It's amazing that trading Tracy McGrady for pea gravel helped the Magic build what they have today. Weisbrod was a clueless idiot but it worked out well after he left.
In this league, heart does matter, I don't see TMac making those Lewis' shots. Don't forget, in game 7 of 07, Rox were up 5 with 5 minutes left, and TMac didn't make another shot until the game was lost. TMac probably could make past first round had he stayed, but he wouldn't have a chance to be in the finals.
I hear you. I didn't mean you liked McGrady over anybody else. I just meant you've kept cool and avoiding the bashing, unlike a lot of other people, unfortunately including myself. I cut it out though a while back. I think it was just my way of dealing with his demise. I agree with you about the Hill expiring being a huge factor and that there were other decisions they made beyond unloading McGrady that helped them get where they are today. I guess I just think the McGrady deal was a slightly bigger factor than you. Like I said, I could obviously be totally wrong. Just my armchair guess.
That's another good point. It's not necessarily the case that hockey guy was actually a good GM. He may have just been an idiot that got lucky. Some people are now thinking that Weisbrod may have actually been a good GM that got a bad shake given the current situation. That may not be the case at all. He may have gotten lucky on a couple of deals and the next GM just picked up from where he left off and took care of the rest.
this is completely uncalled for.. with all due respect, if you think Battier's charge-taking is equivalent to the disgusting practice of "flopping", then you really don't know much about basketball. Scola embellishes, no doubt about that, but he is no Varejao, and he rarely gets the calls from the refs. What ANYONE with a pair of eyes should know for sure, however, is that we NEVER got a single charge call that didn't involve Scola or Battier getting hit significantly hard, thus inducing falling to the floor. any special effects/exaggeration is strictly to get the attention of the ref, and it's absolutely smart and not in the least bit "dirty" (see: Varejao, and the entire Lakers team). here's the bottom line: if you take the hit, your legs are stationary and you're outside the circle, you deserve the charge call. If, however, you just fall down when someone drives by you, that's dirtier than dirty and that's constitutes a "flop". Another noteworthy thing is what I call the "BronBron fouls", ya know, when you drive in to your defender and flail your arms wildly knowing that you'll get the call instead of acting like the "superstar" that you are and stepping up in the clutch to take the shot. He got bailed out, and no other player in the league (except for Wade, Pierce, and Kobe) would've gotten that call, and this really disgusts me. That's how Kobe is different from LeBron though: Kobe would've never done that, he would've balled up and taken an actual shot rather than take a dive on the floor and have the officials bail your a$$ out..
I just see people as human. What players do have no bearing on my life or how i treat my wife, kids, or anything else. Like i said, this summer, i was paying 10k per week on diesel for 4 trucks and whether tracy hit a jumper against utah wasn't going to change it. In the end, i'm a rox fan, thats it. I dont care who scores, who rebounds, who gets the credit, but i always sense tracy is always the blame. Some is fair, some is not. through it all, he's just a man with faults like all of us, but some on this board think because he makes 20m that he should be different. I'll just be glad when he's gone to see who the next fall guy is, it gets old with tracy.
I think he was just lucky he picked Howard instead of Okafor with that No.1 pick. And playing in the Eastern conference certainly helps too. Getting Turkeyglue was a steal, but I don't remember if that was with him at GM.
We all remember that game. Not only were we up, we were at home and had them in foul trouble with about half the quarter to go. We really needed someone to take the ball to the rack and get to the line. It was closer time and that usually means one of your perimeter players needs to make things happen. McGrady and Alston and every other perimeter player were settling for contested outside shots almost every time down. Just one or two forays to the basket would have likely made all the difference.
There is a differnce between playmaker and play finisher. Brooks, this is what i'm saying about the whole mcgrady deal. He scored or assisted on every basket in 6 mins, but the teams inablity to get a rebound is what lost the game. Just as last year, if the rookie landry doesn't get pushed under the basket, its wouldve been different. Hayes,rafer,and shane in the same starting lineup with head the 1st guard off the bench? I bet gm's are dreaming of that scenerio.
Its a differnce between having good slow up half court defense vs transition defense. Orlando is a top 3 defense even with 2 sf's on the frontline with howard and a rookie. Its really a bad matchup and i said it before, if brown wasn't going to think outside the box and play sasha more, it was a done deal for them.
That seems to be a quite common situation. In today's game, the Magic also settled for jump shots at the end of regulation, and missed like 8 or 9 shots in a row before that Lewis 3 pter. Had they lost, it would be because of those long range jump shots. I don't know why, but it seems a lot of NBA teams when they had a lead going into the final minutes of the game, they would settle for jump shots and hope that the clock runs out. Maybe they were just trying to run the clock down and was extra careful not to turn the ball over, and then forced to take jump shots to beat the shot clock.
I hate to chime in on this flopping sub-discussion but a couple of guys stuck their neck out in this thread and acknowledged that even the Rockets do their share of flopping. No, we don't do it as much as some teams but it's still there if you take off your homer glasses. I personally don't have a problem with a little bit of exaggeration to sell fouls that may otherwise go unnoticed as long as it doesn't get taken to the extreme. Scola is the closest thing we have to an outright flopper. He will literally act on occasion, in my opinion. I wouldn't call Battier a flopper but he does occasionally sell fouls to officials. Almost every player does time to time. It's only when you get to the level of a Kirilenko that it becomes a serious problem. Shoot, even Lowry gets pretty dramatic trying to sell contact at times. Have you ever seen him **** his head back when a perimeter player gently puts a hand on him out on the perimeter? Or on some of his drives to the basket where there clearly isn't any real contact followed by an astonished look with arms out to the referees? I actually remember one time during the Portland series, he stood behind Pryzbilla on a set out of bounds play. As soon as Pryzbilla leaned backward, Lowry flew to the ground and landed on his back. It was cleary a flop. All teams have a player or two that "sell fouls." The problem is when those players turn the occasional exaggeration into an art form and a strategy a la Kirilenko or Ginobili back in the day.
That's a good point. The Magic were definitely putting up a lot of questionable shots down the stretch of regulation. It nearly cost them, too. They actually fell behind with LeBron being more aggressive at the other end. Rashard hit a very difficult turnaround 3 then Howard took over in OT. To a large extent, the Magic still live and die by the outside shot. The difference this year is that their defense has improved, Howard has improved and they are getting a nice contribution from Pietrus. As good as Rafer played tonight, if Jameer was still in the mix, they would be that much more dangerous.
What does that prove? Kobe averaged 35pts one season and where did his team go? 1st round exit! Based on what you said about MJ and Wilt, they didn't win until they got better teammates. Same applied to Kobe, until he got Gasol, he was just another T-mac! Lebron can't win now cos his 2nd best teammate is named Mo Williams!
Mo got 18 ppg, Gasol got 18ppg, sounds about even. Don't forget Lakers focused more on offense and they play more possessions a game.
Well done, Magics Good job, Rafer. Somehow I felt related to Magics cause their resemblance to Rockets.. 3 points spotters surround big center. Coach Van Gundy ( The older one) ex-Rockets PG Rafer Played against Superstar player That would just show where Rockets should have been this season if everyone is healthy...
You need a third guy in the playoffs. Having Mo Williams as your second best player is okay but they don't have very good third and fourth best players like the Lakers do. The Cavs just aren't very talented outside of Lebron. Their bench scoring is almost non-existent.
If LeBron had even one teammate that didn't suck for most of this series, it would very likely be 3-1 Cavs right now. I really believe Lebron is a phenomenal player doing everything within his power to help his team win, including sharing the ball. When he sees nobody on his team able to contribute consistenly, he has little other choice than to try to take over. Delonte West has actually been their second best player in this series and he, too, hasn't been himself. Give Lebron just one other player, let's say Gasol or Hedo, and I think this series would be a very different situation right now. I also am not counting the Cavs out. If it was 3-1 Cleveland right now, I'd say it's over but the Cavs have 2 out of the next 3 at home. If their coach makes a good adjustment defensively to deal with the Rashard/Hedo, that will go a long way to facilitating a comeback. I'd still give the Cavs about a 25-30% chance of turning things around. The Magic haven't come close to blowing them out at any point while the Cavs have had enormous leads that they let slip away. If Cleveland wins Game 5, the pressure will suddenly be on Orlando to close it out at home.
