[Shreveport Times] McGrady deal looks like a steal

It is funny to watch the media jumping on the bandwagon so fast.

Hold on tight ClutchFans, this bandwagon is going to get crowded.

 

I don't know about "fast." It's taken over 3/4 of the season and the 4th best record since, I believe, Dec. 1 to finally get noticed.

 

In essence, this is how the trade ended up:

Houston gets:
Tracy McGrady
Juwon Howard
Jon Barry
Mike James

Orlando gets:
Steve Francis
Doug Christie
Kelvin Cato

TRADE ACCEPTED

Can you imagine if some newbie would have posted a trade scenario like this in the GARM a year ago? We would have piled on with "why would Orlando do this horrible trade?" and "Clutch, can we do something about these newbies starting the threads with all these ridiculous trade scenarios?" Yet this is how the trade actually ended up.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

 

This team was hyped to be a contender as soon as the deal was pulled. Despite their disappoint start, they have been put on National TV more times then nearly any other team. I don't think there's much room to complain about the media, especially if you ask Suns or Spurs fans...

 

Clutch, you are right. It kind is amazing how no one really is talking more about that trade. The bulk of the talk has been what CD has done in terms of "in season" trades which have been huge. But what started it all was the Tmac deal. And when you look at where this franchise is going now and where the Magic franchise is going, it really is amazing.

Honestly, the Magic probably would be better off if they rebuild with young players versus trying to tread water.

Ultimately though, the Rockets/Magic deal while it looks bad now, the reality is it will CONTINUE to look bad throughout this summer as I believe the Magic will try to trade Francis this summer. And you can BANK on the fact that once again Weisass will get 50 cents on the dollar in that trade. And then we can once again break down the deal even more!

As an example, I believe that the Grizzlies, longing to add another star player to their team to match with Gasol, will probably inquire about Francis. I am sure West sees this as an opportunity to steal a talented player.

I could see the Grizzlies offer the Magic for Francis a deal that would include Jason Williams and a S&T Bonzi Wells (or S&T Wells and S&T Watson).

That would give the Magic a quality SG and a more pass first PG which is what they want. But "talentwise" the Grizzlies would be getting the better end of the deal. Think about what the Magic are doing in their trades. Their trades always seem to try to "plug a hole" without taking into account that they are on the losing end of the "talent" stick. The Mobley/Christie and Battie/Gooden & Varejo deals come to mind.

Anyway.....THEN, the breakdown would look like this

Tmac, Howard, James, Barrry
for
J. Williams, Wells, Christie, Cato.

So if you think the deal breaks down bad now, it could get a lot worse!

 

I don't think it should be much of a surprise that the Rockets came away as the big winners, though. While McGrady is obviously the best player in the deal, they come out way ahead with the McGrady/Juwan combo just on the fact that their games are so different from each other, while Steve/Cuttino are kind of redundant.
Even though I always thought that Steve and Cuttino would be better served playing on different teams, I thought they would do well for the Magic in the East. I think what the whole scenario shows is how fragile Steve is mentally and why he would never have gotten us over the hump. I'm just glad another team got to find out how detrimental to Steve the breakup would be.
Now that Steve's stock is down, it will be interesting to see who the Magic get for him when Weisbrod trades him. Then we'll see who they essentially got for Tmac.

 

No question, I would have been BEGGING for Clutch to ban them. Wow. Don't forget, Sura was also part of that deal. The Rockets signed him to help fill the need at the PG spot with Francis being dealt away. Amazing.

 

great trade for both parties. CD should get Exec of the Year for the pieces he acquired after the trade, Weisass should be fired for the moves he made after the trade (Cat for a broken down Christie???).

 

Although, you could say we might have went after Sura anyway because we still didn't have a backup PG.

 

Yes, don't forget Sura when you think about the TMac deal. And don't forget the subsequent Barry and Wesley deals. But if you're going to list all the don't forgets among CD's deals, don't forget this little blip on national radar that is totally laughable now:

Pike and Griffin to the Bulls for...

DEKE !!


How awesome has it been having Mutombo on this team? Watching him have so much fun makes this CD's most "enjoyable" acquisition for me.

 

Sura wouldn't have signed here to be Francis' backup, given the numbers he put up as a Hawk. We wouldn't have signed him at that money to be a backup for a superstar.

Charlie Ward on the other hand...I think CD was just proving he's not completely infallible. Didn't want to scare off the other GMs, hehe.

 

Interesting you mention that. If you''ll recall about 4 years ago when SF came to Houston, SF made a remark about how the Logo had sat down with him and told him that he had a chance to be a great one. I've always wondered if he was just being nice or one day would try and acquire him.

 

If I had to guess I would say that Charlie Ward was more JVG than CD. But the length of the contract is the biggest questionmark.

 

Add Deke, you see the whole picture. Accquiring Deke is also the logical sequence after sending out Cato.

Anyway, don't forget that ALL was possible just because TMac wanted to go to Rox, and we all know why. Good for TMac, wonderful for Rox.

 

You raise a good point RM. With Steve as our incosistant star, it was hard to build around him. Once we had more predictable players, it was easier to define, then fill in the gaps.

 

Jeez...I hope that doesn't happen. The Grizzlies might actually get him to play unselfishly. I don't like facing them now....I would hate facing them with a well playing SF3.

 

Surely I'm not the only one who would find it hilarious if Steve winds up suiting up for the Grizzlies after all?

 

Clutch,

Read this thread started by me in Nov 2003, and let me know what you think:

http://bbs2.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=69129&highlight=mcgrady

 

my hat off to u! time always tells everything.......