Houston Rockets (NBA): McGrady/Ming [Evolution]

[Abishai100]

The Houston Rockets (NBA) are an impressive and modernized professional American basketball franchise that saw modest success during the Ralph Sampson era (conference titles), the Hakeem Olajuwon era (two NBA titles), and the McGrady-Ming superstar era (media fanfare).

Ming was the most prominent Asian-American NBA athlete to date, and McGrady was a young superstar and their auspicious pairing in the early 2000s saw a Rockets-franchise investment in media and celebrity-based approach to gameplay.

While the McGrady-Ming equation never translated into division, conference, or NBA titles, since injuries and disagreements became obstacles to success, it did show NBA fans a glimpse of what superstar pairings was doing to general media fanfare (e.g., Spurs' Robinson-Duncan, Hoyas' Mourning-Mutombo, Sixers' Iverson-Webber, Nuggets' Iverson-Anthony, Bulls' Jordan-Pippen, Lakers' Johnson-Jabbar, etc.).

The McGrady-Ming 'experiment' served to create some exciting local sports, media chatter, and marketing-era fodder for NBA-naysayers simply unimpressed with general fanfare-related intrigue (e.g., merchandising/endorsements).

Some critics claim the 'McGrady-Ming Experiment' was a disaster for the Houston Rockets, since it capitulated the modern age sports-culture problem of stardom-based 'teamwork.'

However, was this 'experiment' a sign of a philosophical evolution in professional sports?




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MCGRADY: Our experience was...unusual.
MING: Tracy was a fan-star, and I was from Asia.

MCGRADY: Rockets put the world on Yao's shoulders.
MING: Tracy had to come in and solve problems...

MCGRADY: We certainly enjoyed the spotlight.
MING: It was a fine moment for teamwork based 'celebrity-fanfare.'

MCGRADY: Rockets fans wanted me and Yao to be another Jordan-Pippen.
MING: Or Johnson-Jabbar (Lakers).

MCGRADY: Sports-culture in modern times prefers immediate successes.
MING: Celebrity-based roster-building is an option many managers take!

MCGRADY: I was supposed to provide Yao a workable American teammate.
MING: I was supposed to provide Tracy the 'Asian-phenom' go-to-center man.

MCGRADY: We were like Frankenstein!
MING: It was tragic but interesting (simultaneously)...

MCGRADY: I wonder if they'll call me and Yao the 'Two Spirals.'
MING: Media-based sports-fanfare is a purely modern phenomenon.

MCGRADY: Will this be good for the NBA?
MING: There is potential...

MCGRADY: We'd rather have won a title together.
MING: We'll always have 'cool memories.'

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[candycorn]

T-Mac was soft; had the skill but not the drive to be one of the NBA’s truly exceptional players. The Rockets had a lot of those types. Sampson was one. Steve Fracis was another. If you remember their #1 draft pick and the supposed “missing piece of the puzzle” Buck Johnson; there is another example.

Happily, the Rockets found some people who were willing to hang and bang down the line with Drexler, Horry, Sam Cassell, Mario Elie, Herrera and of course Olajuwon.

What possessed you to start a thread about this?