Finals and being a surprise team. I never had that feeling in the past. I always thought we'd be a first-round team, possibly get out of the first round. Now I honestly feel we have a chance."
Trivial? Yeah, maybe. I certainly don't blame T-Mac for saying what he did two years ago because that team, while certainly not as strong defensively, was a superior model offensively than this year's squad.
Translation: If this team gets some potent guards next season, Tracy is going to be really, really excited about how far that team can go.
For the first time.
Again.
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