I've seen this sentiment quite a few times here. I just can't agree w/ it though. If you're a teammate and you're playing hard for 82 games (when it 'doesn't really matter?')...and you've got another guy who thinks he's too good to contribute until the spotlight comes on...how do you expect to have good chemistry come playoff time? Why would you even want to play when you've got somebody like that sitting next to you in the locker room? It's like working on a group project, and one guy doesn't do any work until it's presentation time in front of the boss.
That's a 100% accurate historical view. Whatever someone's opinion is of McGrady, there's virtually nill evidence that things would have been any different had the Rockets passed on the deal. What's irritating are the SOF's that refuse to recognize Francis was beat out by Jameer Nelson long before his knees gave out. Or that ORL and NY exchanged Francis for Penny Freakin' Hardaway. Or that POR has paid Francis >$34m the past 2 seasons for sitting on the IL. Hinrich...like your other too slow hero Redick....is not the answer. And he's not coming here for the multitude of reasons I sighted in the thread you started. But I'll give you credit. The team plays well when Grady isn't there slowing things down.
Smart guy... It's too bad NO ONE would have listened to him. Who could have seen this coming? Tmac was not like this in 2005.
RU serious? What part of Francis' max contract and him on the injured list for 2.5 seasons are you struggling with? There was no cap flexibility in that plus Cato. This season, Yao and Francis would have easily combined for $32+m of a $57m. Mobley was signed as a FA by the Clipps for $8m. That's $3m+ more than he made in Houston. You're now filling out a roster of 12 on $17m. You may be right about better draft picks. They would definitely have had a worse record.
I guess you all forgot what McGrady did for Houston Rockets when Yao was out. I guess you all forgot that this is the team he carried to the playoffs. You're all jumping on bandwagon and critizing McGrady on the case of 20-30 regular season games. He is injured, what else is new? He didn't quit last year because Yao was injured more and opted out to carry this team to playoffs. He had surgery on his left knee, didn't recover yet. I know we're all fed up with injuries but I'm sure McGrady wants more than us to be healthy and play basketball on the level he played before the injuries. There was a reason McGrady quit on Orlando, because they sucked badly. There is no reason why he should quit on Houston Rockets after finally getting what we all wanted, great team that is eligible for title run. It's all hype and I like it because it motivates T-Mac, I don't like because it affects fans and it might affect coaching staff. Who is trading McGrady? Who? Wake up, people. Daryl Morey isn't that dull to trade team's best perimeter player and throw all the season away.
Gater, I don't want credit, I want McGrady to grow up, become 2nd fiddle and to play within the constraints of the team concept. But, if he won't I want to root for a team that plays hard...night in and night out...... And, I know you don't like Hinrich, but he is not a slow it down guy, he played fast at Kansas, and can play fast with our teams too, what he IS.......is a good decision maker, shooter and defender.......and more importantly an ATTAINABLE upgrade to Rafer. But, if we are holding out to try to get Bibby this summer, then I am cool with that too. DD
I said a step forward. We clearly need to take more steps in order to get to contender status. Honestly, look back at JVG's 1st year. Was that squad going to do anything real? We went from being a perennial 45-win team waffling between the 8th seed (with a 28-win season tossed in) and lottery to a 50-win team that waffled between the 4th and 5th seed (with a 34-win season tossed in). That is a step forward. Should McGrady and Yao ever have a year where they both play 70 games, are both at least 90% for the playoffs, and are on the same page on the court - we would take a MAJOR step forward. That would be a 60-win team and an appearance in the Conference Finals. As has been mentioned however, how long do we keep holding out for that scenario? It's come up bust all 4 years, and we're staring down 5-for-5 should this season continue down this road. Which reminds me - I'm SICK of hearing the chants of "do you really think we could win a championship without McGrady?" To that I say: These guys were able to pull it off. Maybe we can, too. There's no question at all that as it stands, McGrady is a key part of this team and its success. If we move him, we'll take a step backwards. Orlando moved him and are now experiencing more success without him (in the East) than we are with him. Sometimes you have to move on and start over. Philly wasn't going to get a title with Iverson. Phoenix wasn't getting one with Barkley. Knicks weren't getting one with Ewing. Sometimes you need to accept that it isn't panning out and turn the page. For those pounding the table about taking ourselves out of contention by trading McGrady - what if we had moved him for Billups/Prince over the summer? Wouldn't we be better off right now? I don't think either Billups or Prince or even the combination of the two are as good as McGrady *can* be - but I think they would be giving this team a much better chance to contend this season than McGrady is. Evan
Don't call me a SOF - but I would challenge your take on that history. Nelson didn't beat Steve out - Steve became persona non grata for (a) not feeding the ball to Howard (why give it to some rookie when HE is the best offensive player!) and (b) going sulky on the squad when BFF Mobley was traded for Doug Christie. Evan
I would agree, I will never be more disappointed in steve than when he sulked after the mobley trade, but he finished that season rather strong individually. also they started out well playing he and nelson together the next season but about midseason when he pouted in the game in Seattle about going back in after he was benched, they decided to trade him, and then injuries got the best of him.
i don't have to hate steve francis to suggest he had little impact in the league after he left Houston.
no but you would have to to suggest that fans should be happy just because they got rid of steve francis. this thread had nothing to do with francis till your post to suggest that "yeah, things aren't as great as we thought with all the championship aspirations and all but we got rid of steve francis"
The article the guy is writing about now was an article at the time of the trade...laughing at Houston for trading away so much for McGrady. That's the context of the whole thing. You can't criticize Houston for trading for McGrady without considering what they gave up to get him. RocketRiver is the only person in the world who would tell you the Magic came out better in that deal.
the article is about I told you what you were getting. and considering all the "orlando is just bitter" threads that had nothing to do with francis at the time, the guy is saying I told you so about the same thing he was ridiculed for in 04. Rocket River's defense of steve francis not withstanding, i don't think the writer knows who rocket river is so that's neither here nor there. btw, i'm sure the orlando franchise is pretty happy where they are, francis or none, mcgrady or none
Just from perception alone, let me throw this out. Tracy is 0-7 in the playoffs in 11 yrs, what is Yao's record in the playoffs in 7 yrs? How many times has he advanced? Or was the 1st yr francis failure and the next 3 tracy's?
I'm really not certain you and I are discussing the same thing. No one gives a flying flip about the opinions of a guy from Orlando in '04 but for the trade. So he can tell us all how Houston made a huge mistake....but you can't ignore the context of what was given up. Even if everything the guy said was true then and is 100% true now, you still have to look at the context of it. And that context is exactly what the original article was all about.
