Tracy McGrady in Qingdao Eagles

**sinobball** · 01-04-2013, 07:19 AM

T-mac started the new year developing back spasms now and missing the last game. No date is set for his return.

McGrady is certainly greatly talented and can be a great competitor if he gets going. He's also not a ballhog either as he has great basketball IQ and is willing to pass. But I also suspect it's no coincidence why he never finds success anywhere. At least Marbury got to the 2nd round in the NBA and vastly improved a terrible CBA team's record during his first year in China.

**CKR13** · 01-04-2013, 12:31 PM

Back spasms used to plague T-Mac during the three year rut of late 2005 to 2007. With age, it is recurring again.

**sinobball** · 01-06-2013, 09:36 AM

Just finished watching T-mac's latest game vs. Foshan (which interestingly is already the 7th time Qingdao games gets televised nationally, not sure if it's more than any other team). I don't know whether he was still suffering from the back spasm but dude doesn't even try to get back on defense after missed shots, not once or twice but at least 3+ times which resulted in non-fast-break 5-on-4 situations, looks like he's casually jogging on the floor. He played 3 quarters, in the 2nd quarter where he basically did not play, his teammates outscored Foshan (pretty bad team to be honest) 34-15, but then his team ended up losing by 19. Don't think it's coincidence.

Here, I said it, T-mac will never be able to enjoy any success close to Marbury in China. CBA should not be terribly difficult for his talents, but whether it's injuries or laziness, his effort just cannot translate to victories, even if he were provided with much better teammates. Marbury, 2 years older, is on the other hand a true competitor from the 2 games I watched this season.

I wish I could share you the tape but the game just finished so it's not up yet, but it's probably even worse than the effort here:

edit: ok I uploaded 2 clips from today's game. They basically directly follow each other.

(7 seconds to run back to defense)

(7 seconds to run back to offense)

**sinobball** · 01-11-2013, 06:10 PM

T-mac suspended for one game for calling officials "blind mice" on social media. His team then proceeds to win the next game.

Qingdao's record so far:
with T-mac: 2W-15L
without T-mac and no replacement: 1W-2L

So you see it's not (just) his teammates.

**Hocktek Ong** · 01-13-2013, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by sinobball

T-mac suspended for one game for calling officials "blind mice" on social media. His team then proceeds to win the next game.

Qingdao's record so far:
with T-mac: 2W-15L
without T-mac and no replacement: 1W-2L

So you see it's not (just) his teammates.

seems like teamwork >>> one man show

**sinobball** · 01-13-2013, 07:51 PM

McGrady burned Jilin (3rd worst team) today with a monster statline of 38pts, 13reb, 8ast for their 4th win of the season. Still 2 games behind the 2nd worst team.

For Tracy, it's never about the talent, he obviously still has the shooting touch, the ability to hang in the air and a very quick first step. But as long as he still provides half-assed efforts from time to time, any team he plays on will never be a serious contender.

McGrady now leads the entire CBA in total free throw attempts (though Marbury has made more), about 2 times than the league average from import players, even though he missed 3 games for back spasm & suspension. Personally I think he does get some favoritism from the refs; he's the only player able to draw so many fans in away games to outnumber home team supporters.