Would you trade Francis/Cato for Grant Hill/Howard/Lue....

Looks like you actually put some thought into this one (unlike most of the silly trade proposals out there), so I'll give it some "reply lovin..."

If Orlando gets the #1 pick, I don't see why they wouldn't just goto war with McGrady and Okafor (provided his back/shoulder checks out okay), because in the height-challenged East, that would be a team that could win some games.

Plus, the upside on Okafor is much much more than that of Francis or Cato... but, of course there's the chance that Okafor could turn out exactly like Cato is now (although I find that highly doubtful... Emeka is working as hard as ever at his game to become a complete player).

I guess I'm saying I don't believe that Orlando would go for this trade, but any deal that could have us pair up Okafor and Yao for the next 10 years... I'll pretty much be for.

The fact that you have them trading Hill is the ONLY way Orlando would go for this deal... they are DESPARATE to get his contract off the books.

(btw... Hill is another Tony Boselli waiting to happen. He's gonna have a pretty hard time coming back, if at all... and even if he does, he'll never be close to what he once was.)

 

ummm...no.

Tyron Lue will be starting for us? We need an experienced power forward that can protect Yao. Not another young phenom.

 

We'd have to trade Taylor for a backup C.

We'd also need more depth at PG.

But aside from that, I'm cool with it.

Maybe turn around and trade Mo Taylor for Calvin Booth and Antonio Daniels to complete the team.

 

T-Mac doesn't want anymore rookies. They want to keep him happy in his contract year.

 

IMO, Orlando would be insane to do that deal. 2 starters, and potentially the next great big man for Francis and Cato??? I don't think so.

People greatly overrate Cato's value. He is a filler type player, not a center piece.

And Lue is hardly the answer to our PG situation.

 

Well, if you're just looking at pure basketball IQ (which rookies don't normally have), Okafor's is already greater than Francis and Cato's combined.

I think T-mac doesn't want guys like Drew Gooden period (people who think they're the s*** because they were named rookie of the month their very first month in the league).

Okafor is humble, a tenacious worker, and is NOT a problem child by any means. He's almost too nice/good.

 

Hrmmm, but he does have a good point -- taking hill's contract might make them bite...

 

How about we see how far the rockets go in the playoffs before trading away two starters.

 

I don't like the idea. Hill is getting the max contract for 3-4 more years without providing ANY service. A dead weight max contract is hard to unload, and we shouldn't take over the burden from Magic.

 

Well, the reason Orlando WOULD do this deal, and even better, is so they CAN get rid of Hill's contract, which is a huge albatross during the next 3 years. Of course, Hill might be willing to renegotiate his contract too, knowing how things have gone. Who knows. But, if he's not, then I think they would see unloading Hill as a key part of this.

That being said, Francis is a starting all-star, and has more trade value than many here on this board think. I believe in this year's draft, he'd command the #1 pick all by himself, from one of the top three teams, who don't need rookies, but proven star power. I think we could have them bid for Francis, including Chicago and Washington, who each have their own reasons to love him. I think we need to see who'll give us the best package. Its not very often you'll trade a proven all-star for draft picks who MIGHT turn into someone great. In the last 2 years, we've had great #1 picks, but Francis is clearly better than Brown, Martin, Brand, and Olawakandi, the previous 5 #1 picks, although not necessarily better to go with Ming. I don't think anyone is a can't miss in this draft, like a James or Yao. Now, in terms of adding someone around Ming, Brand or Martin might be better, and I'd prefer Okafor. So, if we wanted, I think Orlando would just trade the #1 for Francis, and have to trade us stuff we wanted to take Hill off their hands, just like we did, to get rid of Rice. I bet they'd give us a future #1 pick, as well as their #2 this year, which I'd then use to grab Chris Duhon.

If this trade went down, I'd adjust it to include Stephenson (I like this guy, and think he'll turn into something special, like Redd did), swap 2nd rounders, a future #1, and whatever else we had to send to balance out the trade. The only thing I don't like about it, is getting Lue. I think we need a better PG, and in this deal, we've given up our most valuable trade bait for a top PG, in Cato to an east team who needs a center. So, a better trade might be Francis/Weatherspoon for #1/Hill/Stephenson/swap #2s/2005 pick, then Orlando could trade Howard for their center, and we could trade Cato/exception to get a top PG.

Actually, I think Chicago or Washington would be able to give us a better deal, instead of Lue or Howard. Chicago would probably give us Hinrich, Curry, or Chandler along with the #1. Of course, the key is to get the pick which is used for Okafor.

But, we'll thought out, HT...

 

I would doubt it.

Teams don't get rid of potentially great big men just so they can dump off a bad contract. It has never happened and probably never will.

 

That's a good deal as is; I'd be all over it. However, since that leaves us somewhat thin at PG, do you think they'd throw in Reece Gaines (who, I understand, has been in the doghouse all season) if we throw in a second rounder, maybe Adrian Griffin or bench fodder?

 

HT, I think for Francis/Cato I'd ask for McGrady, Reece Gaines and Zaur Pachulia. Pachulia is the same size and a better shot than Cato, but Cato is the better defensive player. However, we would still have a backup center for Yao Ming.

Francis' starpower shines almost as brightly as McGrady's and has a contract that is in place. Ordinarily McGrady for Francis would not be plausible but Orlando may fear losing McGrady for nothing as they did Shaq. Reese Gaines is the bonus PG, and neither he nor Orlando are happy with each other.

If Orlando is really feeling the McGrady pinch, we might be able to get them to throw in Drew Gooden. They would never give up a really high pick, especially if they are losing McGrady. However, the high picks are Dwight Howard (PF), Okafor (PF) and Josh Smith (SF). I'd be happy to get DeShawn Stevenson rather than Gooden but then they would have a glut of PFs and not enough SGs. Anyway, those are my thoughts.

Oh, no I wouldn't take Hill even for a shot at Dwight Howard or Okafor. And I would take Howard over Okafor because Dwight is bigger, more athletic and a better shot. Okafor comes from the Chris Dudley School of Free Throw Shooting and is rumored to have back problems. That said, choosing between the two would be a nice problem to have.

 

No

 

Hmmm that would be a great deal for you guys actually. Yao and Okafor for the next decade would probably be worth taking on any bad contract. Okafor at 6'10 could back up Yao and a rotation of Yao, Okafor, Taylor and Howard would be real good. Heck, Howard played some center last year in Denver. You can pick up PG with your MLE and keep MJax around one more season as a backup. You might be able to pickup a PG with your trade exception also.

 

No. Grant Hill is most likely never going to play a full season ever again. Howard is a nice player, but I'd rather have Cato/MoT. I can't believe that as much criticism about PG play this season, there is an idea to bring in Lue.

So basically you're talking about getting Okafor and some scrubs. An Okafor/Yao frontcourt would be a nasty duo for the future, but I want to win now and I think SF and Cato would help us more than Howard/Okafor. I'm not sure about Okafor's back problems, he's young an extremely athletic, I wonder how his back will be after years of banging in the League.

 

No

 

So you're asking, if I would trade an All-Star PG and a solid PF, for a rookie center, and SF who may never play again, soft PF, and a back-up PG? If I'm Orlando I do that deal right now! If I'm the Rockets I drhink bottles upon bottles of alcohol, snort crack, shoot up heroine, and then plead insanity just to give me an excuse for having made that deal.

 

Someone can double check my research, but from what I just looked up, only twice in the last 20 years, has a top 3 pick been traded after that team knew their draft position (i.e. future 1st rounders have been traded that ended up being top 3, but a top 3 pick has only been traded twice after the team that traded it already knew they would be drafting top 3):

Orlando and G.S swapped the #1 and #3 picks in '93, with Orlando having to give up 3 additional #1s in order to get

Miaimi traded their #3 pick in 1990 to Denver for the 9th and 15th pick in the same draft.



So anyone who thinks that Steve Francis will get you high enough in the draft to get Okafor is getting their hopes up for no reason. Teams just don't trade high draft picks like that.