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Should Morey just have let T-mac's contract expire?

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by LCII, Feb 22, 2011.

  1. LCII

    LCII Contributing Member

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    Everyone including me thought the Tmac/Landry-Martin swap was genius at the time. Not only did the Rockets acquire a premier scoring SG, they also landed draft picks from the Knicks.

    However, time eroded the genius of the trade. Martin's defense and non-factor in the 4th was exposed without the presence of Yao, and the Knicks landed Amare (and now Melo...), making their draft picks just as mediocre as our own.

    Should Morey just have let T-mac's contract expire?

    Yao and Battier's contracts come off the books this summer. By 2012, we should virtually be free of big contracts. 2012 is the next 'big' FA summer. If we didnt have Kevin Martin, we could've attracted at least two of those big FAs, one of them being CP3 or DWill. Perhaps Morey will get rid of Kevin Martin before the summer of 2012 rolls around.
     
  2. RV6

    RV6 Contributing Member

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    This is like doubting picking dream over MJ because we didn't win 6 rings. The trade was a good one, period.
     
  3. worzel gummidge

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    Teams would trade expirings for Martin in a heartbeat.
     
  4. TheGM

    TheGM Contributing Member

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    Sacrifice Martin, Hill and a 1st Rounder for a chance at FA 2 years later...

    The Knicks getting Melo and Amare has nothing to do with the deal. They were already capable of doing that. They did the trade to be able to sign 2 FA in the summer of 2010 instead of one in 2010 and one in 2011. They didn't think LeBron would wait a year for someone to join him.

    They didn't do that, so it turned out to be a terrible trade for them.

    The Rockets however would definitely do the trade even if the picks become less valuable. Still a lot more of a sure thing than FA.
     
  5. rockets934life

    rockets934life Contributing Member

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    Problem with that is if you deal Martin then the squad looks even LESS attractive to max players so it's a catch 22. Now, if you could move Martin for a young player with serious upside then it might change the appearance of this team for one of those guys.
     
  6. sealclubber1016

    Supporting Member

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    Martin's contract is easy to unload, so if we wanted to go the FA route, we could trade him for a bag of beans. His contract isn't a problem, we really traded Landry for him, not McGrady.

    When it's all said and done, we traded T-mac for a mediocre 1st rd pick and Jordan Hill. Not as good as it once looked, but better than just letting him walk.
     
  7. ryano2009

    ryano2009 Member

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    What's your point..? we weren't going resign Mcgrady anyway, instead we got something in return :confused:
     
  8. thetatomatis

    thetatomatis Member

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    Id rather have the first round pick. There might be something there still. We dont know how that pick figures in our future just yet. Nor do we know what Hill might help us get or how much he will play for us at a high level yet.
     
  9. Grimm920

    Grimm920 Member

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    Looks like NY's GM out smarted Morey
     
    1 person likes this.
  10. Dei

    Dei Member

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    Exactly.
     
  11. TXRoxBBall

    TXRoxBBall Member

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    Having two 2012 1st round picks, regardless of where theyend up being is good. You can just about always package those to move up.
     
  12. Raw Texas

    Raw Texas Member

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    Having picks plus getting a little sonething in prospects. It was a good trade. Martin is the pure two gaurs everybody was crying to have or get when tmac was here. Everybody on these threads needs to just stop crying and deal with these moves that you have no control over. I thought this site was for rockets fans, not rockets haters.
     
  13. DCkid

    DCkid Contributing Member

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    I have absolutely no worry that Martin will prevent any future moves from happening. The trade was a win for the Rockets, unfortunately it was a bigger win for the Knicks. Rockets lost nothing and gained a mid to late first-round pick. I don't know about you, but I'll take a first round pick for nothing...even if it's the 30th pick. Unless there were other deals out there, then I would do the trade again.
     
  14. BimaThug

    BimaThug Resident Capologist
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    A couple of additional points:

    --You CANNOT separate the "T-Mac to New York" part of the trade from the "Carl Landry for Kevin Martin" part of the trade. The Rockets COULD NOT have traded with Sacramento without using McGrady's contract as part of a three-team trade. So, neglecting to include Kevin Martin (one of the top scorers in the entire league) in the discussion of "what the Rockets got for McGrady" is ludicrous.

    --In addition to all the "stuff" that the Rockets got in the McGrady trade, they also got under the luxury tax threshold in the process, saving millions of dollars in the process. (THAT was one of the things that made that trade so amazing. Teams that get the best player in a trade seemingly NEVER also reduce salary. Morey managed to do both, plus get the best prospect in the trade too (Hill), at the time, at least.) The money that Les saved in that deal is a big part of the reason WHY the Rockets are willing to part with the insurance savings from Yao's contract in deals right now. People always seem to forget this aspect of the McGrady trade.

    --Like others have said, Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire would both likely be New York Knicks as of this Thursday, REGARDLESS of whether the Knicks made the McGrady trade or not. The Knicks already had enough cap room for one max guy. Amare signed with New York without any promises about getting a second superstar. The Knicks would have had EVEN BETTER assets to trade to Denver if the McGrady trade never happened. It basically boils down to the difference between being able to trade Raymond Felton (the ONLY actual benefit of the McGrady deal for New York) vs. Jordan Hill (who might have inflated stats playing in D'Antoni's system, even on limited minutes), Jared Jeffries's expiring contract and the flexibility to trade multiple first round picks (e.g., their 2011 and 2013 picks OR their 2012 and 2014 picks, instead of just their 2014 pick).


    Bottom line: Regardless of whether the 2011 pick swap generates anything, and regardless of whether the 2012 pick is a very late first rounder or not, the McGrady trade was still a very good deal for the Rockets. It only turns out now that it wasn't quite the "violation" of the Knicks that many joked about it being at the time. And that is just with the benefit of hindsight. Most experts were making reasonable assumptions that this trade would turn out much better for the Rockets than it will probably end up being. But it was still a very positive trade for Houston.
     
    3 people like this.
  15. emjohn

    emjohn Contributing Member

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    Are you seriously trying to imply that we would've been better off
    (a) last summer
    (b) now
    (c) going forward
    By putting up with 4 additional months of McGrady drama and still not being able to draw in a major FA over the summer? Chris Paul and Deron Williams, like all the rest, want to land in NY/LA/Mia. Houston, like the other 25+ teams in the league, is invisible to the Superfriends.

    Sucking even worse now wouldn't exactly change that.
     
  16. REEKO_HTOWN

    REEKO_HTOWN I'm Rich Biiiiaaatch!

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    soooo, instead of taking a look at Hill and getting an extra 2012 draft pick we'd just get nothing?
     
  17. LongTimeFan

    LongTimeFan Contributing Member

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    I just don't understand this line of reasoning with some fans. How in the world was he outsmarted? The worst you could say about the deal is:

    -When it first happened, it looked like the Rockets ripped off the Knicks.
    -In hindsight, the Rockets just made a good deal (Hill+2012 1st) for an expiring contract
     
  18. krosfyah

    krosfyah Contributing Member

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    Plus everybody wants to start bashing Morey now but Morey inherited TMac and Yao. If those guys remained healthy...

    We had two top 10 players on the team. TWO. We basically got pennies on the dollar for what their "potential" worth should be had been if they remained top 10 players. Four years ago if I told you that we'd lose Yao and TMac and all we get back in return is KMart and a pick then Sura Faints.

    Given the circumstances, Morey has done well.
     
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  19. BONIERO1576

    BONIERO1576 Member

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    Besides, this year we don't get a pick we only had the option to flip them if they picked higher correct? So now we still keep our pick and we have two first rounders next season. The one thing I like about Morey is that he is not being rushed into a bad move. Everything on our roster is "liquid" so to speak, everything is tradeable. So we could tank and start the youth movement Thursday or we can make another move that puts us right back in the mix. We have a lot of flexibility which is more than you can say for most over the teams hovering around .500.
     
  20. trueroxfan

    trueroxfan Member

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    no, we would have only gotten like 10 mil from his contract right? i dont think we would have been players on the fa market even with that money, so we traded away contracts for a scorer and potential high draft picks, we may not get high draft picks but we still got a good player in return for an expiring so i still think the trade benefited us, plus i think w/ a healthy yao (which is what they were hoping for this season) makes this team very respectable.

    things didnt turn out the way we hoped, but i dont know what we would have done otherwise with his contract, who else could we have signed?
     

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