Ouch, Tmac for Kidd, and NJ wont do it? Well, I have said many times, Tmac trade value is not as high as a lot of people think he has.
meaning that since NJ has VC and RJ, they wouldn't need another wing player (like Mac). I think Bucher was just saying you couldn't get a super-duper-star back for Mac because there just aren't a lot of those out there to be had via trade right now.
Can someone explain to me why T-Mac keeps getting the blame for "disseapearing" in Q4 of Game 7 against Utah? Over say the last 5-6 minutes we kept feeding Yao and he was scoring. I didn't know two star players could score at the same time in the same possession. When Yao didn't score T-Mac hit a shot, got hayes a layup, etc. Can someone fill me in?
Bucher is just echoing what every person with a shred of basketball knowledge knows -- in times like this, you can't trade away a superstar and expect to get a superstar back. Teams that do that are almost always in rebuilding mode, and end up with a bunch of scrubs and future draft picks. You are *not* going to get fair value for McGrady. He sounded really down on T-Mac. For some reason I'm just not as down on him as everyone seems to be, and I think the news of his demise is greatly exaggerated. I'm hoping he learns to use all of this negative backlash as motivation to step it up and carry this team to the playoffs and past the first round this year. But one can only hope ...
We lost, and T-Mac didn't take over. I've gone through those last 5 minutes in a lot of detail in a previous post, and the reason we lost has to do with what we did on the defensive end. We were scoring points efficiently in that span, but we gave up too many offensive rebounds and three point plays. If you want to blame McGrady for game 7, it shouldn't be for disappearing. He made a bonehead play at the end by not fouling Utah immediately when the Rockets were down, I think, only 3 points. We're talking about a game 7, and he just appeared to give up there.
While I agree that McGrady doesn't help push the run with fastbreaks, I wouldn't agree to the reason you suggested. I believe it has a lot more to do with taking things easy on his body. If you had a bad back and were prone to joint issues, would you rather tear up and down the court at every opportunity or take it easy up and down the court and turn on the jets only when you need to? Same reason that McGrady gets jumper happy and shies from taking it into traffic. McGrady is a the type of guy who looks for spots to coast and picks his moments to dominant. If you've watched his career, this seemed to become a major thing with him mid-way through his Orlando stint. In his last year in Toronto, McGrady was a TERROR on both ends of the court - really looking like a Pippen. He came to the Magic, and with Hill out and management poor at keeping talent around him, he started to burn out with the scoring burden placed on him. So, McGrady started to find ways to ease off effort in certain areas that would let him maintain the energy to score. McGrady had a whopping 2 blocks a game in 30 mpg in his final year in Canada - his blocks have been sliding all the way down to a 0.5/game average since. He had a career high 8 boards/game his 2nd yr in Florida and they've slowly slid down to 5 since. His dimes and points have been relatively stable. Hmmm. I wouldn't say he's selfish or demands control on the offense (via halfcourt sets). It's not often that you see him clapping or yelling for the ball. It's rare that you see him get on anyone's case for anything. If he wants to dominate, he's not showing it. I believe he's good at heart and he's got good intentions. I think he does sincerely want to win, and he's not a cut the check guy. I don't believe he's willing to sacrifice beyond a certain point to achieve team goals and I don't believe that he holds teammates to standards or expectations. At this point, I believe we're better off trading him for assets (not a lesser All-Star at 75 cents on the dollar) that can be used to acquire strong-willed and determined role players. Sometimes, less is more. Talent without determination won't get you a ring - see Chris Webber. Evan
i agree with most of what you said here, all good points. except for one that I keep wondering about. are we really better off after the trade for McGrady? steve was getting better and better at that point (who knows if the same problems he's having now would have crept up if he had stayed...it's worth considering at least), and took us to the playoffs (in Yao's 2nd year) the year before he was traded. that year we lost in the first round with 45 wins and the 6th seed. played the lakers team that went to the finals with 4 hall of famers, and were in every game. lost in 5, but could've easily gone 7 if jim jackson hit that 3 in game 1 and if we could've found a win the game we lost in overtime at home. that's a lot of "if's" i know, but we use a lot of if's to justify the Dallas and Utah series too. since the trade, rockets won 51 games and lost in the first round as the 5 seed. next year missed the playoffs because of injuries, last year won 52 games and lost in the first round as the 4 seed. this year, going nowhere fast. so basically, if we're about 6-7 regular season wins better, every other year, and every other year ends in a first round exit. sans the headache year, steve hardly missed any games also. neither did cat. i'm not saying i'm agreeing with what i'm considering and if i had to do it all over again, i'd still trade for mcgrady. but are we really better off? dunno....
As mentioned - It's silly to outfit 3 all-star swingmen on a team with holes in the frontcourt and (after trade) PG. Don't forget that the Nets were all ready to send him to LA for Bynum. Involve a third team, and McGrady would get you Kidd plus at least another starter for certain. McGrady has value, the trick is finding a good fit. If Chicago is going to shake things up, you may have a shot at Hinrich, their 1st, and some peripherals. Pacers may be ready to try swapping out Jermaine O'Neal, not that it would make much sense pairing him with Yao + Scola. Atlanta may be willing to trade potential for a scoring vet to put between JJ and Horford, but their ownership situation puts them in the freezer. If I were the Rockets, and I determined that it was time to part ways, I'd look into a 3-way swap sending Jermaine to the Nets, Kidd and picks here, and McGrady to Ind. I'd also investigate sending him to Chicago for Hinrich, Nocioni, and a 1st. Neither deal gives you equal value, but may help you build a team with better direction. Evan
I agree with you. not on the blowing it up part, but on the international part. With Rosas in control, we will see that sooner than later....actually,we are seeing it already. on the other hand, I heard the Nick van exel segment(3 weeks ago) where he made a statement that no north american player will look up to a foreigner as a leader. I wonder if everyone feels that way
Your ideas have a lot of merit, although BYC complications would arise in trying to acquire either Hinrich or Nocioni, let alone both: they each signed new contracts that kicked in this season. But Chicago definitely needs its own shakeup and so could be a trading partner. Thing about McGrady, is there a team out there that already has a will-to-win player? I'd say you could pair McGrady with Wade and what's left of Shaq, but Miami just has, say, two semi-large expiring contracts (Davis and Ricky D.) and, say, Daquean and a #1....but I wouldn't go that route unless we had a 3rd team to deal with. I'd like to AT LEAST be in the playoffs THIS season. We can only keep gutting the team around Yao so many times.
Shaq is old. That is on the money, too. It is also stating the obvious. There was nothing insightful in Bucher's assessments of McGrady, Yao, Adelman or the Rockets. He just made the obvious sound interesting by using less common terminology and catchy words, e.g. The Morphine Drip.
This may be a bit far fetched, but Magic's go to in the clutch this season has been Hedo...I guess that alone doesn't qualify him as a leader though
Anybody have a link for this quote below? "It's just a strained ligament," McGrady said. "I have the most unusual injuries to have. It is what it is. My team has actually been playing pretty well since I've been out. I'm just going to do my rehab and take my time on coming back and make sure that it doesn't pop up again. I'm eager to get out there and play though." I find it interesting that he likes the way the team is playing. Hopefully, he is eager to come in and improve the offense in the same fashion. It was on an espn board, but it seems genuine. I just don't know which article it came from.
Best case scenario is that T-Mac comes back and jumps right into the system, the team starts winning and the trade talk dries up and blows away. It remains to be seen though how well he'll fit in when he gets back.
This comment gave you away. You're bitter about JVG getting the axe and you don't want to see anything positive in the way the team is playing without McGrady. So the result you EXPECTED was the Rockets to beat a 26-3 team on the road without their 20 million dollar man? If you can think of the Boston game as anything but a great showing by the Rockets, that must have been your expectation going in. Unrealistic. Of course, again with the "things were better with JVG" line. There has not been much of a regression on defense, check the numbers. "We should be beating teams like GS at home" - without McGrady? What was the Rockets record like w/o McGrady with your hero at the helm again? Of course you're not. Great tactic - setting it up for Adelman to fail before the game even starts. It's a game they SHOULD win (even though they couldn't win anything w/o McGrady under JVG; guess that's an inconvenient fact to be ignored here); if they pull it out, it's something they should have done, if not, it's a game they would've won last year.
Did you ever hear anyone say "why does Hakeem get the blame for the Game 7 loss? They kept feeding Drexler. There was nothing he could have done"? Great players want the ball and it's not even an issue in a game 7 when their season and basically whole career are pretty much on the line. "They kept feeding Yao"? What a joke. I'm sure Jordan would have let the team keep feeding Pippen and quietly deferred.
