I cant put a grade on the trades, but i will say we are alot better off now. We got ride of two very big ball hogs. Not that their bad players and put role players and one superstar in their place. Id take two stars and the rest role players any day over what we had last yr...Now we have enough balls for all our players...Last couple of yrs not enough...
Ward - Francis 0 McGrady - Mobley +1.5 Jackson - Jackson 0 Howard - Cato 0 Yao - Yao 0 Taylor - Taylor 0 Sura, Lue, Mutombo, and Gaines - Pike, Griffin, Wilks +3 Total - +4.5
I thought if we kept the same team s we had lat year and maybe added a very very good pf thas all we needed,but who in they right mind cn complain about getting t mac? I just hopr he don't get hurt or anything they we will all be looking funy at the end of net season.
We're such a funny group. If anyone would have predicted we could have TMac, Juwan, Deke, Sura, etc. added to our team next season and only give up Steve & Mobes...they would have been laughed off the board. This was a GREAT offseason! CD made moves that gave JVG the pieces he needs to craft a FANTASTIC team. Just look at the flexiblity and match-ups we can offer. At Shooting Guard: TMac has no peer except Kobe. Wow, let that sink in for a minute. We have probably the top 1-2 SG in the league, not to mention top scorer 2yrs in a row. That has to be a +5 by itself. Plus we have Sura, JJ and Gaines who can play minutes here if need be. That's another +1...TOTAL +6/A+ At Point Guard: A combo of Sura, Lue and Ward gives us incredible flexibility and depth. None of these guys have Steve's ability, but together they each have unique talents that may make our PG position better. Steve has the talent to be a GREAT SG, but he always had trouble imulating a PG mentaility/decision-making. I say from a team perspective we only drop -1 and we score a B for acquiring these three guys. If Gaines develops into PG material we may even come out of this one ahead. At Power Forward: I've never been a huge Juwan fan, but the guy is a solid player. He brings much better offensive skills to starting position and he's OK as a rebounder. He'll do well with Yao. Keeping MoT for instant O and Spoon as Def stud is smart. We'll miss Cato's shot blocking a bit, but overall adding JH improves are overall team +1/B. At Center: Adding Deke has a great advantage by giving us a true enforcer. He's very intelligent and will make Yao better. His ability to contribute 10-15 a game will be a perfect compliment. If Yao goes down Juwan can play a bit at center and work with Deke who could probably up his minutes to 20 range. Overall this becomes much stronger back-up for us. Grade: +2/A- At Small Forward: Keeping JJ and Boki was wise. Boki began to show life in play-offs and should start to contribute next year. Using TMac at bit here might also make sense. Grade: +1/B+ mainly for not trading Boki and getting rid of dead wood AG. So my final grade is +9/A for the off-season. I'm sure this is optimistic and I'll be disagreed with, but just my assessment. I really never liked Pike and was glad we dumped AG. I like our overall team a whole lot better and believe JVG has a chance to do something special with this crew.
McGrady A+ Rarely can you pick up a franchise player without giving up the cornerstone of your team. Sura and Ward B- Of all the available point guards, these two are at or near the bottom of the list. It's good we didn't overpay on the free agent market. However, we still did not acquire any long-term solutions to a very pivotal position. Next year, we'll still be looking for a legitimate PG. Quantity does not equal quality. Mutombo B+ He is a shadow of his former self but can probably still play 15 minutes/game and use his 6 fouls. He can be a great acquistion as long as he harbors no illusions about touching the ball on offense. Mutombo has 1 maybe 2 years left before he's completely done. Hopefully by then, Yao will start to dominate and the backup C will be less and less relevant. Howard/Lue/Gaines B Howard is mediocre and is not a long-term solution at PF. Lue will be a free agent next year and will command more than $1.5 million on the open market so he'll be gone. Gaines is a project who will probably be bench fodder. Overall Grade A- McGrady's impact far outweighs any other moves/non-moves. Our biggest problem continues to be the lack of quality long-term solutions at any of the other starting positions other than C and SG. Jim Jackson, Howard, Sura, etc should all come off the bench after next season.
good posts Sharkey and Riet. those breakdowns get the anticipatory juices flowing, can't wait till the season starts.
