If T-Mac Is Back, What Does That Mean for the Rockets?

Even Morey seemed determined to be cautious about expecting too much, too soon, but when pressed about how he thought McGrady looked, he said, "More or less, I would have to say, very good.

Even Morey knows what McGrady has done this off-season in his recovery from micro-fracture knee surgery, working extensively with Tim Grover in Chicago, McGrady expects to return among the elite in the NBA.

Grover, a long time trainer for Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade this past season claims he'll have McGrady jumping the way he used to in his Toronto days.

While that may be a stretch, as McGrady is now 30 years old, and gone through a lot of wear and tear on his body, it's an interesting thought to one of the more quieter NBA headlines going into the ever fast approaching season.

Coming off the worst season of his career with an assortment of injuries and averages of 15.6 points per game, 4.4 rebounds, and 5.0 assists on career low shooting percentages, it'd be one of the NBA's top stories if he were able to come back and produce at the level that made him a seven-time All-NBA player that perennially finished in the top 6-8 in MVP Voting.

McGrady was terrible last season, certainly, but he wasn't as bad as either Rockets fans or the media perceived him to be. Garnering a reputation as a "quitter," he even drew comparisons to a former Rocket, Scottie Pippen.

For those who don't know Scottie Pippen, when Pippen was traded to the Rockets, he was being traded to a team with two former MVP's in Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley.

Paired with those two, the Rockets were expected become the NBA's elite once again and rise as NBA champions once again.

Not only did the Rockets underperform from their lofty expectations losing in the first round to the Lakers, Pippen created controversy in the locker room, particularly with Charles Barkley.

Pippen's negative attitude, and poor performance throughout the season, and in the playoffs (32% from the field against the Lakers) sparked a feud throughout the Rockets locker room.

Eventually and ironically, the feud ended when Pippen asked to be traded, and dismantling a core that if had put egos aside and meshed together better offensively, could have formed one of the scariest trios in NBA History, and that accounting into the fact both Barkley and Hakeem were past their prime.

McGrady hasn't done anything nearly as harmful to the franchise as that, in fact he's led them to the playoffs three of the four times in the past five seasons, while establishing himself as one of the best in the game, with numerous All-NBA selections, and Top 10 finishes in MVP Voting.

Going back to last season, as poorly as he played on a whole, there were glimpses when he was healthy that proved it was more a psychological problem paired with his injuries that contributed to his inconsistent play.

There was the game against the Suns, in which he scored 27 points, primarily all of that coming in the second half. The game against the Wizards in which he sparked a Rockets comeback scoring 16 of his 20 points in the final quarter to lead the Rockets to victory.

The monster triple-double against the Nuggets totaling over 20 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, or the other near triple double, one assist shy against the Warriors.

The back-to-back stretch against the Celtics (26 points) and Blazers (30/8/8) with other numerous 20-point games showed McGrady was still capable.

A large part in that could be attributed to his mind-set, his body language on the floor was as if Ron Artest was brought into to reduce the role McGrady had on the Rockets, while it was an experiment in hopes all three would play to the best of their abilities where the Rockets would take off.

Not to mention on offense, both McGrady and Artest are ball-holders, with questionable shot selection. The ball clearly should have been in McGrady's hand when the majority of the time it was Artest's.

Pile that with his consistent injuries, at times limping through games, or being unable to even run the break, it was a sort of worst case scenario for McGrady. The way I look at it, there's no where but up.

"He's way, way ahead of schedule," Morey said. "He's already playing. I don't think anyone could have predicted he would be playing now. He still has a long way to go. There is a lot of rust to shake off."

Looking at recent pictures and videos of his workout, it seems McGrady is in already better shape than he was in last season, and poised to make a comeback within the first month of the season.

On a Rockets team lacking a go-to scorer, or a man with an ability to create his own shot for himself or his teammates, it might seem the Rockets answer is in Chicago, a familiar face that's led the Rockets through the face of adversity to the playoffs before.

It'll be his team, his offense to reign, and assuming what is all being said is true, that McGrady will come into this season with an additional chip on his shoulder not only being called out as completely irrelevant but going into what could be his final big NBA contract season, all the pressure is on McGrady to perform, to the benefit of the Houston Rockets.

His critics will always be there, as they should be, but considering some of the games he had last season on one leg, constantly injured, in and out of the lineup with a new piece that didn't fit offensively, it wouldn't be far fetched to believe that McGrady will perform at a much higher level than he did last season, comparable to the 07-08 season in which he made the All-NBA Third Team.

And as a team effort led by McGrady, the Rockets were able to win 22 games in a row.

With a group of hard workers, and blue collar players such as Luis Scola, David Anderson, Chuck Hayes, Carl Landry, and Pops Mensah Bonsu, the Rockets task to fill Yao Ming's void will be tough, but what they will provide is toughness, rebounding, and a desire for the ball.

With the ever improving Aaron Brooks, who broke out in last seasons playoffs, and the new acquisition of the lanky swing-man, Trevor Ariza, the Rockets missing piece to make the playoffs is a player that can create his own shot, while having the ability to make the play for the teammates around him.

As much as the Rockets are trying to downplay it, McGrady is coming back, sooner than later, and he'll be that piece either to take the Rockets to the playoffs or determine if they're one of the worst teams in the league.

Playoffs, a goal in which many analysts and experts feel is an unrealistic goal would likely cap off another year in which McGrady's impact gets magnified due to his teammates getting injured, ala 06-07 and 07-08.

I think people are truly forgetting the caliber player he was, even in those seasons, let alone in the early 2000's.

"I will be in uniform for the Rockets this upcoming season, I guarantee you that, and I will be a lot better than I was last year. I will be back to the player that I once was."

Talk is usually cheap, especially with McGrady, but with the Rockets season supposedly in jeopardy, to even the biggest McGrady hater that's a Rockets fan, it has to be music to their ears.

T-Mac will be back, and the Rockets will successfully go under the radar, a role McGrady has both failed and fared successful in the past.

Time will only tell, until then, it's a classic wait-and-see approach, definitely one of the more underlooked NBA headlines going into next season.