Does anyone think Orlando realizes they made a mistake trading McGrady? I'm happy the Rockets have him, but it's interesting to think about what a combination of McGrady and Howard could do in a mediocre Eastern Conference.
They could of gotten better from other teams but they were going to trade McGrady no matter what. He wanted to leave.
Tmac personally wanted out, said if they didn't trade him he would opt out as a free agent after his contract. Theres not too much they could do.
Not to be a dick but are you serious? Francis quit and is now in NY, They traded Cat for nothing and Cato is worthless. So they basically gave us TMac and took Francis's and Cato's contracts off our hands. I'm sure they are thrilled that Weisbrod was such a brilliant GM
It's no worse than the numerous JVG, Rafer Alston, or V-Span threads that normally appear on the board.
their GM is an idiot, but how good would the combo of Tmac/Dwight be?? no where near as good as the combo of Tmac/Yao...
I ask the question because it's something that's never been discussed in depth. Most of the Orlando media was critical of McGrady immediately following his departure, feeding off of Weisbrod's angry and short-sighted words. It would be interesting- two and half seasons after the fact- to see some type of analysis of the trade, and how it has affected each team, particularly the Magic. Even as Howard continues to develop, the Magic lack a primary scorer who can get his shot at any time, against any defender. It goes without saying that McGrady is that type of player, and likely would have the Magic in an excellent position to win the Eastern Conference were he still in Orlando. And, keep in mind that McGrady did say his reason for wanting to leave was soley because of his differences with Weisbrod, not because he didn't want to play in Orlando.
No, it wouldn't, but that's not the point. Orlando plays in a medicore conference, and would have an excellent opportunity to reach the NBA Finals if they still had McGrady, to go along with Howard, Nelson, and Hill.
It's really nothing that we need to worry ourselves with anymore. We have T-Mac and we need T-Mac on this team to have any chance of doing anything worthy in the postseason. On the other hand, Orlando has done a nice job loading up on cheap, young talent and will be in a much better financial situation once Hill's contract comes off the books. But Orlando is a talented team now and have a good product, they're just too young yet to learn how to consistently win in this league, but it will come with time. As for the crowd, the lurking T-Mac fans in Orlando are coming out of the closet and filling up their arena now when we play them. Everywhere you look there are red/white #1 jerseys in the crowd and a lot of cheering fans for McGrady and the Rockets. Orlando still got love for T-Mac, their sports writers just prefer to ignore that reality. That being said, anyone has a link to game coverage in the Orlando media? I want some comic relief...
this article kinda discusses it.. http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070225/SPORTS/702250331
if tmac had stayed, there would have been no Howard in Orlando. Sometimes its good to cut your losses and move on. Oh, and thank you once again Weisbrod....you, sir, are a genius (i swear)
I maybe wrong on this, I'm too lazy to check on when Tmac got traded to the Rockets but if he was traded before the 2004 draft, he may of played for them that season and got them a better record which meant they would not of picked up the #1 pick and they would not of Howard. But all that depends on McGrady getting traded before the 2004 draft and as I said, I'm too lazy to find out the date Tmac was traded to the Rox.
Rhetorical? They should have traded their 2004 No.1 pick, plus their 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014 first round picks, plus Disney World for Yao Ming so Tmac would have stayed in Orlando.
You're correct. I didn't actually expect any responses, but since people were so eager to answer, the thread has taken a completely different direction than I intended.
