Orlando Sentinel: Magic want Francis, Mobley and Cato

According to Marc Stein lastnight on SC:

He said that Orlando wants Amare and Marion from PHO, but they aren't willing to give that. I don't think PHO would give up Marion/Johnson/#7 for T-Mac.

 

Well, I have to agree that the PHO offer of Marion, JJ, Voskul and #7 is better than Houston's. We may have to utilize our TE to pull this one off, but it'd still be worth it.

Some have downplayed the value of them getting rid of Hill, but I still think it might be the wild card in this whole transaction.

I think a package of Francis/Cat/Cato/JJ/TE/future#1 for McGrady/Howard or Gooden/Hill/a bad contract, would be something no one could touch. Thats 4 starters to go with Okafor or Howard. They would not only gain the cap space from getting Hill's contract off the books, but also get a TE of about 4.5mil from this transaction. That would reduce their payroll by over 11 mil. I think their first priority is to see who they could get straight up for McGrady, but then it'll get creative. That would be a better package than anything I know that ORL could receive.

Now, would Les step up to the plate, going so far over the cap? I think a championship team would be worth that. Or would McGrady feel that Houston didn't have anyone left to play with? I don't know. It would actually be funny, if Hill ended up coming back, but I seriously doubt it ...

Even losing all those players, if we signed Barry, we could still have:

Yao/Howard or Gooden/Boki/TMac/Barry, which could be great. No depth, except at PF, but we'd gain that over the next few years with MLE's and FAs wanting to go to a championship team.

 

why does everybody dislike MoTaylor?

 

i like him. He won some games for us with his scoring. Bench player though.

 

Because he doesn't rebound and has a fat contract. Hey are you the BrieflySpeaking that used to post on the hoopsworld boards?

If you are, I always liked hearing your opinions on the Rockets. Why don't you post there anymore?

 

We can't use our TE in combination of more than 1 player, as stated earlier. IE:, Francis + TE would work, but not with the Magic. Hopefully we can land T-Mac and use the TE and MLE to fill the holes

 

I don't like him becayuse he is a whining, selfish. spoiled brat.

He laid down on hte Clippers because they would't throw a huge contract at him before the season was over. It hurt his feelings so he hinted that wouldn't play hard for them the rest of the year. If you take the money, be a man and do the work.

He thinks that it is OK that Chris Webber lied to the grand jury.

He spends all year on the inujured list, and instead of giving us nothing, actually turns it into worse than nothing. He gets a 5 game penalty, to stat the next year because he fails the drug test. BTW - smoke all the pot you want, don't hurt the team.

Lastly he has a NBA body and an NBA contract. Learn how to get a reboud.

On the good side, he has improved his defensive effort and will take a charge. I think JVG has been a godsend to him.

 

Like Darkwarrior said...he's a soild bench player.

But PF that can't rebound is just as bad as a PF that can't shoot 10ft jumpshots (Cato).

I'm not asking for a KG! All I want out of a PF is someone that can hit the glass, shoot the 15 footer, and rebound.

Someone like Erick Dampier or Carlos Boozer...some one like that. A soild third tier player.

 

I kinda question the legitimacy of some of these "offers." I think the newspapers might be making them up. The Suns shouldn't send all of that just to get a player who sells season tickets.

The Suns said they wouldn't include JJ, wouldn't include Amare (don't blame them on the latter), and don't really want to give up the #7. Granted, if push came to shove, they might still come up with the best deal, talent-wise; but if they can get Steve, who is much better than his playing-with-Yao numbers suggest, as well as Cat and Cato, then I'd think adding such players to Okafor would field a team of:

Steve/Cat/Gooden/Okafor/Cato.

If nothing else, a #4 seed in the East....IF they hire a coach that can manage the knuckleheads.

 

What Orlando wants from Indiana is even crazier than what they want from us. I think T-Mac has been one of the top 3 players in the league the past few years, but I still felt that the team we had was pretty close to getting right. I think SF's play was improving, Mobes was great on D and Cato gave us good rebounding and defense considering his minutes. I also worry about T-Mac's back because it seems to be a recurring injury. I'm confused, I don't know if I would be able to pull the trigger. Then again I don't know who else the Magic would throw in.

 

These aren't "offers" from teams trying to get McGrady. The paper just said that these packages are what the Magic have requested. These are simply the Magic's demands, which, of course, should change as negotiations go on. So the Suns may not be offering JJ and/or the #7, but the Magic have asked for them/it.

 

Why is Marion/Johnson/Jacobsen/#7 better than Francis/Cat/Cato?

Francis is a better player than Marion. He also plays a premium position. As the playoffs showed, he can still be a dominant offensive player, which Marion cannot say.

Mobley had a decent year last year, nothing appreciably better than what Johnson did in his "breakout" year, but that is exactly my point. With Mobley, you are getting a proven, reliable veteran still in his prime. With Johnson, you get comparable production, but based off of one good year. Who knows what he will do this year? With Cat, you know.

As for the #7 vs. Cato, the draft has become such a crapshoot that no judgement can be made on the pick for at least 3-4 years, and Cato could actually be in the top third of starting C's in the East. In that weak conference, he could easily average 10+ boards next year with starters minutes. Who can you draft at 7 that will do that?

Jacobsen is nothing more than a throw-in, possibly at the end of their 8-man rotation, so he is basically irrelevant. Certainly not much, if any, better than Piatkowski.

If you add Okafur to Francis, Mobley, Cato, Gooden, Howard the Magic could return to the playoffs next year. They would at least be in the Hornets/Heat range, which is good enough for a 4 or 5 seed in the Leastern Conference.

I don't think Okafur, Marion, Johnson and the #7 will amount to much of anything next year. They would still have no clear go-to guy on offense. Francis is a go-to guy, just not the kind that will play well next to Yao.

In Orlando, he could lead an up-and-coming team back into the playoffs next year.

 

I would definitely trade Francis, Mobley, and Cato for T-MAC. We are giving up one "Very good" player, One Average player, and One below average player for one of the top 5 young players in the league.

Next Year Proposed Line up for the Rockets in my opinion should be:

Brent Barry/Derek Fisher PG
Jim Jackson and Bostchan Nachbar SG
Yao Ming
Tracy McGrady
Maurice Taylor and Antonio McDyess

The bottom line is it's a no brainer trade for the rockets Yao and T-Mac could equal Shaq and Kobe's success in a few years!!!!!!

 

Francis may be a better player in your eyes, but at the same time, others might consider Marion to be more valuable. He's an all-star as well as Steve, he's bigger, he runs the floor better, and plays both sides of the ball. Also, a bit of advice, I wouldn't say that Francis is dominant because of what he did in the playoffs. He did just about what every other point guard did to the Lakers and Gary Payton in the playoffs. It was nothing special.

 

You guys should stick to debating which deal is best for the Rockets, not which deal is best for the Magic.

We don't know what the Magic want, or what they'll do... and if T-Mac says don't trade me to a Phoenix team without Marion and Joe Johnson, all this debating is moot.

If the Magic want notoriety, a star-name, and some talent to go with it... they'll take Francis. If they want a guy who's as unique as they come (position-wise), has tremendous talent, but is low-key in terms of stardom, they'll take Marion.

But... we don't know what they want, and frankly, its crazy to listen to people who know exactly what the Magic want to do in this situation... like we've all been life-long Magic fans or something.

Is this a good deal for Houston... yes or no? That should be weighed before everything.

 

Just saw Sports Extra on Channel 13. They know nothing more than has been posted here.

 

That show is a joke... it seems like the only person who has something constructive to say is Charlie P., and he just re-hashes what he's been saying on the radio all week.

Nobody cares what Kenny Hand or Ralph Cooper think... seriously, are these the best sports-minds houston can get on a show that could be a great information source?

 

I usually don't watch. Only watching to see what is said about Tracy. If this was any indication then they don't know much.

 

Charlie P for pontificator. He is an arrogant know-it-all who does not know-it-all. CP and Rich, Lance and John, etc etc have never broken a story. In this town just one person has, Mark Berman. When Berman talks, people then you should listen.

 

Now I remember why I stopped watching that crummy program years ago. There are hot rumors that involve changing the entire face of the Rocket's team, for at least the next decade, and they put the story behind golf?