I am very disappointed of the numerous Rockets fans advocating a trade for T-Mac. To these people I ask a question. Do you people actually think one man will fix the Rockets' problems and dramatically lift this team deep into the playoffs next year? Do you people actually believe this? Who will the Rockets have after a blockbuster deal for Mcgrady? Tyrone Lue at the point? Unless we make a move for a solid point guard we will have no point. Give me a break. If this move is made, the Rockets are saying we can't win with this current team and we must rebuild with the Yao/Mcgrady era. Beyond that our bench would still be thin and our ability to acquire other free agents would be even more slim considering how much mcgrady makes. I believe we should take caution in regards to this matter. I think this hype surrounding Mcgrady leads many to believe that he's some kind of godsend or messiah. He is but one man and he cannot turn us around. The process would only take longer. There is a possibility we may not even reach the playoffs next year.Aand if you people want to sit around for 2-3 more years for us to be a dominant team then go ahead and root for this trade. But I don't have patience. I believe you must build some continuity in your teams in order to make them into a title contender. The T-mac deal would onyl obstruct that process we had going on this year. It is detrimental to the team chemistry and does nothing for the Rockets. What the Rockets need is good denfender at the 3, a solid starting big man at the 4, and a 6th man point guard. If we can address those needs we are in good shape to go beyond the 1st round. I was thinking perhaps a Stephen Jackson, or Posey in a deal. Dampier is a good option. Van Exel I think still has some basketball in him. Of course Barry and Mcgloire are good options. If we can some of these players and keep Franchise I believe we are in good shape. As I said before Cat is expendable since he makes terrible decisions and is inconsistent.
If you would read through the million other posts regarding McGrady instead of just starting your own thread, you'de realize trading for McGrady is for the future. Who cares who our point guard is next year, we're not trying to win it all next year. It's not like we were going to contend next year as it is anyway. Pretty much, yea. I'm glad you were able to figure that one out. Uh, wrong. Teams over the cap receive the MLE every year. Considering it's risen to almost $5mill/yr now, that's more than enough to attract a quality player annually. I was tempted to stop reading your post after it this blatant disregard for the facts, but I'll keep going. Whoever said he's a messiah? The anti-TMac crowd has this completely wrong. It's not about him turning the team around. It's about building a team for the future that can realistically contend for the next 10 years. Like the continuity that we've had for the last 5 years? Chemistry? What chemistry? The same chemistry that has this team at the top of the league in turnovers and making the same mistakes year in year out? Right. Did you just now see what Kobe and Shaq's Lakers did to Garnett's Wolves? Superstars win championships in this league, not depth.
If you think that Superstars win championships, you are a fool. You must have a superstar on your team, but not necessarily two. Look at Duncan's 03 team. I think Franchise and Yao are marginal Superstars and can indeed be superstars next year and beyond. IF we involve in a blockbuster deal we h ave nothing and cannot do anything with a 5 million exception. What can we get with 5 million? Our problems surpass just getting one superstar. We need a solid bench and good defenders at the 3 and 4. We learned this from the Lakers recent run. Until we get that we are nothing and will be nothing. T-mac is one man. So understand that buddy.
Yes believe it or not we do have chemistry. You don't break up a team to rebuild new chemistry. We have some players who do play together. Franchise and Yao are learning this and a player or two can dramatically change a complexiity of a team. Look at Detroit over the past three years with RIP and Billups. We are a player or two away from becoming very good and this rushing into to get one man who has proven nothing except his ability to score is really distracting and ridiculous.
the only way i would want to keep steve is if i know he worked on his jumper. if he can become a 3pt threat then keep him and look for a good back up PG like eric snow, or sign someone like damon jones. the one real argument we have about keeping steve no matter what is the fact that he is the heart of our team. there is no doubt hes our leader. i love steve because he is willing to fight for his teamates w/o regard to who he is stepping up to. we all remember the elbow to amare. tmac and yao dont have that in them. however i would still do that trade.
You're right. Just ask the Kings. But superstars don't win championships. If you think Superstars win championships, you are a fool. And this is because......? The Lakers got Gary Payton with that amount. Cuttino Mobley makes $5mill. We lost James Posey for a little more than that amount. Sigh. Why do I even bother replying? WE'RE NOT BUILDING FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP NEXT YEAR, THERE IS NO WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY, THIS IS ABOUT BUILDING A TEAM THAT CAN CONTEND FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS, WE'RE LAYING THE GROUNDWORK, AND CAN ADD PLAYERS LATER. No. What we learned from the Lakers recent run is having 2 of the top 5 players in basketball usually increases your odds at winning a championship. You know what else we learned? When you have 2 of the top 5 players in basketball, other players want to play with them and will come sign with you for cheap. I hope that answers your question as to who we can get for $5million.
You're an idiot thacabbage. Who in this league has 2 of the top 5 players in this league besides the lakers. This is what makes them so special and dominant. Mcgrady is not a top 5 player since he has no playoff credentials and has not proven he can play with a big man. Yao is not a top 5 player and will not be for at least 2-3 more years if he ever will be. The Lakers didn't beat the wolves with Kobe and shaq alone. They won with George playing well, Rush, Fisher. Do we have that? Hell no. We are just a couple players away I believe and this fire sell aint gonna do it. I disagree with you but I'm not that childish and foolish to say you're WRONG and use the word NO in my arguments.
you must have been real bored to carefully orchestrate such an asinine thread. i hope that the rockets are trying to build a contending team and not a team that 'can just make it out of the 1st round'
if you think that they played well because they're that good then you are sorely mistaken. that's why having 2 of the best players on your team PLUS 2 HOFers makes things easier on everyone else...because they can command a double/triple team WHICH, in turn, frees up open shots for the role players. Yao and Francis don't command that kind of defense/respect. TMac can and does.
I have to agree with the T-Mac flood of threads being complete nonsense. Francis stepped up, and than stepped up again being a monster through the playoffs. What has Tracy done for the team he's played on? He reminds me of AI, all shoot, no defense. Also, the Magic dwell at the absolute bottom of the EAST! Besides the fact, the left his cousin, Vince, up in Toronto for more shots and money, where the two of them could have been an unstoppable combo. I'm sorry, I'm all for keeping the team together, and adding a solid power forward that can rebound/shoot and upgrading the bench. Definitely getting someone to filter through the guard positions, so Francis/Mobley aren't top 5 in minutes every year. Besides, we have the 6.9 trade exception still to dangle around too.
That is sort of a point; leaving Toronto, where many experts were saying they were beginning another Jordan/Pippen string. But, in his defense, while he admits that personal glory was part of it, he also believed that Hill and possibly Duncan were coming to Orlando, which would and should have been an incredibly successfull team. Even without Duncan, had Hill stayed healthy they would have been pretty formidable. SO I don;t think it's fair to say he doesn't care about winning as evidenced by this decision.
I'm sorry but McGrady has more playoff experience then both yao and steve combined, and when has he even had a chance to play w/ a legitmate bigman. I know you're trying to start an agenda but you can't just go around making stuff up. I'm all for keeping steve especially seeing him step up his game in the playoffs, but when a legitmate Top 5 player like McGrady says he's available, I don't see how anyone can not even look into it. I hope you never become a GM
Don't worry about it man...Take all these factors into account and you have all this non-sense: the Rockets offseason is heading into its 2nd month, the NBA is coming to an end, the NFL is a few months away, MLB is boring as hell as usual, T-Mac toying with the Magic & media, and the fact that fans dislike Francis and have been itching to get rid of him since mid-season. It's fun to discuss trades and free agent signings but let's be realistic. T-Mac is one of the best players in the league, he won't be had that easily and I don't think would fit in here. The same people who cry that Steve and others don't pass the ball to Yao enough want to trade for a guy who has to shoot 23-24 shots/game (Francis only attempted 14 shots/game this season). The argument will be made that he has no one else on the team to help him therefore he has to shoot that much; if that's the case why did he leave Toronto where he had Vince Carter to help? Peace.
In his *ahem* 18 career playoff games, McGrady has averaged 29.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.44 steals, and 1.17 blocks a game. All of those...all are significantly higher than Kobe Bryant's career plaoff averages. ( 21.8, 4.9, 4.4, 1.33, .75).
So you want to stick with SF and dump Cat b/c he makes terrible decisions and is inconsistent. That statement is a complete contradiction. I personally felt that Cat adapted to JVG system and playing alongside Yao better than SF did.
Yes, but didn't you see the monster series that SF had. W/o him we couldn't have gotten that one win we managed in the first round. (Didn't really want to take away from SF excellent first round, but it still got us nowhere.)
LOL. This is becoming laughable. Yesss.......do I need to sound out each syllable for you? You just said yourself the Lakers are special because they have 2 of the top 5 players in the league. This is why the Rockets need to add McGrady - to give themselves a chance at also having 2 of the top 5 players. So they can also be "so special and dominant". Like you just said. He's averaged 29ppg during his playoff career. I don't even know what you're getting at about not playing with a big man. I know. Yes. They are about to win the championship for the 4th time in 5 years because of the great play of George, Rush, and Fisher. Right. Those guys have definitely stepped up but role players can be found anywhere. Rush, Fisher, and George were all late first round Laker draft picks. Surprise! The Rockets also by virtue of being an NBA team are awarded draft picks every year! I'm not going to bother posting in this thread anymore, so don't worry about replying to this post.
