[Chron] League's rumor mill seems to be getting out of control

League's rumor mill seems to be getting out of control

Feigen on NBA

This sort of thing happens all over the NBA these days. It is one of the byproducts of the Internet age.

But it is still fascinating to watch develop and move along step by step.

Skip to the end, to where we are today after nearly a month of the rumor mill churning out speculation the Rockets have or would entertain conversations about trading Tracy McGrady and this is what you get.

"There have been no trade talks," Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said. "None. Nothing."

But there has been media conversation about the merits of such a thing, leading to rumors, leading to reports. And it is not just the media and Internet chat rooms that have created the buzz.

Morey's peers picked up on that like everyone else, assumed smoke indicates fire, and started gossiping, too.

In this case, the kindling came when the Rockets were in Denver on Dec. 20 and played the Nuggets into double overtime. Magic Johnson said on TNT the Rockets likely need to break up the Yao Ming-Tracy McGrady foundation, that the combination is not working.

The next week, a column in the Chicago Tribune proposed a McGrady-to-Chicago trade. There was no suggestion that such a thing would happen or had been discussed, but that the writer thought it would be a good idea.

(Something like that happened earlier this season when a column suggested that the Heat should trade Shaquille O'Neal. When the subsequent rumors swirled, O'Neal became concerned and Pat Riley issued a statement refuting reports of an O'Neal trade, though it was not a report at all.)

The Tribune item about McGrady included a reference that he was unhappy, which at the time, he was. But if the Rockets traded everyone that was unhappy with the way things were going in mid-December, Rick Adelman would have had to issue uniforms to Jack Sikma, Elston Turner and T.R. Dunn (which at the time, might have been a good idea, anyway.)

The next day, the Rockets were in Detroit where one of the Pistons borrowed the Charles Barkley line about Vince Carter ("He's half man, half a season.") and attached it to McGrady. That made the Detroit News about a week later, causing conjecture.

Soon, Marc Stein on ESPN said the Rockets have had "exploratory talks" with Chicago about McGrady, something Morey denies in every form of "exploratory talk." But in the days leading to the ESPN comment, there had been front office types in the league talking and asking one another and asking media members about trade talk involving McGrady, having picked up and slightly misinterpreted the original Tribune column.

By last week, Internet rumors were popping up every few days, with many around the league moving from speculating that the Rockets might entertain a deal, to laughing about the rumors and debating which idea was worst.

The Rockets' success without McGrady did nothing to quell gossip. To the Rockets, it meant such a deal was less likely.

The way the Rockets have played lately has made them more confident about their roster, to say nothing of better position in the playoff race. The better they feel about their offseason acquisitions and their chances, the more likely they are to want to let it all play out as they planned when they were such a trendy preseason pick to contend.

That does not mean any of this will end. It will change a bit, as it has since McGrady was supposedly going to the Lakers for Kobe Bryant. His first 4-of-16 shooting game should spark it all up again.

Until then, there will always be another hot topic. Did you hear about Andre Miller?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5450224.html
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I guess that about ends the speculation that t-mac will be traded. Plain and simple he just won't be.