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Tracy McGrady Feels Unwanted
Almost 10 months have passed since Tracy McGrady has been on the court in a Rockets uniform. Once regarded as the franchise player and one of the best in the league, McGrady is today somewhat of the forgotten man in Houston. Trevor Ariza is now wearing T-Mac’s old number 1, and playing quite impressively while doing so. November 18th was his target date for his return to the court, so while in Minneapolis on Wednesday for a game against the T-Wolves, T-Mac put his new #3 uniform on and warmed up with his teammates. He later walked past head coach Rick Adelman, who was very surprised and shocked to see McGrady in uniform knowing that he had not been activated yet.
This led to Adelman requesting a meeting immediately with McGrady. According to sources, the exchange behind closed doors got quite loud at times, which could be heard even from the locker room. The motivation behind T-Mac’s stunt was to get his coach’s attention, as he had been feeling unwanted and unwelcome. In the meeting, McGrady demanded of Adelman to tell him exactly whether he wanted him back on the team and what his timetable for his return was. McGrady feels ready to return to the court and wishes to be activated, but Adelman disagrees and thinks McGrady needs more practice time.
Tensions have been building ever since McGrady decided to have season-ending surgery on his knee in February, without telling the team first, but announcing it to the media instead. Adelman was very upset, and understandably so. Ever since, communications between McGrady and Adelman have been almost non-existent.
Earning the league’s highest salary of $23.2 million this season in the final year of his contract, McGrady is rumored to be shopped around. Though it is a very high salary, there are always teams looking for expiring contracts. McGrady has always been thought to be an injury-prone player, and even one who has been unwilling to play through injuries, which is expected of the great ones especially. Such criticisms have been voiced repeatedly by Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson, who believe that McGrady has not lived up to his true potential.
At the age of 30 now, T-Mac is still a relatively young player. Many have written him off and believe his best days to be behind him. One can only hope they are wrong and that McGrady is able to get back to his old self, as he was truly one of the unique ones when he was healthy.
–am
