JNice

Tmac is an excellent passer, and he doesn't get a lot of easy assists. Before Gooden, there was no one on the team that could really create their own shot. Tmac creates shots for everyone. Miller would get himself a few a game, but that is about it.

A guy like Pat Garrity would be nothing without Tmac. He probably goes stretches of 10-15 games without creating a single shot for himself.

Tmac is the primary ball-handler and creator and doesnt turn the ball over a whole lot.

No, there isnt anything he cant do.

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kcchiefs-fan

People who are saying Kobe gets more assists because of Shaq haven't watched many Laker games. I'm not a Lakers fan or anything, but not many of his assists come from the Diesel. He should be getting more but his worthless supp. cast outside of Shaq can't hit an open shot. That being said, Tmac is a very good passer. I don't think he's really underrated in that department, I don't think he's as naturally skilled a passer as a guy like Kobe, or even Lebron if you've watched him. But, with his scoring power, people have to be aware of him, and when he slashes to the whole that leaves a lot of people open, and he's not the selfish player that won't dish it out to them for the bucket. Paul Pierce is another guy like that, he get's to the hole and then finds a teammate at the 3 pt arc and gets it to them.

SPMJ

Why do most people think that t-mac has this gr8 shooting cast around him? Garrity and Giricek(only 8 games old) r the only consistent Magic shooters, they're the only ones who shoot over 35% from 3-pt land. LA has 4 players shooting over 35% from the 3-pt land. These guyz get overshadowed cuz of Shaq and Kobe. There' a reason y the Lakers r the fourth best offensive team in the league.

With that said, both Kobe and T-mac r excellent at driving and dishing. Kobe's got the advantage cuz the triangle offense is especially set for dribble penetration and the dish out. Thats one reason y Kobe looks like a more natural passer then t-mac. Plus u also have a lot of players cutting to the basket in the triangle. Add a high % scorer like Shaq to that, it only helps Kobe's assist numbers. With the Magic, u have the other 4 players spread out and just waiting for the dish-out once t-mac gets hounded. Anyway, T-mac's almost averaging 9 asts per game since the trade. Goes to show what a little more talent could do his asts numbers.

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kcchiefs-fan

I never said Tmac has a great supporting cast. And I also don't wanna get into a Kobe/Tmac discussion, especially in this forum. I do think Tmac's supp. cast is better, especially now that Gooden's there, but it's not great by any means. Garrity hits damn near every open three he gets, and when Giricek is on he hits most of them as well. Everyone on the Lake Show is inconsistent. Sometimes Fox and Horry can hit em, sometimes Fisher, but no one can hit an open shot consistently. When Kobe's in pass first mode, he gets tons of assists regardless. Like early in the year, when he had those 2 amazing TD's in a row. Tmac's a great passer, but I don't think he's quite as good as Kobe. Sorry to compare the 2 because that gets done far too often, but I wasn't the first one to do it. I was replying to earlier posts in this thread, so plz don't point fingers at me : P

SPMJ

Giricek has only been the part of the team for 8 games, and his increase in production compared to his grizzlies days has obviously got a lot to do with T-mac drawing all the attention. Garrity on the other hand is just as inconsistent as any of the Laker shooters. But the difference is that guyz like Fox, Fisher, Shaw and George can atleast create their own shot. Garrity is basically a spot up guy who would have no job in the nba w/o t-mac. His D and rebounding is as bad as it gets.

Ofcourse there's really no comparison between t-mac's cast and what Kobe has in LA. If it would have been anywhere close, wouldn't we be talking abt the Magic as the favs in the east, kinda like the lakers r in their conference? I sometimes i have a hard time understanding y people even bother comparing the two players' supporting cast. Orlando as a team isn't anywhere close to be being in the same league as the three time champion LA.

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TheRifleman

I do, too. I don't know how many times I've seen some poster talk about Horry being in the HOF for his clutch shooting.

TMac's "supporting cast" (cough, cough) is so inconsistent. I find it amazing that some fans think Garrity knocks down every shot. One only has to look at his year to date stats to see how a 6'9" guy can NOT shoot 50%, when Stockton has done that - at 6'0" his whole career!

Hopefully, in the off season, the Magic management will finally build this team around the guy they signed as an afterthought to the all star Grant Hill!!

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JNice

I think they are defenitely already doing that. The trade was one example. Anything from Hill from this day on is an absolute bonus.

Next year Orlando without Hill should be able to be in the top 3-4 in the East... if Hill can miraculously come back, they could be even better.

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TheRifleman

I think this trade was the "beginning" of the management making a deliberate move to try to build this team around TMac - finally! I could have told them to do that 2 years ago, after his most improved player award- duh!

If Hill has a miraculous come back, I agree, even with a journeyman center, a healthy Hill, TMac, Gooden & company could do some damage - IF - they have a coach who knows how to teach the entire team how to play "team defense"!!

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JNice

I hate looking in hindsight, but man, if we had just held on to Ben Wallace. That guy almost single-handedly wins games for Detroit, and that is with scoring like 4-5 points a game.

Damn..

Wallace could be heading in the direction of a future HOF'er, and we could have kept him pretty easily, and cheap..

20+ boards and 9 blocks for a just over 6'6" PF, amazing.

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TheRifleman

Just goes to show how Barkley at 6'41/2" got 13 rbpg lifetime and how some players can control and win games without SCORING. Bill Russell did that for the Celtics, Kidd did it for the Nets, and Big Ben does it for the Pistons. There are not that many that can control and/or win games without scoring a bundle - they are a precious few who do that!!

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Saxon_guy

I concur!

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TheRifleman

Without Gooden again, I'm glad he's feeling like doing whatever it takes to win this road game. He has 32 points and 7 rebounds at the half, and the Magic are up by only 12.

Garrity is 0/2 and Kemp is 1/5, so there aren't a lot of assists so far. Armstrong is hitting pretty good against the back up for Miami.

All of this with half blind refs in there tonight. They called Chris Whitney and TMac for technicals - Whitney is so nice and even he cannot believe the lack of calls.

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