Well, by my count, you posted 6 times, only one of which had anything to do with the OP and that was just to say some other guy was right. And alot of people responded to your post and it sidetracked this thread even more. I understand, you hate McGrady. Maybe you should change your moniker to Anti-Mac cause it seems like you hate him more than any swarming illegal defense. It's cool though, i just don't understand why you would come to a thread knowing you really don't want to participate in the OP's desired discussion when there's so many other threads discussing the things you love discussing.
I'm wondering where all of this patience and optimism was back when Scott Pippen was mouthing off that one summer. He was a guy who had actually won something in his career, unlike McGrady. All he did to turn everyone against him was insult Charles Barkley, a guy who was barely a Rocket anyway. Although Pippen's numbers were down here, he at least busted his ass on the court and willingly went along with what the team was trying to do, two things McGrady is NOT doing. Where were the calls to stroke his ego or do whatever it took to keep him on the court and happy? It was the last chance with Hakeem and Barkley - where was the sense of desperation to appease him that we see today with McGrady? Why so different now? The Rockets ended up trading him for less than what you could probably get for McGrady now, and people were completely fine with it.
Your comments are a joke and I indeed got a good laugh out of it. Good job. I counted down the days to the actual day your mancrush, Cat, and Cato were traded for Tmac, JHo, Lue, and Gaines. I don't know how many times I've said that in one fell swoop, JVG practically ended the ISO era with the trading of Francis, Cat, and Cato. Well, MoT managed to stick around but was worthless at that point. But even frauds like you are not going to deny the centerpieces for that trade was Tmac and Francis. Are you? I honestly have questions about your logical thought process, you seem to be one of those that if you say something r****ded that Francis is a better basketball player then Tmac, then eventually it becomes true in your mind. Kinda DD-ish, which is scary.
this is an even bigger risk to take for the team, imo. i can understand why so many tend to think giving mcgrady an extended period of time to heal, physically and mentally, even if it means it goes deep into the season and right before the playoffs. i've thought about it, too. and i view that as some goodwill from the fans side. i'm kind of on the fence in b/w this idea and trying to trade him now. what if things don't improve after the trade deadline? say mcgrady comes back playing 10 games before the postseason, what kinda chance do we have that he'd buy into the system? what if he doesn't? then this season is another 1st and out. otoh, if we trade him now... well, i guess it all depends how well morey can do. and even this is under the presumption that les is willing to cut the loss now which is unlikely.
Not sure where the analogy is here. Very few people here are calling to 'stroke his ego' or 'appease him.' It's as simple as this. McGrady's value goes up in a year. We gained nothing holding onto Pippen once that bridge with Charles was burned.
unless you were saying he'd magically buy into the system and be the man again, his trade value (due to his contract) today is almost the same compared to a year from now.
At the trade the trade deadline next season? With McGrady as an expiring contract the Rockets would be looking at taking back bad players/contracts that place them out of 2010 free agency. At least by making a trade now the Rockets can include a contract/s that expire before 2010 FA. Otherwise the only other situation I see would be a team without the capspace to be players in 2010 FA. A team looking to trade for and extend a superstar. At over $20M which team is ready to gut their roster for McGrady and his injury history and decline over the years even if he were healthy at the time? I think the Rockets pre-negotiated McGrady extension before dealing with Orlando. This time around what he wants and what the other team would want to pay might be too far in between. That's another possible obstacle.
Gained nothing? You had the chance of advancing in the playoffs, something that hasn't happened since. You could have added Steve Francis to the core of Hakeem/Pippen/Barkley (in hindsight maybe not good, but this isn't about hindsight). You knew you weren't going to get fair value for the guy, yet few had a problem with trading him for nothing. I'd like to know what you expect to get by waiting a year. Yao Ming will be near 30. We don't know what will happen with Artest. You're prepared to blow off this year AND next and wait for a free agent to sign here in 2010 when most all high dollar free agents sign with their own teams for more money?
Does history repeats itself?...sometimes it does... Maybe, just maybe T-Mac will remind us of a former Rocket, his nickname sounds like Rheem (most '99ers and before them worship him)... them maybe, we'll see that T-Mac is following in the footsteps of this particular Rockets legend that just couldn't get along with the former owner, Charlie Thomas. In a few peoples opinion (including the media), Dream "quit on the team" ala T-Mac with a "mysterious" injury. Until a certain plane ride brought them together again right before the Rockets won back to back Championships! Maybe I see the glass as half full, but something has got to give. Either T-Mac will change his attitude, work ethic, and performance or we might as well begin the rebuilding phase now - YET AGAIN. Let's hope history repeats itself!
I wouldn't want the Rockets to "stroke his ego," but his past behavior has shown me that a kind of "star treatment" is necessary to get McGrady going. I don't mean coddle him, but rather challenge him to live up to his "greatness," to play at a level that few players can. JVG, for example, was quite adept at pushing him this way. I think when he's healthy and has his head on straight, McGrady can still be that kind of player for the Rockets. But as others have pointed out, resting McGrady right now seems like the best option. If he can return fully healthy, I'd like to see him come back a little after the All-Star Break. That should give the team time to develop chemistry on their own and then with McGrady for a playoff run.
