So to look back at the Tmac/Francis trade: Orlando recieved Francis/Cato/Mobley and traded Mobley for Christie & then lost Christie to Dallas for nuthing. Rockets recieved Tmac/JHoward/Lue/Gaines and traded Lue for JBarry & Gaines(+2nd rounder) for MJames then trade MJames for Alston. so we got TMAC/JHOWARD/JBARRY/ALSTON for FRANCIS/CATO/MOBLEY/2nd Rounder
When you think about it, we actually got all that for Cuttino Mobley, Kelvin Cato, Michael Dickerson, Othella Harrington, Antoine Carr, Brent Price and Kendrick Perkins. Dickerson, Harrington, Carr and Price are the players traded for Francis and Perkins was the number one pick taken by Memphis with our first round pick we sent as part of the Francis deal. Nice.
Not to mention--DA & Stro are here for less $$$ than they could've gotten elsewhere to play w/T-Mac & Yao...do you think they would've signed here to play with Franchise/Mobes & Yao?? ORLANDO'S 1ST RD DRAFT PICK DIDN'T EVEN SHOW UP!!! (and people actually reported for weeks that Houston got raped on that trade)
When you factor in the chain reaction of the other trades that both teams have done since the trade it is amazing what the current breakdown looks like. My guess is it will continue to get more and more lopsided.
Also, Cato was brought in from the Pippen trade so essentially if the Rockets never signed Pippen as a free agent we would have never been able to get Tmac. Something good did come out of the Scott Pippen acquasition.
And the TMac trade was made possible by the precense of Yao Ming. With TMac, that enabled DA and Stro as FAs. The upward mobility that has occured since we acquired Steve Francis and Yao Ming has been an amazing to watch! I'm pretty excited about this season.
My friend ran into Maloney the other night at Rudyards. Maloney wanted to buy him a drink but his friend said the taxi was waiting and there was no time. He should have bought a round for the whole bar.
I see Maloney quite a bit up at Lil Woodrows on W Alabama. He was next to me playing Golden Tee a couple of times. I wish he would buy me some beers but he is one lucky guy. How many more years does he have left getting paid by the Rockets??
And Mobley was only a 2nd-rounder. Kelvin Cato, Michael Dickerson, Othella Harrington, Antoine Carr, Brent Price, Kendrick Perkins, and a 2nd-rounder.
"Long and winding road" The TMac/Francis trade is still, to me, one of the most amazing trades in NBA history. I pinch myself everyday, I still can't believe it. I would have NEVER traded TMac, except for MJ, maybe Shaq (in his prime), but for Steve Francis (?!), that was a form of theft.
Another person you have to credit for the Tmac trade is James Naismith. Without him inventing basketball in 1891 none of this would have been possible.
I believe the ESPN Sports Guy said it best when he stated, "can we go ahead and say that the Tmac for Francis trade was one of the 5 worse trades in NBA history"
If you want a good laugh, figure out what the magic got from that trade. They essentially gave up TMAC/Barry/Alston/ and is paying for Christie to play for the Mavs for Francis and Cato.
Members of the national media, along with interviewed GMs and others, all basically called it a lopsided trade in our favor. There were some Magic fans who bought into the "T-Mac is not a winner" crap and thought it was an even trade. And there were some clutchfans members who thought it was bad for us due to homerism. But the majority of Houston fans still thought at the time that the trade was great for us. The T-Mac trade, in the end, resulted from CD taking advantage of a rare opportunity. Here was a superstar coming off of a horrible season, about to be a FA, is whining about a trade, and wants to come to Houston. T-Mac's trade value last year was pretty much as low as a superstar can be.
