It’s official, Tracy McGrady destroyed himself in Houston. The year 2009 has been the year of, ‘WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, MCGRADY!?’ If Tracy McGrady has been trying to piss off every single Houston Rockets fan than he has succeeded.

For those of you who haven’t heard, Tracy McGrady recently went home while his team is on a road trip. Why? Because he’s complaining about his minutes and basically refuses to be a team player.

Hey T-Mac,

This team is doing pretty good and if you want to be a part of it…you have to be a part of it. You are not the whole team. You are a rehabilitating player who needs to find his place on a roster full of people that are willing to hustle their butts off for a win. You are not the T-Mac of old, you are old T-Mac. You have to prove yourself and hustle to get your minutes, not whine and complain until their handed to you. You are dead to Houston fans unless you put your pride aside and work like everyone else on this team. Which you probably won’t do. I was willing to give  you a chance but you think you’re entitled to have what you want just because you make over 20 million. You’re not. Work. Work or become Allen Iverson who’s making the league minimum for a veteran player.

Tracy McGrady if this is how you’re going to act get out of Houston. A single player is not bigger than the team. To act like you are the Houston Rockets is a slap in the face to all of your teammates who have been carrying this team in your absence.

Coach Rick Adeleman did the right thing to not let Tracy McGrady whine his way back on the court. Who cares who the guy is? Nobody should behave the way T-Mac has been acting. Now I don’t know if he’s traded, because there’s no way the Rockets are getting much out of a trade for McGrady. It might be best to let this albatross of a contract sit on the bench or at home for the rest of the year. Who cares if we don’t have a solid closer? Who cares if we’re wasting our money? We already have wasted our money on McGrady. Let him sit out and our players learn and grow. We’ve fared pretty well so far.

For the last month or so I’ve been awaiting Aaron Brooks bobble head night. My girlfriend and I, who I’ve been lucky enough to turn into a Rockets fan, saw that A.B. bobblehead night was December 15th and couldn’t wait. We purchased our tickets in advance and were counting down the days. We rushed to Toyota Center like maniacs to get there to be one of the first 5,000 and were greatly disappointed by the huge throng of fans waiting outside in the cold to get inside. We thought that our bobblehead dreams were over. Right as we were entering Toyota Center they were opening the last box of bobbleheads and we were able to snag one.

The game was incredible. Chase Budinger (who should not be allowed to wear white) was solid as a starter, in lieu of Trevor Ariza. Brooks and Scola both score 23. Everyone was looking good, including David Anderson who I still don’t trust yet. The Rockets put a stomping on Detroit. The game was great but it’s almost sad that the biggest story to come out of this game is Tracy McGrady returning to the court.

Now I’ve never been a huge T-Mac hater like many people in Houston are. I don’t blame you T-Mac haters, he acted like a chump this year. Injury or no injury you have to respect your team and let them know what you are doing. But I’m not the biggest T-Mac fan either. (I traded him away in my NBA Live franchise mode). There has been a lot of speculation revolving T-Mac’s return to the Rockets. As it stands right now, the Rockets are one of the best Rockets teams I have seen in a long time. The teamwork and cohesivness of this squad is amazing. They work hard, do the little things and hustle their butts off. The main arguement of keeping T-Mac on the bench is that he will ruin the whole team mentality of the Rockets. And while that is my biggest fear, I say give the man some minutes. I’d hate for this to become a one man show (I’m looking at you Steve Francis team of the late nineties). Turning this team into the T-Mac show would ruin this squad.

But I’m optomistic about this. I believe McGrady has a chip on his shoulder and wants to show that he belongs on the court even if it means, God forbid it, playing as a team. McGrady has been reminded of his career’s mortality. He knows he is not the young man he used to be. I think he understands that in order to play he has to be self-less. People that don’t want T-Mac near the team think of this, how could he hurt them in the long run if we just give him a shot to prove himself. Let him be a team player or fail to be one and then see if we need to trade him before the deadline. Adeleman will find a spot for him in the rotation and we just have to sit back and see if T-Mac is serious about this comeback.

The Rockets lossing last night to the Mavs 103-121 hurt so bad. It’s a game we could have easily won if we would have kept the offense up. But what I’ve been thinking about lately is our defense.

I know not everyone was a fan of Jeff Van Gundy, but the man gave us a solid defensive team. And for the last couple of years I thought there were still remains of that defense lingering around. This year we are no longer a defensive threat. Rick Adeleman, who is a great coach, is an offense coach. I love a team with a stingy, hard working defense. We need to be able to D up if we want to win the tough games this year.