McGrady: If traded from Orlando, Rockets are first choice

tslee --

that's cool. i was rolling with my boys P.Diddy and Ashton the other week..and we bumped in to MJ. he was eyeing my wife so I said, "you should play for the Rockets" and he said he would and it was really cool. peace.

 

LOL

I don't believe this story or the one in the NBA Dish either.

 

Yeah, it probably sounds ridiculous, but it's true. When you live in Los Angeles, nothing is all that surprising or unusual. Especially not when you work in the entertainment industry.

 

I believe you, tslee.

But next time, you could add more details to add authenticity to the story. For example, "T-Mac looked at me with his left eye, while his right eye roamed my friend who housed 347 cc's of silicone in her chest."

Nobody would doubt you then.

 

haha

 

P.Diddy and Ashton are my boys to. What a small world.

 

If he were healthy, why would Orlando even need to trade T-Mac?

That is the question. Imagine if we traded Francis and Cato and neither T-Mac nor G. Hill could play.

We could at least look forward to a lot of interesting draft nights for the next 5 to 10 years.

I looked at Orlando's roster. What a mess! I could see them getting rid of T-Mac and the previously useless Hill for Franics and Cato. With Francis, Okafor and Cato and the cap space they could completely revamp their hopeless roster.

 

You don't believe it because you can't see it happening to you (even though I must admit that tslee98 (who I know in real life) tend to use the word "flirt" rather loosely).

But really, his incentive for making up these stories is...? It's not like he claimed to be an insider on some top-secret trade talk. And I thought people on this board are only negative when it comes to Steve vs. Yao.

 

Sorry...I really have no reason not to believe you. It just sounds sort of...unlikely, especially this part:

"He noticed me looking over at him a couple times so he did that head nod where you invite someone over. "

I just don't get why T-Mac, multi-millionaire athlete, would motion for any random guy to come talk to him in a (presumably) crowded club.

Since I have no reason to doubt you, I won't. Good news...sounds like T-Mac really wants to be here, rather than just not minding being here(As preliminary lists would suggest)

Is this some kind of insult? Would Vanessa/T-Mac not find me appealing/charming enough? Do you know me also?

No. Everything.

 

FYI....we will know if McGrady will be available for trade sometime next week it appears.


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/spor...un11,1,288723.story?coll=orl-sports-headlines

Magic, T-Mac to meet next week
Rich DeVos wants to know if Tracy McGrady wants to stay so the team can make draft plans.
By Brian Schmitz
Sentinel Staff Writer
June 11, 2004

CHICAGO -- Fearing they are re-living the franchise's worst nightmare -- the loss of another superstar -- the Orlando Magic will meet with Tracy McGrady next week to seek a definitive answer to the most-asked question in town:

Does T-Mac want to stay in Orlando or not?

If McGrady tells the Magic he does not or balks at the question, the club will begin plans to trade him and reshape their rebuilding blueprint.

Magic owner Rich DeVos will come to Orlando to speak personally with McGrady, along with club President Bob Vander Weide, Vander Weide told the Sentinel on Thursday.

Vander Weide said the franchise wants to rebuild around McGrady, but it needs to know before the June 24 draft "whether Tracy's in or whether he's out."

McGrady, who can opt out of his seven-year, $93 million contract after next season, had said he would inform the team early next month whether he would finish the remaining three years.

The Magic have the No. 1 pick, but their refurbishing plans are on hold, awaiting McGrady's decision.

The situation is coming to full boil. Magic General Manager John Weisbrod said after the season that he wanted an answer from McGrady and does not want to hear an "I don't know" from him.

Frustrated after the Magic finished with the worst record in the league, McGrady, 25, said he would leave Orlando if he doesn't believe the club will improve dramatically.

"We want to look Tracy in the eyes and say, 'What do you want to do?' No matter what the agent is suggesting or not suggesting as to options for the kid," Vander Weide said. "At the end of the day, I think it's really important that both Rich and myself say, 'Tracy, tell us where your heart is, and we can work through it, whatever it is.' "

Vander Weide and the Magic vow that they will not have another star exit as a free agent without the club getting compensation.

Shaquille O'Neal led them on through the 1996 season, when he was entering his option year, then abruptly left that summer for the Los Angeles Lakers. Orlando would have traded Shaq during the '96 season had they known his true intentions, but it ended up receiving nothing for him.

The loss of O'Neal was considered the biggest free-agent loss in sports history, and the Magic never recovered.

"We can't go through what we did with Shaq . . . in the 11th hour, being in the last year of the contract," Vander Weide said. "We have to know between now and the 24th whether Tracy's in or whether he's out . . . knowing that we'd love to rebuild through and around him.

"He needs to know that. He needs to feel that. But he also needs to understand if his frustration is real and genuine. . . . We are at a point where we can only change so much.

"We all know we can't be the same team. We got to be different, we got to be better."

Vander Weide said the answer that McGrady gives the Magic will determine which course they take in rebuilding the team this offseason. The Magic have the No.1 pick in the draft, and Vander Weide indicated the club would try to trade it for veteran players to win now if T-Mac gives them a thumbs up next week. "We'd use a more veteran approach," Vander Weide said.

If McGrady gives them a thumbs down, the Magic likely would keep the pick, which will be either Connecticut center Emeka Okafor or Atlanta high school phenom Dwight Howard.

"The pieces are very much tied together" to McGrady's decision, Vander Weide said.

McGrady, the league's two-time scoring champ, has said he wanted the Magic to trade their top pick for veteran players, and said he "may have no choice" but to leave if they keep the pick.

McGrady has seemed to be leaning toward leaving, saying he was "90 percent" certain what he would do. He even listed the Houston Rockets as a team that appealed to him. But in the next breath, he also has talked about how much he would love to stay in Orlando, which is close to his hometown of Auburndale.

McGrady did not return a call to his home Thursday.

"Going into draft week, we really want to have a feeling about where he is. . . . We're not going to make any decisions until we know where Tracy the person is," Vander Weide said.

 

Note that.

Also, the article said Dallas left Daniels unprotected. Huh? Say what?

 

Looks like cheesy pickup scene in a bad movie... except it's TMac and you having a 'moment' while you both were there with your female dates.

Thanks for sharing. If it's not true at least it was entertaining.

 

He's an unrestricted FA, no need to protect him.

 

And I think Game 3 proved that just because you have 2 of the top 5 players in the league, it doesn't mean they will be shipping you the trophy before it's all over. As a matter of fact, the Lakers looked to be the inferior team in the Finals.

Look at this Detroit team. They have no Top10 players and now they have a very good chance the beat the Lakers (a team with 2 top 5 players). Look at the Pistons team that won the championship back in 89 & 90. Their best player, Isiah, wasn't a top 5 player, wasn't even in the All-NBA 1st team OR 2nd team.

 

Maybe, but Detroit and the Seattle team that won in the late seventies are the only teams, that I can think of, that have won it all without a top five player.

Spurs - Duncan
Lakers - Kobe, Shaq
Bulls - Jordan, Pippen
Rockets - Dream, Clyde
Lakers - Magic, Worthy, Kareem
Celtics - Bird, McHale, Parish
Sixers - Dr. J, Moses, Toney, Cheeks
Blazers - Walton
Celtics - Cowens, Havlichek
Knicks - Reed, Walt, Earl

You can go on and on and on. If you're trying to win a Championship the Pistons way (or the MJ way), the cards are stacked against you.

 

More things to chew on.....

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs..../406110376/1254


Magic's T-Mac at Fork in Road
Two-time NBA scoring champion Tracy McGrady is considering leaving the Orlando Magic.
By Dick Scanlon - The Ledger

AUBURNDALE -- Tracy McGrady is "about 85 percent sure of what I'm going to do," but he is not ready to make an announcement.

Whether the 25-year-old McGrady has a future with the Orlando Magic is likely to be determined this summer. Because of a clause in his contract, he has the leverage to force a trade or to become a free agent after next season.
"I want to stay home and they know I want to stay home. But at the same time, this is a business," McGrady said Thursday at the conclusion of his threeday Tracy McGrady Summer Camp at Auburndale High School.

McGrady won his second straight NBA scoring championship last season while the Magic compiled a 21-61 record, the worst in the NBA. They won the NBA Lottery last month and own the first pick in the NBA Draft on June 24.
McGrady, unconvinced that the Magic can make significant improvement with any rookie, has made it known he would prefer that veterans be brought in next season.

He said he has talked to Magic general manager John Weisbrod once since the regular season ended two months ago. Most of Weisbrod's communication has been with McGrady's agent, Arn Tellem.

Weisbrod is determined to resolve the issue of McGrady's future before the start of next season.

Asked if he thinks it is possible for the Magic to turn their fortunes around quickly, McGrady said: "I don't know. I've been there for four years thinking it would turn around, but it hasn't."

Watching the NBA playoffs start without him really hurt.

"It's not so bad now," he said. "But when the playoffs started, all these other guys are out there competing and I'm sitting at home watching them on television."

He thinks the Detroit Pistons, who eliminated the Magic in the first round last year, are going to pull off an upset in the NBA Finals.

"I like Detroit and I think they're going to win the series," he said. "They have a lot of depth and they play the best defense.

"That's how you win the playoffs," McGrady said.

####

So, McGrady really believes in Detroit's philosophy eh? Seems to me that is the SAME philosophy here in HOUSTON and in Houston we have a player in Yao Ming that can really help McGrady's game. Moreover coming to Houston would fill the void that McGrady is looking for in terms of looking for a challenge and being part of a team that gets to the next level thanks to his help (versus the Spurs, Lakers and Pistons who have been there).

If McGrady really believes in those defensive principals then Houston has to look attractive to him!

 

say what?

 

ignore my above post.

 

actually, I'm still confused with xiki's post about Dallas. Please enlighten me.