T-mac doesn't want to change his game. He wants to make all the plays,His mind is fixed on what he has done for 4 seasons and he refuses to learn no tricks.
Nocioni is a 4/3, Battier is a 3 and can play 4 at times...neither of them are 2s in the league. If this trade goes through, this lineup IMO would be more suitable. Alston Hinrich Battier(or Noc) Scola Yao but then we would nto have any go-to guys on the wing, it would be all Yao until he leaves, then we will ahve to run in order to score consistantly.
Here's what Pat Riley thinks of Heinrich, after a minor flap over earlier comments he made suggesting Heinrich had deliberately injured Wade... "I didn't accuse him of anything, I'm going to tell you exactly what I think about him, OK? I think he's one of the top defenders in the game, in the league. He reminds me of Jerry Sloan, he reminds me of Michael Cooper. And just like the Chicago Bulls whined about Dwyane, who was getting too many free throws, a great defender like Kirk Hinrich gets away with more. He's into you, he's relentless. He has a reputation as a tough defender and he gets away with more." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Hinrich Riles doesn't think he's chopped liver, and neither does Jeff Van Gundy, who just loves the guy. His contract? "A five-year contract extension with the Bulls that will pay him an annual average of $9.5 million." http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20061101/ai_n16815224 Hardly the numbers you mentioned, although a significant contract. Heinrich thought he was worth more, for what that's worth, but said "I'm completely happy here in Chicago." Pretty standard comment after signing a contract extention. Having said that, I don't think there's anything to it, but I'd kill to grab him, if it were possible. He would take care of the PG spot for the next several years, and would only improve, IMO. Brooks behind him would provide a different look and looks like he might really turn into something, with time. I'd go to war with those two. I drooled over Elton Brand for years, and it was hopeless, of course... the possibility of getting Heinrich is greater than getting Elton, but almost as unlikely. Chicago thinks a lot of him. You can forget Deng. Heinrich? Just maybe, but Deng? No way! The one thing a healthy McGrady gives Chicago that they'd love to have, from a PR standpoint, is another incredible player at the 2. They've wanted another one for a long time.
You are seriously delusional. You want Steve Blake and Eduardo Najera level talent for Tracy freaking McGrady. You really should watch basketball more often. You would like it.
Nocioni is a 3 that plays 4 when the bulls wanted to go small similar to what the suns do with Marion.Battier is a 3 that can play 4 if you want to go small again. Bottomline Tracy is feeling the heat and he is now putting negative spins out there so he can manipulate the sitaution to his likeness. He wants a losing season and make it impossible to trade him so he can get rick fired and start something wack all over again. His 3 week preperation to getting healed is a ploy to hoepfully get the rockets to lose more games so when he comes back he can be considered the savior and no blame will go in his direction.
Who knows, but I think it's still smart to be patient and see if we can make it work. We can kiss any hopes of being a contender good bye if out goes t-mac.
Scola is better than Noci. Henrich is decent, but Henrich+scrub for Tmac? let's just rest Tmac and not do anything. Any trade with Chi has to involve either Deng or Gordan and Henrich+their scrubs. Chicago is the more desperate team.
Maybe quietly, the Rockets are just as unhappy with Tracie "Fools Gold" McGrady, as Tracie is with the Rockets. Maybe Tracie's knee is not really that hurt at all, and Maybe Rick wants to get this team clicking without Mcgrady changing the offense. Maybe Tracie is pulling the same type of crap he pulled in Toronto and Orlando. Maybe Tracie made a phone call to one of his pals in Chicago, to start talk on the down low. Maybe Tracie can't handle not being the man or the go to guy. Maybe Tracie just has a hard time running a offense and not being able to do whatever his "little heart" desires. That sure is a lot of maybes! One thing's for sure, It wouldn't hurt my feelings to never see Tracie in a Rockets jersey again. As I've said for awhile now, I'd rather have two 12-18 pts a night players, that might not be as talented as Tracie, but bring it all to the table and have heart. The fact of the matter is that Tracie makes the Grinch's heart, (that's two sizes to small) look like the size of Texas!
This is the same Sam Smith that wanted mcGrady in Chicago, before he went to Orlando, and the same one who made the rumor that Chicago and Houston should trade Tmac to Chicago for Ben Wallace. Sam Smith is no more credible than Hoopshype, and i'm surprised that you guys don't know of his reputation. You can check out some of his older articles through the years though just to see for yourselves.
I think Tracy McGrady has bought into himself too much. He's too into the idea of "Tmac." His attitude has always been "i just let the game come to me." He wants to be known for doing amazing things without much effort. I think that translates into the locker room. Either the other players rely on him too much or they take that same lax attitude.
You are delusional if you think this dude mcgrady is going to lead the rockets ever out of the first round.4 seasons is long enough and it aint the system it isn't the coach.This dude has no desire to win,No desire to compete with 11 other guy's,Every year is something with this dude and right now he doesn't want to change the way he approches his profession. The rockets are better off trading him because he's in his own world and when an individual thinks like that his agenda always comes first and he will have no hesitation to tank this whole season just to get his way.
well, what you are proposing would make us a worse team right now. Because it would leave Yao as the only serious threat to double team. You can't win a ring in today's NBA with just one star. Shaq-Dwayne MJ - Pippen Shaq-Kobe Duncun-Genobli-Parker (Parker was MVP of the finals) Hakeem - Drexler Look at Boston with KG-Pierce-Allen, the Suns with Nash-Amare, Utah with Deron-Boozer Your proposal would kill our hopes of getting a ring. Sorry, I don't think you know a lick about basketball.
We haven't had much talent aroudn Yao and T-mac for 4 years. NOw we have some. But really, I think you don't know what you are talking about. There is no scenario where we'll be better for trading t-mac, because you will get a lot less back in return. The devil you know is usually better then the devil you don't know.
I got Heinrich's salary for this year from espn: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/teams/roster?team=chi His average salary over those 5 years might be "only" $9.5 million, but $11.25 million is what he is being paid this year according to ESPN. I don't think Kirk is chopped liver or a bad player by any stretch, but keep in mind that JVG doesn't think Rafer is chopped liver and considers Alston a great team defender. Besides linking a wikipedia hardly adds credibility to an arguement. I think Heinrich would start for us if we aquired him, but I don't consider him anything more than a good role player. We already have more role players than we know what to do with. There is no way you trade Tmac for 2 role players on a sub 500 team that is playing in the east and expect to improve.
Winning a ring, maybe. But let's look at Rick's system. Every stop he's had really 1 only true star or featured players. Everybody else was a nice contributor. There wasn't that HUGE of a dropoff from the star to the rest of the players on the team. It obviously never translated to rings, but it's produced a bunch of really good teams. I'm not saying I support anything at all, be it Rick or McGrady. But assuming we're buying in to Rick being our coach for a while, it probably does fit what he's trying to do.
I wouldn't do a trade but I don't think this dude doesn't have the work ethic or patience to want to build anything. He doesn't want to get out of the first round let alone win a NBA championship.All these injuries point to something subliminally and I if you read between the lines it shows that he doesn't have the tolerance or longevity to want to advance. The question is do you think T-mac right now has the real desire to want to win a NBA Title.
McGrady put the team on his back *last year* and led them to 52 wins with Rafer Alston, Dikembe Mutumbo and Chuck Hayes in the starting line-up for most of the year. He did this with a *lot less* talent than the Bulls had. You want their third and fourth best player for a top 5 talent?! Unreal. The Rockets didn't lose in the playoffs because of McGrady. Trading a player of his talent for 50 cents on the dollar is just stupid. Why you need to demonize him as a person to justify your crap trade is beyond me.
If we can get back a decent YOUNG PG, a potent 2nd tier YOUNG star winger, in my book that's fair value if not better than an injury prone jump shooting Tmac. Tmac is not valued as highly around the league as some of you expect. Go to other teams forum and start a trade for Tmac thread, see what kind of response you get.
Maybe Paxson will give up Heinrich and Deng? Heinrich will forever be my hero after he hammer punched Flip Murray in the balls as Flip dunked on him. Deng would be a great addition and I already have a gimmick picked out for him. Everytime he throws down dunk or makes an exciting play the PA guy at Toyota Center could play the Joe Dirt sound clip when he says "daaaang!" Seriously, *if* we could get those two guys it would be a great trade although I know Deng is probably untouchable.
