Yao and T-Mac: The Sad Partnership that Came and Went | IXGAMES

The thought of having a center that stands 7 feet 5 inches to play and an all-around player that has been named in the NBA All-Star team for a number of years may be a coach’s and team owner’s dream come true.  Yet, the pair-up, which should now have been immortalized in the annals of NBA’s history as one of the most formidable, has been underperforming for the past seasons already.  This is the case of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets.  When they became teammates in 2004, the giant from China and the all-around NBA player supposedly meant greatness for the Rockets, but it has been five years, and very minimal results have been seen with the two.  In the textbook sense of it, the two players are supposed to complement each other’s skills.  Yao would be the go-to man on the inside, and T-Mac would be the operator in the external territory.  Since 2004, however, the two players have been alternating in the injury list and fast forward to 2010, not much has been seen with the two of them.  Worse, McGrady is getting rusty and old. T-Mac and Yao’s injuries T-Mac finally got better from the microfracture surgery he had, and he has just returned to playing just recently.  Alas, when T-Mac is back, it is Yao who is out of the league, and he will not be back until the next season.  But then again, the Rockets have been able to thrive even without their two star players, much to the surprise of Coach Rick Adelman.  After the 2009-2010 season, McGrady will be a free agent.  Sources in the team say that there is not much chance of him getting signed again by the Rockets.  Alas, the supposed formidable team-up will never be seen again.  There go the dreams of greatness Houston aspired for – no championships and only a few play-off appearances to show off during the T-Mac-Yao era. Other promising team-ups that didn’t deliver Alas, they were not the only NBA duo who fell short of expectations, something that the great team-ups of Malone-Stockton or even Kobe-Shaq have overcome.  For example, the Mavericks’ twosome of Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash never optimized their potential especially since they had to contend with the Lakers’ Kobe and Shaq and the one-man team effort of Tim Duncan in San Antonio.  In 2003, they were close to getting their team through to the finals when Dirk got injured and was off the play-offs.  Alas, Nash did not get re-signed and transferred to Phoenix, ending the partnership. Other potentially explosive pair-ups that did not deliver include Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker of the Boston Celtics, Ray Allen and “Big Dog” Robinson of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandle of the Bulls.  Indeed, the Rockets’ misfire tandem may not be the first in history to not fan out, but Yao and T-Mac may be the costliest, knowing the million-dollar figures that their contracts included.