"I'm a player, man," McGrady told the Houston Chronicle. "I don't make these decisions. I just abide by whatever they bring to me. That's the plan. I'm not going to argue and fight with them -- just run with it. I felt it was time [to increase the routine of playing seven to eight first-half minutes] McGrady said to ESPN.
In the statement McGrady insinuates that he's merely a player, which is a well known fact as he holds no other position with the NBA or Houston Rockets, however he is also a husband and father but that is not entirely the point. The 6 foot 6 guard goes on to state that because he is not a player he doesn't make decisions in regards to his own playing time, that is the coaches job, this is also a fact - Rick Adelman is the Rockets coach and he decided who plays.
McGrady had played 7 and 8 minutes disrespectfully in his last games and tried to talk Adelman into giving him more minutes. This shows that the guard actually tried to control his playing time and thusly he contradicted himself by making that statement.
The League has recently decided to come down hard on all players who make contradictory statements in the press. NBA commissioner David Stern had this to say on the matter: "We will be handing out enormous fines and large amounts of game suspensions for these infractions. But it is not a big deal and players will not feel the effects of it." Stern was later handed a 2 gazillion dollar fine which was later reduced to a 3 dollar fine when it became apparent that gazillion is not a number.
