McGrady vs. Green - First 90 Games

Offensively I think Green can be as good as McGrady, but it’s going to be the other side of the ball that hurts him I think. McGrady was a good defender then while Green still needs to learn how to d up.

McGrady made an amazing jump from when he left Toronto though, not many players potential or not make that kind of jump in their careers.

well no contest tonight. gerald stank

Awesome comparison- their games are very similar

Gerald will come along. He still has a high school body. He needs time and good coaching. Maybe he should’ve gone to college?
McGrady seems like a more aggressive driver than Gerald. Gerald needs to work on that.
Of all the guys on the roster though, he and Rondo (they better not mention al) are probably the most marketable from a trade standpoint.

I’ve always thought of GG’s upside as McGrady. To make that comparison you also have to acknowledge McGrady was two years younger when he entered the NBA.

At age 20 McGrady:
79 games
15.4 pts / game
6.3 reb / game
3.3 assist / game
1.1 steal / game
1.9 block / game
2.0 to / game
in 31 minutes / game

It’s not even possible to compare that to what Gerald did as a 20 year old. It doesn’t mean that GG can’t or won’t elevate his game, being exposed to the elite level of play should create pressure to improve, just like it did for McGrady, but you do have to discount for the guy who starts at age 20 versus 18.

gg will never be mcgrady. Mcgrady is one of the best players of the last 10 years.

Going 1 for 14 isn’t the best way to prove you’re the next Tracy McGrady, but whatever. Still plenty of time.

I’m a fan of Gerald but he doesn’t show the lateral movement or the superstar mindset that Tmac does. I’m not saying he wont be good I’m just saying I don’t think he’ll ever be as good. He seems more like a J.R. Smith type than a superstar.

GG does have a lot of things going for him:

1. He’s tall for a SG/SF at 6’8"
2. GG (to me) shows a lot of athleticism, especially for his height.
3. He has a jump shot that he can get anywhere, off the dribble, off the pass, etc.
4. He can finish strong.

a) If he puts all these skills together, then he’ll be a very good player.

b) If he can improve his ball handling, passing, and rebounding he can be all world.

I find a) to be likely, but b) a reach.

• I thought Gerald should have seen game action almost every game last year, even if he wasn’t NBA ready, he needed the experience and we were going nowhere last year.

• In McGrady’s 4th year, he averaged over 26 points a game. I’m not saying Gerald can’t ever get there but he will soon be closing in the end of his second season and will need to triple his scoring average within 2 years to “catch up with McGrady”.

• Every guy, especially younger ones have a 1 for 14 type game. The more action Gerald saw last year, the sooner he hopefully can get those out of his system.

• Doc mentioned tonight after the game that Gerald doesn’t have the “feel” of where his defender is off a pick. Thus at times he is forcing shots, other times he is passing up open looks. All the more reason why Danny should have had him on the playing roster sooner, and Doc should have given him more game time last year.

* Doc mentioned tonight after the game that Gerald doesn’t have the “feel” of where his defender is off a pick. Thus at times he is forcing shots, other times he is passing up open looks. All the more reason why Danny should have had him on the playing roster sooner, and Doc should have given him more game time last year.

That doesn’t make much sense. The worse you paly, the more minutes you should get so that you improve? Applying this logic, Telfair should get 35 minuties every night.

It is up to Gerald to get this fixed, not Doc. Jefferson managed just fine, so there is no reason why Gerald shouldn’t.

I don’t think he gets there. He just doesn’t have that scorer’s feel or sense. I know he can dunk and shoot, but he’s still just an athletic guy out there running around. He doesn’t have that certain scorers mentality of a guy who has a variety of ways to attack you. He has to catch the ball and shoot or think of a move rather than just reacting. You look at a guy like Al Jeff and he just instinctively has a knack for getting his shot up. He’s not actively thinking about it, he just naturally can do it. Green is a better athlete, has more tools, but he has to think about it. If that makes sense…

That graphic is part of how to lie with statistic. Compare them based on chronological age and you get a different picture. And BTW Green is 21 not 20.

The comparison is even worse then the one made above..

I never understood the comparison to McGrady. McGrady is an excellent ball handler for a guy his size. Gerald is a pretty lousy one. The most we can hope for is that Gerald’s ball handling becomes adequate. He will never have Tracy’s handle.

Kotzlodev, my point on getting Green minutes last year. When we throw around the “potential” tag as we often do, the 2 players with the greatest upside are Al and Green. With Pierce soon entering the twilight years of his career; it only makes sense to me to evaluate Green and give him that experience. The sooner we finally know the “real deal” will be with Green, the better we off we are going to be.

IMO, Telfair at best has the potential to be a middle of the road point. Green may or may not be a star- but because he has the upside which most every other youngster on this team doesn’t, you give him the minutes. The alternative is to give those all to Wally; and I don’t have the stats but we probably have just as good or better record without Wally in the line up as with him. So, I reiterate, with a “star” potential player, you give him minutes, especially when you are a 33 W team last year and worse this year.

bceltfan – McGrady didn’t need to be force fed minutes when he was 21 – he took them. I don’t understand why fans think forcing minutes on underperforming players is good for them..

Pete

Sweet 17, you and Kotzlodev make good points. I agree with both of you that a player should earn his playing time.

I guess the reason why I make the exception with Gerald is because I know with J. Johnson and Billups they finally developed. Green has that potential. Because we aren’t contenders, I’d like to see where Green’s talents truly lie and only playing time will prove that. Tony Allen turned his season around on a dime this year before the injury. Can Gerald do the same given 22 minutes or more a night?

IMO next season is make or break for Green. The high school label is off. Two things I think with Gerald: 1) he needs to become a more complete player, taking the ball to the rim if he is going to get his game to the next level; 2) he needs to be a better defender man to man and team defense.

If he works out like Al and gets the proper coaching, makes AL type strides, he’s a franchise keeper along with AL. If he doesn’t bring his game up a few notches like AL, I would consider trading him before the deadline.

This has been 1.5 years of “lost seasons”. I play Green and if I’m Doc, I tell Gerald take it to the rim at least 2X for every 5 touches. I also find the Clifford Ray type equivalent coach for Green and I have Green work with him for hours every day.

Interesting this comparison comes up after Gerald goes 1-20 vs Houston.
I think maybe we should all just tone down our expectations just a bit.