mutual decision ?!?!?! team game ?!?! - is that why traded a Shooting Guard that averaged 5.5 aassists a game on a bad team, for a POINT GUARD that averaged 6 assists on a GOOD team
Gee, that line certainly is impressive if you ignore the: 28 vs. 44 43 vs. 42 And conveniently forget about a certain 7'6 guy in the second line.
Forget all the assumptions on how good the Magic would be if they didn't make the trade, Tracy wanted to leave, the changes didn't matter to him. He basically had no hope for that orginization, he would of just been playing for himself for another year until he opted out of his contract following this seaosn.
Just like its convenient you ignore that Francis only played about fifty games when the team only won 28 games, and its convenient you ignore that a core of Francis and Mobley already won 45 games in the WEST without Ming. Its also silly that Rockets fans want to say that we got all these good players besides McGrady and then when you point out how the Magic sucked last season you guys say well McGrady didn’t have any help. The truth is we got the core of a team that won 21 games last season and they got much of the core of a team that won 45 games. You can’t have it both ways, if those players sucked in Orlando and didn’t give Tracy any help, how are they so much magically better because they will play for the Rockets.
I'm sure Yao contributed nothing to the 45 wins last season. Are you're predicting a 20 win season for the Rockets this season? I'd be willing to put some money on this. He had no hope for the team only after Weisbrod ripped him midseason. Had Weisbrod made it a priority to keep T-Mac, it probably wouldn't be a hard sell. T-Mac absolutely wanted to stay in Orlando. It's his home. The optimist would say a possible Grant Hill comeback and the #1 pick, and there's a possible future in the franchise. But of course, with the attitude of the new management, T-Mac not surprisingly just gave up on the season and the team.
pgabriel, we will see, why don't you just let it go for now and cheer for the Rockets (and perhaps also for the Magic). I will certainly follow the Magic and I hope Francis and Mobley do well, but not so that one person can tell others here "I told you so", but because they both always tried to play hard for the Rockets.
Someone makes a poll. How long will pgabriel and francis 4 pred will be bitter after the trade? Four options: a) 1 month b) 2 years c) Until Yao and T-Mac's first championship d) Forever
Please! He quit after everyone stopped kissing his butt and wanted to him take some responsibility for his team's failures instead of blaming everyone else. They tried to keep him, they tried telling him that they had the #1 pick, but he said that he didn't think the guy picked there would help the team this season, Emaka nor Dwight. They told him about Grant Hill, but he's been through 3 attempted comebacks, I really doubt he had much faith in his ankle the 4th time. Tracy wanted to leave, nothing would convince him that he had a better chance of winning a title there then a trade somewhere else, and by the looks of the Magic (although they'll be a good Eastern Conference team) he was right. Now hopefully he realizes that winning a championship isn't as easy as hooking up with a great big man and playing how he always played. It's going to take A LOT of hard work, and sacrifice, it's easily the hardest thing to do in the NBA, much harder than winning some scoring championships.
The magic have had a great offseason, but Weisbrod's success should be judged by two things: whether he got the best value back for trading McGrady, and whether Howard will turn out better than Okafor. Lucking on the number one pick and getting Grant Hill back shouldn't be attributed to Weisbrod, any GM could have "achieved" that. On his McGrady bashing, I hope it continues! It keeps McGrady motivated and appreciative of how the Rockets treat him. It's like how in your family you might not always get along with your brother, but when faced with a common threat, say a bully from outside, you tend to stick together. Rockets vs Magic will be a killer game. Expecting fireworks!
No, I remember that. I also remember LOSING to the Lakers in the playoffs, when we had more than a good opportunity to win that series. It was not enough to just GET to the Playoffs - we had the Lakers beaten in that series, but lacked that KILLER INSTINCT to put them away. That includes SF, who, yes, did step up in the Playoffs, but who also failed in the Playoffs. Since the comment was about 'Killer Instinct' - aka 'Putting Your Foot On The Other Team's Neck And Squashing The Life Out Of Them' in the playoffs, that is exactly the quality that SF lacks. The comment still stands, regardless of however much you don't like TMac, for whatever ungodly reason.
This has nothing to do with letting it go. I have been cheering for the Rockets longer than you probably knew they existed. This has to do with this backdoor bashing of the players now in Orlando by people saying Orlando was robbed. Its ridiculous. The fact is McGrady hasn’t had anymore success than the group he got traded for in the NBA. McGrady is definitely a better player than Francis, I can’t argue that, but both of these players have had about the same amount of success in the NBA. The fact is McGrady and Francis has a lot to prove. So we will see who got the best of the trade or if the Rockets got robbed as time passes on. But people on this board act like we got some super man that won 50 games by himself. And when you add Juwan Howard to the mix, you’re talking about a player who has never helped any team he’s been on get to another level. He didn’t make Dallas that much better and we all know about his other stops in the NBA.
Everyone who cared about the Rockets, I mean EVERYONE, knew in their heart of hearts that this team was NEVER going to win a Championship with SF. It just was not going to happen. So, we could have been like Portland or Indiana, and been content to make the playoffs every year, with no real hope of winning it all, and I guess that would have been fine with some people. But this team, with TMac, now has a better possibility of grabbing a ring than it EVER had with SF. And while Weisbrod may have actually improved his team by making the moves he made, I can guarantee this: as long as SF is a/the featured player on that team, it will never win a championship. However, regardless of what the Magic's record was last year, we now have on this team something similar to what the Lakers had with Kobe and Shaq: two Superstar players surrounded by good character guys with enough talent to do what the coach wants them to do. Now before you assume I am a SF basher, I am not. I loved SF with all my heart when we got him, I still remember that pre-season game where he basically just was Superman, and gave us a peek at what he might someday be able to do. I am sad that he had to go, but HE HAD TO GO. Much as I like Stevie, he just did not have what it takes between the ears. Steve is one of the good guys though, and I will always wish him well, and I honestly hope that I some day turn out to be wrong about him, and that he gets to wear a ring on his finger one day. Heck, how many NBAers actually went back to school and got their degrees after coming out early? SF did it. That alone in my book will make me a fan of his for the rest of his career. But I still want the Rockets to win Championships, even more than I wanted SF to be on the team. And it became very clear that it was going to be an either/or situation. Painful as it was, we chose the Championship route instead of the SF route. And hey, getting TMac in return is a balm which we will find very soothing indeed.. PGabriel, just drink some hot tea or something and relax. Everything is gonna be ok. Stop trying to bring everybody down. It ain't working anyway.
Oh my. Lets not get foolish here, the guy that really had a team beaten in the playoffs and really lacked the killer instinct is TRACY! Remember when he said it feels good to be in the 2nd round of the playoffs? You act like the Rockets had a 3-1 series lead over the Lakers like the Magic had over the Pistons.
I just find it funny that Weisbrod wanted players with killer instincts, and then gives $40M to Turkoglue.
Not everyone. I think Francis/Yao could have won a championship. If there was a guy lacking killer instinct in the playoffs, it was Yao, not Francis. Saitou, agree. MFW, your summary is correct. I think an arguably superior lineup that includes McGrady likely would have produced significantly fewer wins than the guys they chose to go with. That was sort of the point of the whole post and what Weisbrod's been saying: talent won't take you anywhere if your morale is low. You don't buy it and you don't have to. It's my opinion. We won't ever get to see how well Orlando would have done if they stuck with McGrady. And, why is it that pgabriel always gets all the attention as the McGrady-hater? He doesn't even dislike McGrady. I'm much more critical and I get no respect.
So he replied to Weisbrod once, but who keeps trying to bash the other? It seems TMac has let it goooo, not like hockey guy over there.
TMac is an insanely good, MVP quality player. Steve Francis's stlye of play can't win championships. A team that utilizes Steve to the best of his abilities will forfeit other aspects of the game which enable winning it all. TMac and Yao Ming on a team that plays awesome defense and can hit a three is the type of team that wins championships.
