It is no surprise to anyone in the know, that the sight of McGrady limping off the floor in pain is precisely the reason why the Houston Rockets were seeking to trade Tracy McGrady. Most teams wouldn’t want to have so much money tied up in a player, regardless of the cap relief their salary represents. But the New York Knicks aren’t most teams. They are willing to gamble, they are willing to take calculated risks at scoring big in the summer 2010 free agency period.
But that aside, it still had to burn NY Knicks fans to see Tracy McGrady limping off the floor clutching his knee in only his second game with the team. McGrady had a solid debut with the team, racking up 26 points infront of an electric crowd. He had fans dreaming big, of having the McGrady cap relief to get a big superstar franchise player, and having McGrady sign for the minimum and play like a superstar himself for years to come. But that didn’t last long, as McGrady brought the Knicks fans back to reality last night against the Milwaukee Bucks in the 83-67 blowout loss.
Here is what the NY Post had today on the McGrady injury:
Tracy McGrady’s comeback took a troubling turn when the new Knick limped off the court in the final minutes of his second game.
The cursed Knicks limped to a horrifying 83-67 loss to the Bucks and were booed off the court by a surly Garden crowd after scoring their season low.
McGrady said afterward he knocked knees twice and wouldn’t guarantee he’ll be healthy enough to face the Celtics tonight in Boston.
“Hopefully it’s not sore [today],” McGrady said. “Maybe I’ll lace them up and play, but we’ll see. We’ll see how it feels before the game.”
Is anyone really surprised about the latest knee pain McGrady is feeling? Everyone and their mother knows that McGrady is injury prone. Between his back, his knees, and his ankles he’s the real life Mr. Glass. So when I saw McGrady for the first time in months during his Knicks debut, I couldn’t help but notice he looked like he’d packed on a few pounds.
That’s when I knew it was only a matter of time. People talk all the time about how Shaquille O’Neal used to show up for training camp overweight and then ‘play himself into shape’ throughout the season. Well Shaq is an anomaly and must have joints of steel.
Given all the pounding of the floor, jumping up and down, and banging on drives to the hoop, a guy who is prone to injuries to his joints and back like McGrady is should never try to ‘play himself into shape’. A guy like McGrady should really have gotten himself into tip top shape and then attempted to make a comeback.
And you know what? The New York Knicks trainers should have known better.
I hope for Knicks fans McGrady’s knee pain subsides and he stays on the court, cause after all the catastrophe’s New York has had to deal with over the past few years, they don’t need another ‘situation’ to develop now with McGrady….
