McGrady's practicing again, but how long will it be before he's fully back in action?
McGrady was reportedly in a shouting match with head coach Rick Adelman on Wednesday before the Rockets squared-off with the Minnesota Timberwolves, as McGrady was upset over not being on the active roster.
According to sources through Yahoo! Sports, McGrady is healthy enough and more than able to suit-up for the Rockets, and possibly even since this summers, but the franchise won’t have anything to do with him.
While McGrady is largely upset over not being able to play, despite feeling able, he (and others) are also beginning to wonder if his inactive status has less to do with the team wanting or not wanting him on the court, and more to do with collecting insurance money.
According to a Yahoo! Sports column by Adrian Wojnarowski, the Rockets can collect up to 80% of McGrady’s salary under the NBA’s Temporary Total Disability (TTD) insurance policy, but can only do so if the start shooting guard has missed 41 consecutive games.
Dating back to last February, McGrady recorded his 42nd missed game this past Wednesday, allowing the Rockets to officially meet their quota. However, it doesn’t appear to be stopping there.
With the speculation on this theory still relatively quiet, the Rockets organization hasn’t been rushed into making a decision on McGrady’s playing status, and will continue to be reimbursed with each passing game.
Considering McGrady is due the NBA’s highest salary for 2009 ($23.2 million), this is starting to make a lot of sense.
Regardless, even if the insurance theory isn’t accurate, there is still some odd reasoning behind McGrady’s inactive status.
He has been adamant about his health and conditioning, going as far as suiting-up in his game jersey and shooting around with the team on Wednesday before the Rockets’ game, only to be turned down by Adelman.
McGrady continues to pledge his readiness to play, and even claims that he had been practicing with NBA stars such as Dwayne Wade and Devin Harris since the summer, which would surely hint that he is more than ready to compete.
Adelman doesn’t seem so convinced, claiming that the team’s idea of “ready” and McGrady’s opinion are simply “different”, and that the former franchise star needs more time to get where he needs to be.
Considering McGrady has missed over 120 games in his six seasons with Houston, it’s hard to argue with the front office’s logic. However, if McGrady truly had been practicing all summer and had even asked to play in the pre-season (as he reportedly did do), the perhaps it’s hard to argue with his logic, as well.
