Sounds good..I see us getting Derek Fisher..which would be a good fit. We already have a decent backup, Tyronn Lue. And I agree..I don't want to give too much for Brent Barry even though he would be nice. Bruce Bowen? I would love to get Stephen Jackson if he's available..either one. Jumaine Jones is pretty good too. We still have Bostjan Nachbar and Adrian Griffin. How about Scott Padgett? Jimmy will still be a solid starter. Power forwards..Juwan Howard, Maurice Taylor, and Clarence Weatherspoon. I think Howard and Taylor can handle the power forward position...but I'd love to get at least one of the big men you named. YAO MING AND TMAC!
I Don't see Brent Barry in our system. He is a good scorer and shooter, but that is all. We want a true PG and one who can defend. Fisher is the best option if he is willing, but he might be too much. If that is the case we might have to deal with a sub par PG and rely on T-mac for most the ball handling and bring the ball up court. A sacrifice I could live with a season. But we need a PG in the eyes of the JVG system and willing to ba a passer and defender.
my worry about depth is we will have spent all our tradeable commodities on one trade. by all means do the the deal, even if it includes boki, but then we're left with nothing but the MLE and TE to fill both the backup center and point guard spots. sorry, ADC won't cut it for me for the former, and no combination of lue, gaines, ollie,or wilkes is enough to fill the latter. hell, they'd all be third string behind moochie on my depth chart. moreover, the 4 spot will still require an upgrade. neither mo nor JuwannaMan is enough of a thug to watch Yao's back, and noone will take them off our hands in a trade. get TMac, but we'll have to be significant players in the FA market to fill out the rest of the team.
Agreed, and I think that the biggest piece of the puzzle is no PG...That scares me a lot and to think we can just slam one in there and hope the chemistry works is why I truly do not like this deal...Given another year, with the same crew, would have really told the whole story...After that, I'd entertain the trade offers...
OK here's my take on this deal. I kinda like it but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. First of all, depending on WHICH T-Mac we get (the good T-Mac of years past or the bad T-Mac of last year), we have significantly upgraded our 2 position to Kobesque levels. T-Mac can score, pass and run with abandon. He'll need to work on his D but JVG should improve his defensive attitude. T-Mac is great but let's face it: the Rockets problems were not at the 2 but at the 1, 3 & 4. With T-Mac, they still have holes at the 1 & 4. The players they got from the Magic do not help address these deficiencies meaning that we must take it on faith that an organization that has done such an abysmal job at acquring talent will somehow suddenly start getting it right. That requires far more faith in CD & Co. than I currently possess. Even though the proposed Phoenix deal was a much better deal, Orlando was able to clear their bench of deadwood and get a jump on rebuilding. They came out OK - all three of the players we sent them are tradable commodities and I would not be surprised to see them shopped around the league. However, the Rockets did not get all much besides McGrady. The Rockets now have Howard & Mo Taylor at PF (ughh!) and Lue/Wilks at PG (ughh ughh!). Gaines is a nonentity - he's simply awful from what I've seen. He's a no. 1 pick who could not get any playing time on a last place team who was left unprotected in the expansion draft. Had Orlando truly believed in his "potential" they would not have traded him so I don't expect much to come from him - another bench anchor to go along with A. Griffin. Lue is an upgrade at backup PG but he is no match for the Bibbys, Nashs & Parkers of the Western Conference so you are still looking for a 1. All in all, it was an OK trade - one that should get them up into the 48-52 win level. Good for making the playoffs but not nearly enough to make them true contenders.
Lue is a very good defensive PG against guys his size like... Bibby, Nash, Tony Parker, Cassell, Fisher He is not going to be the next Stockon when he has the ball but he will not dominate it and he will not dribble it off his foot trying a spinning triple crossover either. All he has to do is run with McGrady, JJ or Boki, bring it up and initiate the offense without turnovers and play defense. On offense the other team must Guard Yao, TMac, JJ, and Howard or MoT. All our PG needs to do is play defense and play smart.
