with respect, i disagree. There's not a GM with any sense in his head who wouldn't have pulled the trigger on the T-Mac deal. He forced his way out of Orlando a year after leading the NBA is scoring (i think). So i have to disagree. There was risk from a basketball standpoint with Yao, but very little risk from an ownership/money-making/franshise stand point with Yao. In that respect, hes a "safe pick". But i also think most GMs would have taken him #1 on talent and size. We gave up nothing at the time for Artest, and it was considered a coup for the Rockets, not a big risk. Artest had cleaned up his act for several straight years by the time we pulled the trigger.
In terms of his talent, then yes, I would have to agree with you here. However, I felt that this was a bad deal from the start because the practicality of making such a deal was never considered by the CD and the Rockets. Sure, they got Tmac but at the cost of creating gaping holes at 3 positions: PG, SG & PF. They then filled those holes with inferior players so the net effect was a canceling out of whatever benefits they were to receive from pairing Yao & Tmac. This deal was made simply because they believed that all they had to do was to place Tmac next to Yao and the wins would (magically) come. Agree. If you look at the 2002 NBA Draft, there just aren't a lot names that jump out at you where a case could be made for picking them over Yao. Their biggest blunder in that draft was their picking Nachbar over T Prince. I don't care if the Pope had blessed him - DID NOT WANT! We paid nothing for nothing and ended up with nothing. Yeah, that deal really benefits them today didn't it? This is the hallmark of the Rockets - they constantly go after the so-called "low risk, high reward" deals and they end up getting what they paid for. That deal showed that Morey was doing nothing more than following the failed script that CD had put in place. No wonder it didn't work out.
If Cuban only cares about winning, and he doesnt care about money, why he didnt want to pay Steve Nash in 04 (he was 30 at that time). Nash really wanted to stay in Dallas, but Mark Cuban didnt want to risk signing Steve Nash, and then he signed Walker and Jamison. I think if Steve Nash would have stayed in Dallas, the Mavs would have more than 1 championship now.
The only difference that matters between Cuban and Alexander is that one of them has had a superstar who reached his peak relatively healthy.
