Francis and Mobley for McGrady and Garrity... Orlando gets a veteran backcourt and dumps an all-star and a decent role player with a bad contract. Send A.Griffin(a Jim O'Brien favorite), and Piatkowski if necessary, to Philly for Eric Snow, then sign Okur to the MLE. I'd be surprised if Charlie Ward wasn't signed during the offseason. PG - Snow SG - McGrady/JJ SF - JJ/McGrady PF - Okur C - Yao PG - Ward SG - ? (Not a huge concern with JJ and McGrady) SF - Garrity/Boki PF - Taylor/Spoon C - Cato Not a bad team...
I definitely think Orlando will look to package GH's contract in any trade for TM. Losing TM would be horrible, but losing TM and keeping GH would be unthinkable.
yeah, anything that it takes, except Yao, including future draft choices, Hill, whatever. I know they wouldn't want Taylor or Spoon. I really would like to keep Boki, partly because I think he has more value than anything he'd give us in trade right now. But, if he was the dealbreaker, I'd let him go. Hopefully, we'll be able to get a PG with the MLE, preferably Barry. I'd try to also get a swap of second round draft picks, so we could draft Chris Duhon. Assuming they'd want SF, Cato and Cat and our TE, then give us TMac and Hill, that would be a better deal than anyone of the other three teams might offer them, I think. And, they might want to throw in Howard to get salary room, which I'd actually like. Of course, Gooden would be better, but we'll take what we get. So, let's say thats the way the deal went down. Yao/(Howard) Howard/Taylor/Spoon TMac/Boki/Griffin JJ/Pike/Hill Barry/Duhon Thats pretty good right now ...
Trade Francis Mobley Cato Taylor for T-Mac Hill Gooden 2nd round pick Then just hope Hill retires and hope the Rockets can sign Okur. Pick Duhon will thier 2nd round pick and you have a solid team. Yao Gooden(or Okur) Jackson T-Mac Duhon
I am looking at the LONG term here. The chance to perhaps pair up TWO TOP FIVE NBA PLAYERS (McGrady now....and hopefully Yao) is just too much to pass up. Look at what the Lakers have done with Kobe and Shaq? 3 Championships....and perhaps counting! Role players are a dime a dozen. They are important but are easy to obtain via trades, MLE, draft. But it is nearly impossible to obtain a top 5 NBA player. Those players just arent available unless there is some odd circumstance. The Rockets should move heaven and earth to do whatever they can to get T-Mac. Yao and T-Mac could be the top duo for the next DECADE!
Depends on what the other teams offer, of course. I think the Rockets can get TMac for Steve + filler, wether this be Cato, or TE. The Suns are in a bad position here IMO. Orlando will want nothing short of Marion, JJ, and their 1st round pick this year. And the Suns will never give up that much. And if they do, who is left on their roster? Why would TMac go there them? Amare and TMac will be good on ESPN, but I think TMac is too mature to go to a rebuilding team. On the other hand, the Rockets have Francis, a player who is the best player out of the 4 teams TMac has mentioned. If the Suns dont give up JJ and the 1st round pick, why do we include Cat? No reason to. Also, the Suns will never take back expensive contract. Thats why they got rid of Starbury. They will never take back Hill or Howard. They have cap, good young players in Amare and JJ, and plenty of picks. They can go after other free agents soon if TMac doesnt go there. So why get tied up w/ other contracts? If thats the case, why should the Rockets take back anything? Howard might be nice, but not at the expense of Cat. I thinks we can do this trade w/ just Steve + filler, w/o taking any long contracts back. Remember, we are <b>not </b> contending w/ 28 other teams, just 3.
The best argument for doing anything to get TMac is that having Yao and TMac locked into contracts instantly makes Houston one of the most desirable, if not THE most desirable destinations for free agents. Right now Brent Barry might be looking at Houston and thinking, yeah, that might be all right - Yao should get me some open looks. Once you have TMac, he's telling his agent "Get me on that team - I can see the rings from here". At that point, we just have to get a decent PF.
I'm fairly receptive to trading for McGrady -- not at all costs, mind you, but for a reasonable one. I have tried to warn about the potential dangers of picking up Grant Hill's contract with McGrady's. But, I have to say that I think McGrady has a number of question marks regarding his attitude. (1) How can a team with McGrady on it have such a poor season in the east? (2) How can his team lose 17 in a row with him healthy and playing? (3) What do you make of a guy who says he's contemplating retiring at 24 because of the stress of the team's success on his shoulders and his constant losing (sounds like a milder version of EG's depression)? (4) What do you make of a guy who publically blames his failures on the lack of talent of his teammates (a milder version of Scottie Pippen)?
#1 ... rotten coaching, rotten rest of the team. #2 ... fair question. Moochie-esque. #3 ... frustration mixed with immaturity #4 ... leadership void mixed with rotten locker room
That's mostly what I'm thinking (except #1). The problem is, as the by-far best player on the team and de facto and formal leader, it seems like a major failure on T-Mac's part. If we were to swap Francis and McGrady, I think we'd actually be losing some leadership. Francis seems to have taken many of the same stresses in previous years -- that the success of the team lay on his shoulders, that he had to do everything for the team because he wasn't getting much help -- and handled it with much more grace and maturity.
Last season cascaded out of control for Magic. For TMac, too. IMO that man needs a new start. Let him reignite in Houston. Even for SF, and I remain a steadfast fan of the Franchise.
Theres a problem in itself. Steve is the best player skillwise on these team and thus he is the leader. But is steve a good leader? He leads the league in technicals and nearly in turnovers. He makes alot of mistakes and does some stupid **** in crunch time. I dont see how you can lead your team when you have so many faults as SF. He has the desire to lead and desire to win, but that doesnt mean he knows how to.
IMO, you win with superstars. You also rarely get a shot at them. We lucked out to get Yao, and while I like Steve, if he affords us the opportunity to get a McGrady, that's my only real concern. Cat I liked more this year, but he's not of exceptional value. Cato might even justify his contract if he improves, but that's the best we can hope for him. So to me, the only long term loss is Steve, and when the long term gain is T-Mac, I do it in a second. Taking Hill back is a loss with a potential upsode, but still not a positive, but it's worth the price. Players like McGrady don't become available all that often. When they do, it's even more rare for you to have an opportunity to land them. IMO, were it not for the impetus the Magic have we would be looking at considerably less return for Francis in almost any other realistic scenario, so I take advantage of this opportunity, and I do it with both hands. If it costs Cat, Cato and taking Hill back, so be it. You start every building with a foundation, and T-Mac and Yao would be about as good of a young foundation as you could ask for. If you were to ask fantasy fans, or GM's in general, to pick two players to build a team around, although I'm sure Leborn and Melo and others would get mentioned, you wouldn't get any weird looks for saying McGrady and Yao. And we might be able to do that...fill in the pieces later; they're important, but much easier to find. Get the 2superstars f the future, and enjoy the ride.
