we have a better chance with tracy heading into the playoffs. and tracy has an expiring contract in 2010. what's the point of the trade? less games missed in the reg. season?
I talked about this because i watched the game between Raps vs Nuggets where Billups played a fantastic game I understood that Morey might get a bigger plan beyond our imagination. He is a genius.
we would owe $50+ million to a 2nd tier pg in his 30's for the next 4 years. Umm, no thanks. This team isn't good enough to win a title with Billups as it's best player. I'll take the fresh start in 2 summers and the slim chance of McGrady recovering over guaranteed extended mediocrity any day of the week.
Chauncey Billups capped off a terrific first week as a Nugget by earning his fourth career Player of the Week honor (first in the Western Conf.). Billups led Denver to a record of 3-1 by averaging a team-high 21.5 ppg from nuggets.com
Agreed. Not like Prince would've made us better after Billups slows down completely. At least with McGrady we have flexibility in a few years, if it doesn't work--well he provided us with some great basketball, but we can always start over. I don't want to tie our future (especially 2010) to an aging point guard who is already past 30.
Wrong. Iverson was more the guard with Nash-like projections. They saw that didnt work and went with the more half court all-around guard in Billups.
I know. My point was that you have to have a special player to win the title. Artest is not that. Billups is not that. And contrary to the opinion of this board, Yao is most certainly not that as he is just as likely to be a liability on any given night as he is to dominate. One might point to that Detroit team as a counterexample, but that lineup was vastly superior to a lineup of Scola, Prince, Yao, Artest, Billups, and Battier/whatever you trade Battier for if you decide to trade him. They also had an easier route to the Finals than we likely would have. One might call me naive to hope that McGrady can regain his superstar form in the playoffs and that's completely fine. I think it's highly, highly unlikely as well. But atleast there is that small chance. I would much rather take that chance, as slim as it is, knowing that I can just start over with a clean slate in 2 summers, rather than just putting tying up $50 million on a 30 year old in decline. That's mediocrity. If you have no chance of being great, you're wasting your time.
With prince, it will meant 3 of the best perimeter defenders in the nba at the same team. Talk about a 3 headed player. And prince is just like battier, in the sense of he play good D ,shoot the 3, and willing to pass the ball. And even if Billups is at the wrong side of 30, he will continue be one of the top 10 PGs for the next couple of years.
Would be nice to have prince and billups if we had ron too. Would have 3 of the best defenders in the league. Battier,Ron, and Prince!!
Even if McGrady returned to the same form as the '08 playoffs, the team is still better with Billups/Prince and much easier to root for.
If we got Billups, he will have to be Rafer's backup. Rafer is always the best PG for Yao and TMAC. Also, He will shoot in 30%. Anyone, any new comers can not shoot from anywhere once they become a Rockets. Artest's layup percentage is only 30%. We have to wait for the rebuilding. no other way around.
I dont know who made the deal for Billups (George Karl or their GM) but he ought to get a raise. The Nugs are twice as good with him rather than Iverson.
Will Denver trade Billups/KMart for TMac/Alston/Scola? This will never happen, but I just want to see how Denver fans value TMac and Billups.
1. It was a rumor. Correct me if I am wrong. There is no proof that the GMs actually talked about this trade. 2. If we got Billups for McGrady, our window of winning a title is about one or two years. Without a play maker, this team is NOT going to win big. Billups is on the last leg of his career. Some might argue that McGrady is on his last leg too. It's speculation. But I'd put my bet that McGrady's productive career would outlast Billups'. 3. As HP pointed out, it is not Billups for McGrady, but Billups + Prince for McGrady. IMO, if that deal was actually on the table, it's not that Morey was dumb not to take it, but Dumars was dumb that he actually would consider it. T-Mac is better than Billups. But he is not better than Billups AND Prince. 4. If we got Prince, we mostly likely wouldn't have traded for Artest. We definitely don't need THREE great defensive players manning the same position.
Allegedly the Prince + Billups for TMax trade was after the season started (if I'm reading what someone else alleged correctly..) So it would have given us this roster (after the season started and before McGrady sat out): PG: Billups; Brooks; Alston; Francis SG: Head; Wafer; Barry C: Ming PF: Scola; Landry; Hayes; Dorsey SF: Artest; Prince; Battier I don't really see how it was a trade that would have significantly improved the team because: (i) one of the peices (Prince) plays the same role that Battier and Artest already fill (ii) We would be sacrificing cap flexibility by taking on Billups for 4 years @ $50mill (at 32 already) and Prince for 3 years @ 30mill. (iii) since Prince is largely redundant (to an extent another version of Battier/ Artest - granted doing things in a different way) - but since Prince doesn't add a whole lot to THIS team, replacing Tracy with Billups doesn't put us a step closer to a title in any way, shape or form. (iv) Point Guards do NOT win you a championship. (v) Point Guards do NOT win you a championship. (vi) Point Guards do NOT win you a championship. (vii) Point Guards do NOT win you a championship. The most effective combination for a 'championship team' is a scoring wing man with a scoring big. There are notable exceptions to this rule, but generally speaking, a team should aim to build around a scoring wing and a scoring big. That's how you win. McGrady/ Ming is a highly effective combination (go check the win% when both players start) - and we've built around them nicely - there's no reason to think we won't win 55+ games this season (as much as people are moaning about our slow start, we're on track for 53 wins and are winning our division - and there's no reason to think that a healthy McGrady being added back to the squad would make us worse...) Bottom line: Detroit ditched Billups because they didn't see themselves as a championship team with him. They're getting ready for the FA market in 2010, and don't want to pair one of them with Billups - will Denver win it all this season? No.
