RR - You are building up a straw man and subjecting it to a hatchet job. Noone said Francis' teams sucked because of him. But that team was going nowhere. They couldn't even bring the ball down the court against a full court press, much less handle a zone defense. He was a fundamentally flawed player. Unless the offense was built completely around him, to where he could take a few dribbles before making his move, he is completely useless and incredibly inefficient. McGrady, despite his shooting woes, is an incredible passer and gives you numerous options. And his presence on the court makes Yao a better player. You don't serious believe this do you? Gel into what? Mediocrity? That team had a very set ceiling. And the statement that "we traded 3 starters for 1 and never recovered" is completely preposterous. Our lack of depth in the present day is in NO way casually related to that trade but rather other peripheral issues. Last I checked, Cato and Francis aren't in or are barely in the league, and Cuttino is going on 35.
Oh yeah, I remember you... the PROOF you are looking for is out W-L record with both in the lineup Oh, and defense does win championships Signed, Boston
Illogical. Having both in the lineup simply means we have more offensive and defensive abilities. It does not mean that their games complement each other's. As I've already shown, they dont. And yes, defense is important. But you cant win without offense. Signed, Any team that has ever won a game
Tell me, my friends, does the team who scores more points win the game? Or does the team who allows more points lose the game? Is the class half empty? or half full? Back to the thread though, IMO this team can make a deep playoff run. With another year under Adelman's system, a healthy Mac, Yao and Landry, this team can go places. I definitely think that adding a third scorer would put us over the top, however i dont see where its going to come from, and plus, havign a healthy Scolandry may be sufficient anyway. However, if you look at the West atm, outside of maybe the Lakers, what other team can you confidently say is going to make a deep run to the WCF and beyond? All teams have their kryptonite. Whether it be health (Spurs/every other team), experience (Blazers), chemistry (Mavs, Suns), depth (Hornets), or winning away from home (Utah) every team is going to struggle at some point through the year, for various reasons. Sometimes you just cant beat bad luck. IMO, with a bit of luck and maybe one more shooter other than Barry, this team can make a very deep run in the playoffs this year.
ive been saying over and over that tmac needs to come off the bench when yao goes to it, he needs to come in with landry, i think it'll work beautifully yao+tmac and 3 starters = good starting team, thin bench yao+ 4 starters and tmac+4 bench players = good starting team, good bench my logic is irrefutable
