I was having a bit of a think, and I wonder why in the world did they trade McGrady?? I'm not saying that the trade was bad for them - I think it has been good for all involved, but I did a "speculatory lineup" for them without the trade and I was a little surprised! SF Grant HILL PF Dwight HOWARD C Tony BATTIE SG Tracy McGRADY PG Tyronn LUE Bench PG Jameer NELSON GF Hedo TURKOGLU PF Juwon HOWARD F Pat GARRITY SG DeShawn STEVENSON SF Stacey AUGMON C Brandon HUNTER I know it would be a mildly "centreless" team - but why would they need one? And PG would be an issue this year - but isn't Nelson highly touted?? Ok - so Tracey wanted out! And I am certainly not going to complain that we got him! But it seems that there is a certain amount of depth to that lineup if he had stuck around....
Grant Hill being in that lineup was never a sure thing... and his return is a very big reason why they're over .500.
Compare that to this year's team: PG: Francis SG: Christie SF: Grant Hill PF: Dwight Howard C: Cato Backup team: PG: Jameer Nelson SG: Stevenson SF: Hedo PF: Pat Garrity C: Tony Battie Their backups alone are better than the Hawk starters. This trade benefited both us and Orlando.
Had Orlando kept TMac, they would have drafted Okafor instead of Howard. I'd say a team with TMac, OKafor, Hill, and their bench would be a top three team in the East.
As was pointed out, the fact Grant Hill is playing is a small miracle. The team Orlando expected to field was probably something like: SF Hedo TURKOGLU PF Dwight HOWARD C Kelvin CATO SG Cuttino MOBLEY PG Steve FRANCIS Which looks better than a team whose only scorers are Tracy and Hedo, and who has Tyronn Lue running the point.
They traded him b/c he did NOT want to be there and threatened to leave after the season as he was going to be a free agent. I recall him saying that he did NOT want to play with Okafor or Howard b/c he didn't want to "rebuild" again. He wanted them to trade the pic for proven vets. Oh well, its all in the past now. Peace.
Any team with Lue running the point is in trouble I guess it all came down to Tracy not wanting to be there!
