Reply With Quote
Contract year effect.
McGrady unsure whether Rockets want him
By Adrian Wojnarowski
After months of growing discord and mistrust between the Houston Rockets and their once-franchise player, Tracy McGrady and coach Rick Adelman engaged in an emotional and sometimes loud closed-door confrontation about the star’s uncertain status on Wednesday night, sources told Yahoo! Sports.
The argument was precipitated when McGrady arrived at the Target Center in Minneapolis so determined to have a substantive discussion with his coach that he dressed in his game uniform and undertook his pregame routine as though he hadn’t been activated after missing 41 straight games with microfracture surgery on his left knee.
As McGrady walked back to the locker room after shooting with his teammates on the court, he passed Adelman in a corridor and his appearance in uniform appeared to surprise his coach. The fact McGrady had asked the equipment manager to bring out his uniform – especially on the Nov. 18 date that he had recently told Yahoo! Sports was his target for a return – clearly had his coach’s attention.
McGrady understood he wouldn’t be activated on Wednesday night, but sources say T-Mac was willing to go to great lengths to push his coach closer to blessing McGrady’s return to the team.
Eventually, Adelman returned to the locker room and retreated with McGrady into an adjacent coach’s office. McGrady slammed the door behind him, a witness said, and that marked the start of a tense, sometimes loud exchange that could be heard in the locker room, sources said.
In the discussion, McGrady challenged Adelman to tell him the coach’s plans and timetable for the seven-time All-Star’s eventual return to the roster, sources say. McGrady felt like Adelman had been uncommunicative with him for weeks, and no longer wanted to hear from Rockets general manager Daryl Morey or trainer Keith Jones about the team’s desire to make him wait until next week to take another MRI.
“Tracy was just determined to make Rick talk to him,” a source close to McGrady said. “That’s why he put on the uniform and went through all that. … He wanted to get his attention. He’d like to know if he’s wanted back or not.”
It’s believed Adelman simply repeated the Rockets’ organizational stance that they will evaluate him after an MRI that’s been long scheduled for Monday, and only then will the team start to consider the possibility of his return. It could come next week, it could come later. The Rockets have insisted McGrady hasn’t had enough practice time and is still unfit to pay, a claim that McGrady disputes.
The confrontation had been building for weeks, sources say, and underscores a lingering uneasiness between the organization and McGrady. Adelman and McGrady had a dispute last February over the way McGrady informed the team that he had chosen to undergo season-ending knee surgery. Instead of telling them directly, McGrady released the information to the public. At the time, sources say, McGrady felt betrayed in the belief that members of the organization were publicly and privately doubting the validity of his injury.
“The trust has broken down between them,” a source close to McGrady and Adelman said. “There’s some work to be done there.”
McGrady, 30, is in the final year of his contract and is being paid a league-high $23.2 million this season. He’s had a history of injuries with Houston and questions about his toughness and leadership have always been debated inside and outside the organization. In his six seasons with the Rockets, McGrady has missed 125 games because of back and knee problems. Once the Rockets advanced to Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals without McGrady last season, there came evidence that the Rockets employ a more balanced lineup capable of wining without him.
Sources say McGrady has started to wonder whether the Rockets want him back with this team, or whether they’ve been motivated to let him sit and collect on insurance money. Assuming that McGrady is covered under the NBA’s Temporary Total Disability (TTD) insurance policy, Houston can start to collect up to 80 percent of his prorated per-game salary after he’s missed 41 consecutive games. McGrady sat out his 42nd straight game Wednesday in Minnesota, and the league insurance plan would reimburse the Rockets for any additional missed games.
For the rest of the season, the insurance policy could cover 80 percent of his per-game salary of $282,946. Even if McGrady returns to the lineup for one or more games this season, the insurance would still pay the Rockets for each additional missed game. The insurance company can identify 12 exclusions to the policy among particularly high-risk NBA players, but can only do so at the time a new contract is signed. McGrady signed his three-year, $63 million extension in November 2004.
Beyond the possible financial repercussions, sources within and close to the team say the Rockets – especially Adelman – are unenthusiastic about McGrady returning. The Rockets have started the season with a surprising 7-5 record, despite missing McGrady and center Yao Ming. For now, anyway, sources say the organization likes the team’s chemistry and cohesion without McGrady.
Wednesday’s incident wasn’t the first testy exchange recently between Adelman and McGrady. They also argued in a practice session last week. In the preseason, sources say McGrady asked management to let him play approximately 12 to 15 minutes total in two exhibition games to gauge where he stood in his comeback. The organization, sources say, told him he would need to pass a standardized conditioning test. McGrady did but still stayed on the sideline.
Before McGrady began his rehabilitation in Chicago this summer, he had to be cleared by a top athletic surgeon for full-contact basketball. Ultimately, McGrady was deemed OK to play daily against All-Star talents like Dwyane Wade and Devin Harris.
Contract year effect.
sign-and-trade
Ariza getting the job done
This situation is officially ed up.
So if McGrady comes back and is not ready, then heads back to the bench for another 20 games, it ends up costing the Rockets ~6 million dollars in lost insurance proceeds. It also signifigantly reduces his trade value.
Its not very fair to Tracy, but on the flip side it has sucked for the organization as well these past few years.
I hope this ends well =(
He needs to practice with the team a few times to get a little conditioning before coming back to a running style. I don't blame the coach for wanting to see how well you fit into the offense before just sticking you in games that count. The team has had to put up with his Diva a tude and fake injuries around holidays for years, so I don't mind them giving him a taste of his own medicine. At least he gets to understand how his teammates feel when he decides to jerk them around annually. Adelman is doing this to break the last bit of that me first at ude of his.
from what i understand since tmac has already missed 41 consecutive games then his salary is 80% paid for by insurance for those games. since he met the 41 consecutive missed game mark then any games he misses beyond that point are 80% paid for by insurance. so from my understanding he can start playing again and if he does miss any games from here on out then that game's salary will be 80% paid for.
any clarification would be a great help.
Thats correct
Im with mcgrady on this since he wants to play so bad. He'd be coming off the bench anyways and I doubt he would do too much damage there
Ouch...a very messed up situation. It does appear they would just as soon he sit on the bench and be used to trade next year. 80% of his pay reduces greatly the incentive to play him. Too bad.
I expect TMac will be moving again for sure next year, it's ovah.
hey we give you Manu, Bonner and Mason for T-Glass.......
Are you kidding me?
it's on me!
One would think that red flags would have been raised after the team bus kept leaving without him.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/6731426.html
Rockets' McGrady, coach refute report of heated exchange
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Nov. 20, 2009, 1:48PM
There is an open spot on the Rockets active list, but the Rockets seem in no hurry to change their plans.
ATLANTA – Though Tracy McGrady made it clear again that he has grown weary with waiting for Monday's practice and MRI, the Rockets' designated next step toward his return to the court, he and Rockets coach Rick Adelman said Friday that their conversation about it Wednesday was not emotional and that voices were not raised.
Yahoo Sports reported that McGrady and Adelman “engaged in an emotional and sometimes loud closed-door confrontation” after McGrady put on his uniform as if he was going to play.
“It's not even an issue,” McGrady said. “If coach tells you something different, I'd be surprised. I'm here to play basketball. I'm not here to be a distraction. I've been through enough of that drama last year. I'm not going to let it start this year, at all.”
McGrady said that voices were not raised during their conversation.
“No question about it,” he said. “I'm not that type of person and you know coach is not.”
Adelman did not seem upset on Wednesday. McGrady had gone through his usual pregame workout before he returned to the locker room and later changed into his uniform while Adelman conducted his pregame media interview. Adelman later laughed when told that McGrady was in uniform.
Adelman said on Friday that when they met, the conversation did not get loud, but that McGrady did not want to wait for next week to make his season debut. McGrady could not have played at the time he put on the uniform on Wednesday because that night's inactive list had already been turned in.
“I knew I wasn't going to play,” McGrady said. “I saw my uniform. I was excited. I put it on, like a little kid. It felt refreshing to put it on because it was in sight.”
A person with knowledge of NBA insurance policies said that insurance has been paying McGrady's salary since last season. The Rockets have said that doctors chose Nov. 23 for McGrady's MRI based on the time doctors believed he would need following the surgery and the team's practice schedule.
Yahoo reported that McGrady put on the uniform to force Adelman to meet with him. Adelman, however, said McGrady could have spoken with him at any time and that they did talk last week, with Adelman reiterating then and again Wednesday that he would stick with the plan to have McGrady work out and go for an MRI on Monday before any decisions were made. McGrady, however, has not wanted to wait, Adelman said.
“There was a difference of opinion,” Adelman said. “He wasn't going to play. I told him that. That was it. I have no idea what they're talking about. He wants to play. I said ‘you're not.' We're going to wait to next week and then we're going to discuss it. We haven't practiced (since Nov. 9). We're going to just suit him up and throw him out there? No.
“We haven't had any arguments. He wants to know what we're going to do. I don't have an answer for that. This is an issue for doctors and the people who work with him. In my mind, he hasn't practiced enough. He's not ready to play.”
Asked if he was eager for Monday's practice and test, McGrady said, “You have no idea.”
[email protected]
Yahoo, piece of drama stirring mother ers!
tee, hee. Lars don't like that. Stings, don't it, Lars? It's ok, sammykins, if yer tough, like Kobe?....you can use it as fuel and take it and beat the bejeesus outta everybody that stands in yer way. What do you think, Lars, you think McGrady has that in him? Or, is he just cashin' those checks? Ya know, a cash checker.
yahoo is really good with their sources. adrian wkdfjkas;dfds whatever his last name is is the best right now, espn its understandable they have ric "kobe played his last game as a laker " bucher
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
