Personally, I like the McGrady deal. It would make us one of the marquis teams in the NBA and a legit contender every year. However, it will make us rather thin at a few positions and there is no way of knowing we can fill them. I'm going to assume for the moment that we can pick up another power forward in this deal. Howard or Gooden would probably have to be in the deal for it to work with the cap. But... First, our only PG will be Mike Wilks. Even as just a backup, that's scary. I know a lot of people have talked about Barry and that's great, but I'm not sure we want Brent Barry as our #1 option at the point guard position. He would definitely be a defensive liability against some of the quicker guards. As a back up at the one and the two, I can see it, particularly if Piatkowski gets taken in the expansion draft. Second, we will go from having one of the best back up centers in the league to essentially no back up center at all. With JVG's demand for defense and rebounding, that is a big key for us. Third, we are still very weak at the three. I really hope that Boki makes significant strides this offseason, but there is no guarantee there. I don't think any of us can honestly expect Jim Jackson to give us the same type of performance again next year. What we saw there was most likely an anomoly. The main thing is that we will really still have the same kinds of problems - defensive liability in the forward spots, lack of toughness on the front line - and we'll be without a point guard on the roster. Not to say this should change our decision with McGrady. That is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and you don't pass those up. But, it will definitely leave a LOT of work to be done for the rest of the summer.
i saw it your way Jeff and then i voiced my opinion about it..then i got ragged on by some of the members and someone even thought i was CD It wasn't that i was enamored with Cato...it's just we dont' even that much depth to begin with and now we're going to trade away 3 starters. If we had caproom like Phoenix it'd be a no brainer, but we're not in the best of cap situations so it would take a lot of salary cap ingenuity from Les and CD to put together a good team.:
No doubt about it. We'll have to work on our depth. I'm sure there are some good PG out in the FA market? I wonder what Fisher will be doing?
honeslty, Cato can be easily replaced, he shouldnt start at PF again. He does play good D, but cant shoot. So he should be easy to replace. Tmac will replace mobely.And about sf replacment: Im not sure, but arent their a lot point guards that are free agents this summer. We just need an average point guard nothing fancy.
I agree that Cato shouldn't start at the PF slot but still..he does a pretty good job backing Yao up. Overpaid for a backup but he's as solid a PF/C back up player as you can get. francis was an average PG.
Don't underestimate how important a solid, physical backup center is. Yao isn't exactly Shaq yet and we need guys that will compliment his finesse with toughness. Cato is one of those guys. Assuming we get back Gooden or Howard, that means our options at the four and five after Yao are: Mo Taylor Gooden or Howard Clarence Weatherspoon Scott Padgett Not exactly a crew of rebounders and enforcers there. And, despite Francis' stuggles, our biggest single weakness last year was lack of toughness from our forwards and that was WITH Cato. As for point guards, I do not agree that we need an average point guard and nothing fancy. I'm not saying we need Jason Kidd, but we also don't need Matt Maloney. We need someone who is an above average passer and who can hit the open three when called upon. Most importantly, that person CANNOT be a defensive liability in JVG's system. It would be a disaster. Again, I'm not saying we don't do the deal. I'm just saying that it is just the beginning of solving our problems.
Depth loss would be there. That is a problem when you dont have a lot of assets. We lost assets when we lost Posey and Griffin. And those losses really hurt when you are trying to do 3 for 1 trades. This is why the Grizzlies are stock piling players just for that reason. And the Pacers have a ton of talent as well to move around. But you make the trade and worry about depth later. The trade is made with the long range in mind. And in the short term we might be hurt by depth but in the long run the depth will be improved upon via years of MLE and the draft. Additionally our team becomes an even more desirable location for FAs with the MLE if we have Tmac and Yao. Perhaps it would give us an advantage on players that would be willing to come for less than market value. Let's say for argument the trade is T-Mac and Howard for Francis, Mobley, and Cato. Maybe we can even get Lue in the deal as a backup PG. That would leave us with this lineup. PG: ????/ Wilkes SG:McGrady, Pike SF:Jackson, Nachbar, A Griffin PF:Taylor, Howard, Spoon C: Yao, ???? Clearly starting PG and backup Center are the areas of most concern. We would have our 6.9M T.E. (to combine with a player) and our MLE to address those needs "this year". That might be enough to get this team through the upcoming season. And then in the summer of 2005 you will have your draft pick and the MLE again to add more assets/depth to the roster and the team can make its move in the playoffs.
Yes, but if he is, then so be it. I mean they protected Wilkes over Pike so that tells you how much they really care about Pike. He is roster filler at this point as far as JVG is concerned.
Hopefully Mike Wilks will never start a game at PG. If anything, the Rockets should force ORL to hand us Tyronn Lue or Reece Gaines. Hell, if all else fails we could try signing Fisher (ughh) or Damon Jones.
I would like to get Brent Barry..maybe they will give us Tyronn Lue? Cato would be a big loss... Is Bruce Bowen available? I still want T-mac with Yao!
the lack of depth if the trade for TMac goes down become more of an issue if the Magic want something done before the draft.. if it goes down later in summer then the rockets could already have replacement PF and PGs lined up.. but if the trade goes down before the draft it really is a roll of the dice on FAs for the rest of the summer... which could work if we assume FA are attracted about playing major minutes with Yao and TMac well i think i went in cycles
I don't think this deal will make it until after the draft. I think it gets done early next week or on draft day at the latest.
Depth? The only worry about depth, IMO, is the willingness of ownership to pay for it. Assuming Alexander 'oks' the spending of the TE and the full MLE depth will not be an issue. TE + 2nd for Murray and James? Seattle probably says 'yes'. MLE for Barry? He just might say 'yes'. TE + Mo + Griffin for CWebb? Sac probably says 'yes'. Split the MLE between Damon Jones and Doleac? They might just say 'yes'. Lots of possibilities, just those off the top of the head.
Let's not forget about the trade exception, it can be used to really help out with the depth problems if we were to make the deal for T-Mac. We would then be able to fill our PG need with the MLE and then use the trade exception to help bring in frontcourt help. On another note, alot of us are assuming that we will have to give up Francis, Mobley and Cato in order to get T-Mac, but let's not forget the power that McGrady has in the deal. IF he were to tell the Magic that either he gets traded to Houston or walks next summer, the Rockets are in the driver's seat. In this case, I think that we could probably make the deal with only Francis and either Mobley or Cato. Thus allowing us to retain Cato, or then package Mobley and the TE for a solid front court player.
Giving up Steve, Cat and Cato would be reasonable. Except that makes for about 25 million in salaries. T-Mac and Howard make, collectively, about 20 mil. So maybe throw in a small salary on the Magic side, and you might get to the 85/115% trade rule. Juwan Howard can be sent elsewhere for a center. Maybe Olowakandi? Makes the same amount. Not a great player, but OK for the price. Kind-of. As far as PG, maybe we could get the Magic's 2nd rounder and take Duhon. Maybe Derek Fisher will be available. We should be OK. All we have to do with free agents is say, Look: T-Mac and Yao. Interested?
I have contended for some time that IMO Orlando's BEST deal for ORLANDO is SF + TE for TMac + Juwann.
Tyron Lue makes sense. He wouldnt be needed since they would have Francis and we need a PG (at least Lue would be a servicable backup).
