First, let me address two prominent idiots featured in this tread: 1. Chad Ford. Never, ever, never forget that Chad is the guy who wrote this after last year's draft: "Darko is really one of a kind. He runs the floor, handles the ball, shoots the NBA 3 and plays with his back to the basket, so you can slot him in at the 3, 4 or 5 positions. OK, a few other guys can do that too; what sets Darko apart is his toughness in the post. You have to love a guy who has the footwork to spin by an opponent but still prefers to lower a shoulder and bang. Fact is, Milicic plays in attack-mode at both ends of the floor. The more you push, the more he pushes back. While he won't be asked to carry the Pistons, he's capable of doing this earlier than you think." Enough said! 2. Marcia Clark: You said that Steve Francis is not popular in Orlando and he won't fill up the arena. Dude, Steve was voted as an All_Star three times by the F-A-N-S, you know like the ones who actually buy tickets. Are you telling me that fans in Orlando are different than the rest of the country? Are you telling me that an ugly dork like Marion is somehow more popular than the most electrifying PG in the league. Just shut up, this BBS has banned many incoherent fans of other teams that come here to post their BS... OK, here's what I don't get about the clipps deal: Okafor and Howard play the same feaking position (PF) !!! And then you add in Wilcox, who also plays PF!! So what's you freaking bottomline? You downgrade your SG position from the best SG in the league to Corey "freaking" Maggette, only to stocpile a bunch of unproven PFs! Brilliant!!! Why do you need 3 young PFs to fight for playing time with Drew Gooden? With our offer you downgrade at SG from T-Mac to Cat, but you get set at PG, you get a serviceable center, AND you still get to keep one of the young PF to fight for playing time with Gooden. Are you telling me that SF and Cato are worse than a third-string PF? The only thing that does is that it cuts Magic payroll. It looks like deVos is going to pull a Sterling on the Magic fans. Don't be surprised if that's the case, I was suspicious when the GM said the Shaq deal couldnot happen because of... money? You have a chance to bring back the MDE and lift your stinking franchise out of the garbage bin where it is now, and you don't want to pay his contract? Sickening...
There's little point to this since we will all probably know within about 72 hours what's going down... ... But truth be told, I just don't think McGrady (or Kobe for that matter) would be caught dead in the non-markets that are the Clippers and Suns, as speculation will have you believe for both players. If they DID pick up either of these guys, they'd both be GAURANTEED to be gone by the 05-06 season. Every damn star who's been in Phoenix/LAC has left via free agency or been traded due to adverse circumstances within just a couple seasons.
Great to see everyone gripping about T-Mac not coming here. I love it!!! T-Mac is not the answer, PF and backup PG is and it looks like we're going to get Kevin Ollie for Pike. Now all we need is Rasheed Wallace type player. Peace.
Can anyone give me a capsule explanation as to why mfclark is so obsessed with proving this deal won't go down? I haven't read through all the threads -- I'm sure it's in there somewhere -- but it seems like he's more against the likelihood of the trade (regardless of anything Clutch or Doc Rocket says) than the trade itself. I don't get it.
I hope we get T Mac and all....but you really aren't saying that Houston is a better market than LA are you?
Darko's won the championship every year of his NBA career. How many has Steve won? There is no emoticon to express what I feel. If there was, he'd move his eyes back and forth and rub his hands together and say something like--Exxxcellent.
FoxSports just reitarating the Chronicle's story...maybe there is hope that a deal will get done.....I would love to hear the play by play once this trade takes place. http://www.foxsports.com/content/view?contentId=2504264
My guess would be that he's a huge fan of the Magic, and that's OK, who follows this board and watched our backcourt the last few years. Maybe the thought of our backcourt, plus Kelvin "Hands of Stone" Cato, playing for his team gives him a migraine! I think he's shortsighted, but I'm biased.
Actually, I think his opinions are right in line with a lot of Magic Fans. I think fans in general dont rate Francis very highly. Just visit the RealGM boards to get an idea. I think however that GMs rate Francis much higher than fans. And that is all that counts. Right now most Magic fans are intersted in the Suns/Pacers/Clippers mentioned deals. Although many of those deals that are posted are the ones the Orlando Sentinel made up which were HUGE deals that perhaps didnt favor those teams but favored the Magic. It is understandable, but I think Magic fans are seduced by those deals.
Better than the Lakers? No. Better than the Clippers? Uh, hell yes. There's more than one reason that team is perennially bad, and will remain so.
I thought this little phrase at the end of that article was the best part: "We're out like The Franchise"
excatly, however, i also fear the the GM's dont rate francis highly either (i dont either cause of his low bbal IQ). Thats why i am worried we wont be able to get anything that good for him. But CD better pull this off, i dont know who else would want francis while we get something good back.
This is crazy... SF3/ Cat/ Cato is an awesome core for the Magic. If they dont take that deal they must be stupid. I would much rather get Tmac and Gooden though since we will be losing Cato. SF3 / Lue Cat / Stevenson Juwan / GHill Okafor Cato / Hunter that is a pretty solid lineup and team.. especially in the east? come on that would be a playoff team in the east right now. *even without Okafor developing into a star right away. Im worried it would leave us a lil small? If we get Gooden I would much happier why would Orlando need Gooden if Okafor is drafted? They have Howard who can play the 3 or 4 so I would keep him around. Our line up would be shaky though.. PG? JJackson / Pike Tmac / Nachbar Gooden / MoT Yao / ??? That sounds like a win/ win for both teams. we would need to fill our PG position right away and that worries me. Our bench would be weaker than last year since we lose 3 starters. I hope we can find someone who will run the point for us, but that sounds like a pretty potent team. JVG realizes that the PG and C are the toughest positions to fill and our C position is filled but our PG position has a gaping hole. Our PF position is at least serviceable right now with MoT / Padgett able to step in or at least provide minutes. J
Rockets have a better offer than the Suns, but the Clips' offer is pretty sweet. The question is, does T-Mac want to play for the Clips? I mean, that's where careers go to die. Wouldn't his agent be screaming "No!"? Also, I don't think that LA offers more marketing opportunities than TX. Yao and Duncan seem to get a lot of offers.
Just want to make it clear one more time: everything is in McGrady's hands. If he gives them options, they have options. If he doesn't, they have none. If he wants to play for the Clippers, we will have difficulty. Besides, since when are the Clippers willing to give T-Mac 16M per season? That's what the average on his deal would be I believe, and I don't know that they'd be willing to extend him like that. However, among the other teams, no one is offering star power equal to 3-time All Star Steve Francis. Orlando fans will need to see stars or the franchise is screwed. Phoenix, btw, is not offering both Joe Johnson and the #7. They are offering Marion, Jacobsen, and either JJ or the #7. Indiana also will not give up Artest and Harrington in the same deal apparently. No one will give up that much for a player who wants out and MUST be traded.
On another note, I'm still ambivalent about this whole McGrady thing. It's not just because I'm unsure he's what we need (especially considering what we give up), but it's also because I'm very concerned how Steve's psyche will hold up if the trade doesn't go through and he has to stick around Houston. How will Cat and Steve feel knowing that they're only here because TWO TEAMS didn't want them...? This coming from a guy who's favorite non-Rocket player is McGrady (in a tie with Duncan).
I also thought that was the best part....its a colums with SMAK...so lets see if his notes can back up the talk....although all he did was reiterate the Chronicle.... Have you noticed how MUM the Rockets have been. Indiana and Orlando have been chatter boxes all along...no one from the Rockets has come out to joing the noise.
Looking at this logically, if Grant Hill comes back healthy, this team can go all the way to a top 5 seed immediately: Cato/Declerq Dwight Howard/Gooden Grant Hill/Garritty/Bogans Mobley/Stevenson Francis/Lue If Dwight Howard pans out, this team can get a top 5 seed in their first season. Very athletic, good experience, defense, scoring, everything. Very good, very deep. Most of that bench was startign last season.
The MF in his name stands for Magic Fan. As was stated above, I think he is just voicing his displeasure with the trade package in Houston. The problem is, I haven't seen any deal mentioned that magic fans seem to like. Indiana probably had some players that the fans would have been in favor of, but the Magic wanted too much from them. The problem for Orlando is that now that T-Mac has come out and said he wants out and has specified teams he would like to play for, they are sort of handcuffed on what they can get and who they can deal with.
