Do you want McGrady or Miller? Let's trade with Orlando.

I was reading the article at the bottom of this post & just got to wondering what it might take to get T-Mac. First off, there are 2 reasons why I believe that a trade for McGrady will never happen. Orlando will never trade him, unless they are completely rebuilding the team or he forces them to trade him. There's nothing to make one think that either of those 2 conditions exist. However, I thought it would be fun to speculate about it.

I'm posting 2 trade proposals for discussion, with the second one being the one I believe could really happen.

Trade #1

Houston sends Cato/Mobley/Griffin/Nachbar to Orlando.

Orlando sends T-Mac/DeClercq to Houston.

Again, I don't believe for a moment that Orlando would trade T-Mac, but the first trade would give Orlando a defensive minded starting center, an athletic up & coming starting PF, a starting SG to replace McGrady, & a promising young SF with a huge projected potential. They'd upgrade their PF/C positions(which the desperately need), while slightly decreasing their SG position. They'd have Miller, Garrity, & Nachbar backing up the 2/3 positions.

Houston would get a defensive & offensive upgrade at the SG position & a cheaper backup center in DeClercq. We'd have a 3 headed juggernaut in Francis/McGrady/Ming, but would be giving up some quality depth. Would it be worth it for us to give up that much talent?


Trade #2

Houston sends Griffin/T-Mo to Orlando.

Orlando sends Mike Miller to Houston.

This trade seems more realistic to me for both teams. I'm very hesitant to give up Griffin, but we're 3 deep at PF & Miller would immediately fill our SF void. Rice is doing an admirable job, but he's not putting up the kind of production that we need from the SF position.

Orlando would get a starting PF with a huge upside & a defensive minded 3/4 in T-Mo. Since Orlando is getting 2 talented young players for the price of one, I'd ask for a conditional #1 pick from them(they have quite a few picks) to even it out. However, if they balked at it, I wouldn't let that kill the deal. Our new lineup would be:

C: Ming/Cato/Collier
PF: Mo-T/KT
SF: Miller/Rice/Nachbar
SG: Mobley/Hawkins
PG: Francis/Moochie

Does anyone besides me see this as a viable deal?

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...lumn,1,2502201.column?coll=cs-bulls-headlines

Grant: Magic act in trouble
Ex-Bull blames McGrady-Rivers rift for release

December 13, 2002

The Orlando Magic's decision late Wednesday to waive former Bull Horace Grant seems goofy. A team desperate for frontcourt help that the Bulls just blew out certainly could give the recovering Grant a chance to return later this season.

But the surprising move—especially to Grant—may reveal some dangerous fissures in the Magic's kingdom that could have a negative effect on the team and its relationship with star Tracy McGrady.

"The way it has been going with T-Mac (McGrady) and (coach) Doc (Rivers), I don't know if it's going to last," said Grant, who believes his release came because he was caught in the developing rivalry between the popular coach and the All-Star player. "Doc keeps going behind T-Mac's back, and T-Mac doesn't like it. That's no way to relate to a player."

His situation also, Grant said, is no way to treat a respected veteran who agreed this year to return to the Magic for a final season at the urging of team owner Rich DeVos. Grant accepted less money to come to Orlando from the Los Angeles Lakers after starting on his fourth championship team in the 2000-01 season. But the relationship between Rivers, the Maywood native, and Grant, who was on three Bulls championship teams, deteriorated and finally blew up in a dispute on the team plane after Tuesday's loss to the Bulls.

It is, however, merely a small part of a larger issue festering on one of the league's most promising teams and could lead to a substantial shakeup.

"I left the Lakers to come back and finish my career [with Orlando]," said Grant, who hopes to sign with another team this season, preferably the Lakers. "But for something like this to happen to me … I was going to retire after this season.

"To be treated like this, it's hard to understand. I don't know why I would deserve this."

To some, Grant, 37, appears to be merely a pawn in a larger struggle for control of the team between Rivers and McGrady.

The issue burst open this week after a Charley Rosen column on ESPN.com. Rosen, who also writes basketball books, earlier this season wrote an ESPN.com column in which Lakers assistant Tex Winter was quoted as calling Kobe Bryant's play selfish. Winter denied making the comments. Then Rosen quoted Grant as calling McGrady's play selfish. Grant denied making the comments to Rosen, but then ESPN's "SportsCenter" used the column to focus on McGrady and highlight supposed examples of his poor defensive efforts.

McGrady was furious about the attacks on national TV at a time when he was being asked to carry the team because Grant Hill is playing sporadically after returning from another surgery.

"No offense to the guys," Grant said, "but T-Mac has been doing everything. He has to score. If he's rebounding and playing defense, the scoring is not going to be there. With the Bulls, Michael (Jordan) had me and Scottie (Pippen), so he could score. T-Mac doesn't have that. We wouldn't be 12-11 if not for him. We probably would have about three wins. The coaching staff needs to realize they need to leave this kid alone and let him play."

This came at a time when Rivers quietly went to Darrell Armstrong, Pat Garrity and Hill and said he would be pushing McGrady to stop holding the ball on offense so much and concentrate more on defense. He told the players to back him up and get on McGrady.

McGrady had been angered during a recent game against the Indiana Pacers when the staff belittled him during the game because Ron Artest was having a good game against him. He also was upset about murmurings by the coaching staff that he should have played when he sat out against New York last week.

Grant said Shawn Kemp told him about the Internet column and he went to McGrady to assure him he neither had made the comments attributed to him nor agreed with them. Grant said he had seen Rivers having a long conversation with Rosen, and on the plane from Chicago, Grant announced that if anyone had anything to say they should do it face to face.

At that point, according to Grant, Rivers confronted Grant and asked Grant if he had a problem with him. Grant said he did. When the plane landed, Rivers reportedly went to the home of general manager John Gabriel and demanded that Grant be released. He said Grant's continued health problems were holding the team back and Grant was a bad influence on young players.

Grant, whose contract Rivers had tried to get the team to buy out last summer, had knee surgery in September and has played in only five games, averaging 5.2 points and 1.7 rebounds. But Grant said he just needed time.

"I didn't want the surgery in the first place," Grant said. "They told me to have it and they'd wait for me to be ready. If they had waited another month, I'd have been healthy and my knee stronger. If felt I could have helped."

Gabriel called Grant early Wednesday morning to tell him he was being released. It's an unusual move, especially because of Grant's veteran status and recent surgery, and because the owner personally asked him to play for another season.

Grant said he is more hurt than upset. He accepted less money than the Lakers offered him after the 2000-01 season to return to Orlando, where he lives. He said he agreed to split the salary-cap exception so the Magic could sign Patrick Ewing.

"I'd like to finish the season," said Grant, who is in his 16th season with career averages of 11.5 points and 8.3 rebounds. "This is not the right way to go out. I had a relationship here with the fans. It's not the way I thought about ending my career, on waivers."

The larger question in Orlando, though, is how this will affect the career of McGrady, one of the league's brightest stars, and the future of the Magic franchise.

 

I stated twice in my opening post that I didn't think it could ever happen. I don't doubt that better offers will be made. I was just wondering what we might have to give up to get him. At least I didn't try to give them Taylor or Rice.

In regards to your 2 examples, there is absolutely no way that the Spurs trade Duncan for T-Mac, unless Duncan makes it clear he's opting out of his contract & intends to join another team. Besides, how would trading Duncan for T-Mac improve the Spur's team?

In your second example, given Sterling's history, it is extremely unlikely that he would make that trade & take on the rest of T-Mac's 5 year $12+ million annual contract. The last year of his contract is in excess of $16 million.


Did you even read the second trade proposal? That's the one I think is a possibility & it helps both teams now.