Magic GM Doesn't Plan to Trade Cat and Cato

I guess that means the deals to trade them are already done.

 

dude - you're talking about Weis-a$$, when it comes to the news, he is the Chad Ford of GMs

 

Read the first few comments he makes about the "deal being done before Steve landed". This guy is a tool in every sense of the negative conotation. He basically agrees that he lied to the media and then spins it. What a boob

 

Did he make any comment on why he waited so long to pull the tirgger? I wonder how the rest of the GM's in the league feel about his process of the trade.

 

(the rest of the quote we didn't hear... lol ... )

"we didn’t bring any of these guys in with the expectation of moving them somewhere else," but we are talking to at least 7 other teams about why we want to keep them here. We can't help it if other teams keep making offers that we can't refuse. In fact there are a number of players coming to check out our team and our wonderful management approach, but we didn't ask them to.”

 

LOL

 

It's no longer a Rocket's issue. I think it's going to be hard for some people to stick SF threads in the NBA forum, but he's gone.

It's time to move on.

 

Took the words right out of my mou......

 

This isn't a Francis thread, it is a Cat and Cato thread. Also, former Rockets are fair game for discussion in the GARM, unless Tracy Murray is hiding on the bench somewhere.

 

http://www.floridatoday.com/topstories/063004gm.htm

Magic GM John Weisbrod on the McGrady trade


Orlando Magic general manager John Weisbrod met the media Wednesday afternoon, along with Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato, who the team acquired Tuesday in a seven-player trade with Houston.

Here's what Weisbrod had to say:

"We actually had the deal completed before Steve even landed in Orlando yesterday. As I said the meeting wasn't really a factor, it was follow-through on our original discussion yesterday. We had the trade call at two o'clock yesterday afternoon. We weren't able to get Cuttino in town yesterday but we spent time with Cato and Steve and reaffirmed things that we felt like we already knew and we felt good about that coming out. But last night wasn't a factor in getting the deal done."

"I was taking calls about Tracy right up to the end, but I wasn't making too many proactive calls. This was the deal that we identified at the beginning that we wanted. So, while you have to consider everything that comes in we stayed pretty focused and the issue became whether we could get all three guys. In the beginning it looked like an impossibility of getting all three guys and we stayed on it and stayed on it and stayed on it. Obviously some other teams came in and moved the playing field around a little that I thought was to our advantage. But when we got confirmation that this deal could get done it wasn't that difficult of a decision for us as to which option to choose."

If this is where McGrady wanted to go, giving the Magic few options:

"No, we had plenty of options. There were seven or eight teams that were perfectly comfortable trading for Tracy whether he wanted to go there or not, whether he would opt in or not. So, we certainly weren't in any kind of corner. He identified five or six teams originally and we said rather than deal with those five or six teams we'd just like to deal with Houston and then if we can't get it done with Houston we'll go after the other teams. The early part of the discussion was pretty exclusive. I wasn't talking to anyone but Carroll Dawson for quite a while."

You had talked about how it was important to hold onto all three guys.

"They were trying to hold onto both of them. I guess it was just standard negotiating. You hear the arguments for Steve for Tracy straight up and you move it along from there. There were some efforts to put other guys in the deal. We talked about different combinations. Obviously in getting three guys we were taking so much salary back that we had to move a number of guys. I would just say it was standard negotiating. They were trying to hold onto everything they could and we were trying to get it."

When you say there were five or six teams Tracy identified originally, what do you mean?

"My conversation on that front was with Arn not with Tracy. That was very early in the process. The day of the ultimatum I already knew the teams. I already knew that he wanted to go. The dye was cast by then."

Will the three guys be in Orlando when the season starts?

"Yeah. That's certainly our expectation. We certainly have a lot of work left to do. We left dinner with these guys and then we're making free agency calls at 12:01 last night. We certainly have some other pieces we have to fit in but we didn't bring any of these guys in with the expectation of moving them somewhere else."

Where is the free agent focus now?

"I would say our biggest need right now in terms of our focus is at the three. We have some other pieces that I think are prepared to fall, some other deals that we'll get around to doing. When I look at that team as a whole unit, three is going to be probably the hardest spot for us to fill. That's where most of the free agent focus is at."

It has been said that a team in the NBA almost never can get equal value when they trade away a superstar. How close do you think you came to that?

"I think it starts with how you define a superstar. I think superstars are defined by winning and making people around them better and making teams better. I think that part of it might have my perception a little bit different than most. I feel like we definitely got what we wanted. I felt like we definitely got value. We took the core, the three guys that before Yao Ming got there represented the core of a playoff team and we balanced our own set with regard to our depth chart with three guys that we like an awful lot. We feel good about it."

Do you see this team being more to your liking as far as toughness than any other group that was here last year?

"Yeah."

Talk about why the other two guys were an important part of this trade.

"Cuttino to me is a sort of an over-achiever. He was drafted 41 and the guy that a lot of different times people thought he couldn't play. I mean every time you play them and every time you see them he just keeps coming. He's possessed by basketball. Their issues with him are trying to get him out of the gym in the off-season. I was laughing last night, they're telling stories at dinner about Cuttino fighting with other guys on the Rockets about who was going to cover Kobe in the playoff series. That's welcome combativeness. Cato's a little bit less serious than those other two out of that mold. He's got a little bit more goofiness to him, but he's a competitor. He's a legitimate quality five, particularly in the East, and that's something we've needed for a long time."

"I'm definitely excited about our identity being different. Our identity was Tracy and supporting cast. I definitely would like the identity of our teams going forward to be about team. It's a team sport. Regardless of how significant or insignificant different players' roles are or where they fit into the roster from one to 14, I'd like all those guys going in the same direction. I'd like Johnny to be able to look down the bench and know he's got 14 guys that are all ready to go to war every night. I think that helps you become more of a team."

"Certainly we had skill issues at positions and personnel issues. You can't say if we had come in with more grit we would've been in the playoffs. We don't have any illusions about the quality of our team talent-wise last year. But certainly the little things that make the difference between losing 19 games in a row. We were lacking a lot of intangibles that in my experience I've found to be essential to winning. So it wasn't very surprising that we weren't winning."

"We put the pieces in it exactly as we wanted to do it. One of the things that made this deal by far the most attractive is that other deals that we could've done would've been Tracy going out and us taking two or three players back. As you know, one of our big issues for the summer was having ten guys under contract and having to create room. So to do a deal that gets us the players we want and allows to move players out to create room for the other things that we want to do. That's one of the things that gave this scenario with Houston a significant leg up than any of the other teams or scenarios for trades that we were talking about."

You have a lot of guys that could play the same position. Is that a glut or a luxury?

"That's a luxury because I think that point is the most important position. And we're going to push the ball. We're going to run all the time. I like the idea of having depth there and I like the idea that when Stevie comes out we've got a guy waiting there to push it and push it with the same zeal so we feel good about that. We don't feel like it's a glut at all."

"I could see Steve playing some two also. We'd obviously be small with him at the two. Depending on how Jameer adjusts and how ready he is and how we end up filling the three position we're obviously willing to put him in a position where he's having to post up the bigger guards. He can shoot it and we can take some of the pressure off of him and put him at the two from time to time I certainly think that will be an option."

What is your side of the story on Tracy wanting out or not wanting out?

"He definitely said that he wanted out. I think both sides of it are true. I think he made up his mind around the All-Star break that he was out. I think they communicated that to us immediately after the season was over so that is definitely true. The fact that we didn't go chasing him down to change his mind, that I didn't call him on his birthday that's true too."

Would you ever in the future chase a guy?

"My attitude about it is certainly that you don't pursue and try to come to conclusion with guys that you covet. We just came to the conclusion that if he wanted to leave we thought that, that could very well be best for our basketball. So it eliminated some of the desire and urgency on our part to do that. I'm certainly not philosophically against trying to keep or attract or negotiate with your better players. That wasn't really a factor."

Would you say that you went to maximum effort to retain Tracy or was keeping him simply one of a number of options?

"It was one of a number of options. We feel like we're a significantly better team today than we were yesterday."

By the end of the season you were pretty much locked into the idea of trading Tracy? "We weren't locked into it. I mean we talked, Arn and I, for a long period of time. We had heard word earlier that he had made his decision and we got confirmation of that I guess at the end of the season when I first spoke to Arn. I think it was pretty evident. We had 12 or 13 other players come in for their exit interviews and say he's gone and he's told everyone he's gone."

Would it be fair to say Tracy is not your type of player?

"Yes"

Would you say you're a significantly better team if you had a happy, committed Tracy McGrady?

"Yeah. I mean if Tracy takes the perception during this process that he wants to come rip the doors off the gym and get in and compete and be part of the organization, becoming better and making the people around him better. I don't think it's dramatic to say he's the most physically talented player in the league. There's no question about that. We're not blind to how effective he can be or talented he could be and certainly he could be part of winning teams. Obviously one of the reasons he liked Houston was the idea of playing with an established big. Now with Yao and Tracy they could win in that scenario. But was it going to happen here and was it going to happen in a way that was constructive? And were we going to take a step forward next year instead of a step back? I don't think we would of."

With Shaq leaving, Penny leaving and now Tracy will that have any affect on free agency?

"I don't think so. I look at it like things became new on March 15. Certainly our whole basketball ops staff is new. I think the focus of our leadership is new and we're not the organization we were then. I wasn't even in Orlando at that time."

On Juwan Howard in the trade. Is that a loss?

"It's a loss because I feel like Juwan did a real good job for us last year. We would've been very comfortable having him do that job for us again. We knew the first pick in the draft was going to be a guy that played his position and we've got some other intentions for some depth at that position. At his age he's on a six year contract for a lot of money and that part of it made it in the best interest of the organization and our future growth to put him in the deal. We certainly didn't put him the deal because we were unhappy with him or didn't think he could be an effective player. I like Juwan a lot."

Is this organization more effectively set up for free agency as a result of this trade?

"I don't know that whether we could say it's more effective or less effective. Free agency very often comes down to the money. I think guys will see more opportunity they'll know we're playing team basketball. It certainly gives us a lot more depth those things are positive. I can't imagine our success in free agency would necessarily hinge on this deal."

"I'm going to not speak about the players that we're necessarily pursuing in free agency just yet because I feel like it would skew the process. We could end up splitting that mc if we can fill some of our bigger pieces through trades and we could end up taking that mc and just going out and using it on one guy that we think will add value. I'm pretty sure that there won't be smalls in that equation. I think we're talking about threes, fours and fives when we make our target, but I wouldn't say any names that I would consider successful at this point. Just like with this deal and with the draft it all fits into everything else and we have to know what other trade opportunities we have that will fit in to whatever we're doing free agency wise."

You had a major draft last week and now a major trade. At this moment how happy or unhappy are you with the Magic?

"I'm very happy. In ten days we've added five key pieces to a team that for a while looked like it was going to be unchangeable. I feel strongly that people that are observing what we're doing at a distance or other teams in the league are going to look at our roster next year and say how did they get from here, roster-wise, to here. Like I said, it's a six act play and we're through act two. We've got a lot of work to do still and I'm making sure that we don't have anybody losing their edge over the things that we've accomplished but we feel great about those five pieces that's for sure."

 

"These aren't the droids you are looking for..."