Okay, Rocketeers! Here's your chance to set the direction of this team for the next decade by choosing one of these deals with Orlando. I'm only going to name the principal Rocket acquisition; I'll leave it to you to structure the deal. Who would you rather acquire: Okafor with the #1 pick or McGrady... and who would you give up to get the deal done?
Okafor has had his share problems too though but as of now I would take TMac because we don't know what to expect of Okafor yet
lets see, a top 5 NBA player who can score at will or an unproven college PF who is far from a sure thing. This one is a no brainer
I know it's easy to just pick McGrady, but factor in what it will cost the Rockets to acquire either.... or does everyone think we would also have to give up Francis to get Okafor? I was thinking maybe Cato and Mobeley for The #1; throw in whatever else makes it work. That would give us Yao, Okafor, Boki (!) JJ and Franchise. Another deal might leave be Franchise and Cato for McGrady plus Grant Hill plus throw-ins both ways. That leaves us with Yao, McGrady, Grant Hill, Cuttino, and someone running the point.
IMO Okafor will be excellent, but he's a low block player. Yao is, or is to be, a low block player. I don't see them fitting together complementarily on the court.
If the Lakers are considering trading Shaq for the #1 pick, Cato and Cat probably isn't enough to get that #1 pick. Hell, Steve probably isn’t enough to get that pick.
giddyup - Cato and Mobley make a combined $13.9m. After McGrady and Hill, the Magic have no large contracts and draft picks have zero value until signed. Therefore, you're Okafor deal has two possibilities...Okafor and Hill for Cato and Mobley or Okafor with Howard, Gooden and three low priced contracts from Lue, Gaines, DeClerq, Bogans, Pachulia, Garrity (re-signed), or Hunter (re-signed). I won't bore you with the details, but Howard and Gooden (and Taylor) hit the cap enough and Yao will need to be maxed that Hill off of the payroll doesn't give any cap relief (see my sig and subtract Hill). Now, we obviously have a PF glut that can be minimized by trading for other positions, but getting other positions still means incoming contracts. Bottomline to me, a healthy McGrady offers the most bang for the buck and allows the Rockets to get a P1S2 PG.
Oh, it's not boring. I appreciate someone who is interested in paying attention to the details. I'm more of the Big Look kind of person.
