This time, the Rockets get to have a say about decisions about the Rockets.
Last season, when Tracy McGrady decided to have microfracture knee surgery, ending his season, the Rockets found out by watching television.
They thought they sort of deserved to play a part in the decision-making, particularly since they were paying him roughly $20 million and their doctors had said for months that he could play his way back into being a star player. But it was his body, and his decision. And they were not exactly surprised. At that point, they did not necessarily disagree.
He had said publicly the previous week that he was not even considering surgery, but they had set up the appointments. They knew he was not traveling the country looking for a good barber.
Rockets coach Rick Adelman was livid at the way the announcement was handled. McGrady described it as a misunderstanding, and really, going public with the decision before discussing it privately did no harm. It wasn't the announcement that ended his season.
A season later, however, he clearly has not learned from the experience, or simply does not care if the Rockets object to his announcements. He said during the summer that he was 99 percent back and would be ready to practice with the team at the start of training camp. Things did not work out that way. According to the Rockets, he still has not gone through a full practice.
Then on Monday, in an email to Yahoo! Sports, he said he would play next Wednesday.
The problem with that was that Rockets general manager Daryl Morey had already said on Monday that nothing had changed in McGrady's timetable, that he won't play until the team considers him to be 100 percent and that he would need to be checked out in a full practice before he will be permitted to play a game.
Next full practice? Nov. 23.
One would think he would have to go all out for more than just one practice. Rick Adelman, who this time would seem to have some sort of say about when McGrady plays, has been clear that he does not want to repeat last season's failed effort to let McGrady (and Ron Artest) go in and out of the lineup based on how injured body parts felt at any particular hour.
McGrady has, however, been consistent. He went public when he decided his season was over last season, and has gone public when he thought it would begin this season.
Like last season, handling the decision this way, while discourteous at best, really won't make much of a difference. This season, however, the decision is not up to him. He'll play when someone else says he'll play.
In his blog, McGrady praised his teammates' for their strong start to the season. But he had stolen the attention from their play and put it back on the guy who is not playing. Worse, while Morey has said McGrady is not going through full participation in practice, McGrady said in his blog "I have been practicing, training, and rehabbing hard for my return to the court.
"I'm going full speed at practice and am not being held out of drills anymore. I'm hoping to get out there as soon as possible, and with everything that my doctors have been telling me, it sounds like that will be sooner rather than later."
The Rockets refused to play along. Morey released a statement Monday evening saying "no timetable has been set for his return."
In other words, this time, they will decide. And whether McGrady disagrees, if he was trying to pressure them on Monday, even if he believes he still calls the shots, won't matter. This time, despite McGrady's announcement, it's really not up to him.
http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2009/11/mac_back_next_week_he_thinks_s.html
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