McGrady: If traded from Orlando, Rockets are first choice

about tmac d, it can be said that he dont play D becaue no one else does on the team or the coach doesent stress it enough. For example, steve was not a good defender at all under rudy but has become somewhat good now. Also look at trokolu on the spurs, he didnt play D in sacremeto but now does in San antinio.

 

30 ppg 18 rebs 5 blks? Yao will never average tha tin one season, with or without Francis. Maybe 25 ppg/ 11rebs / 3 blks but not 30/18/5.

 

Francis is the least of Yao's worries. I think you should be concerned more with our franchise player barely being able to log 32 minutes a game.

 

Dr. Jack Ramsay,

"Yao expends a lot of energy getting good post position and then is virtually ignored by his perimeter teammates while they maneuver to get their own shots."

 

I agree to an extent that leadership is overrated, as I've always felt that the best kind of leadership is through example. But, I was looking back for a quote that McGrady said during 2003 playoffs when he said something to the likes of -- "Man, it feels good to be in the second round" -- when the Magic went up 3-1 against the pistons [in the first round], only to be eliminated. I didn't find the quote but I found this: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2003/series?series=orldet

Go back and read some of those recaps. It turns out that McGrady was phenomenal in the first 2 games of the series. But what strikes me, are some of the comments after being eliminated:

What you should ask yourself is if someone like a Kobe or a Shaq would have let this happen. Up 3-1 and a team against the ropes. The first 4 games McGrady scored 36.3 ppg at 52% shooting, then in the final 3 close-out games he scored 25.1 at 36% shooting. McGrady was there when his team needed him, but when his team _really_ needed him he disappeared. While some of you may use the arguement that 36.3/25.1 ppg is amazing! It doesn't matter how many pts you score if your team doesnt win. Let's also not forget that during the 2003 season, Orlando was the 2nd most prolific scoring team in the league, their shortcomings were on defense, so he was playing on a quality team, in fact alot of people felt that they could advance far in the east. There was no excuse for the collapse, except that McGrady didnt rise to the occasion like true leaders do -- like Steve Francis did for us.

I agree with Feigen, McGrady is far from being recognized as a player who hustles, who throws his body out for loose balls, who protects his teammates, or who willingly adapts his game for the betterment of himself, the team, and the coach. Steve Francis is more of a "Van Gundy" player than McGrady is. If McGrady joins the Rockets, there's bound to be a drop in his numbers, similar to SF's year, but how will he handle it? Will he take it in stride, or will he complain and blame anyone but himself?

All this being said, getting a player of McGrady's caliber is rare, and I hope it happens. Leadership is something that grows with maturity, and while McGrady has been in the league for awhile, playing with a real coach such as Van Gundy should help him grow as a person and a player.

 

ok??? big deal

 

Dr. Jack's opinion... something most don't take serious anymore

 

McGrady can be an excellent defender; in Toronto he was. He's just regressed in the past few years because of the load he has to carry on offense. That's why most guys who are their team's only scorer often don;t/can't put out at the defensive end all of the time; it takes an amazing amount of energy to carry an offense as a perim player. Look at Jordan [ibefore[/i] Pippen got there; people said he was one-dimensional. Look at Carter now. Carter can be an excellent defender at times, and has been in the playoffs, but over the course of the year, you can't go all out on defense and fight through constant doubles, etc. Jordan could be an excellent defender at times, but Pippen allowed hom to pick his spots, and even afforded him breaks on offense.

That's one of the reasons I am not as enamoured with Kobe as others are. There's no doubting his skill, but he's never had to be the guy for long stretches, and among other things if he goes to a team where's he's all they've got on offense, one of the first things you'll see is a regression in his defense.

 

i think mcgrady would be great guarding 3s. and having jj gaurd 2s. mcgrady has a great great scoring advantage at the 2 spot where he is oversized, but i think that would hamper him more on defense.

 

NO.

It doesnt come down to Yao or Franchise. I dont think you realize that when we trade for TMAC, TMAC WILL BE THE FRANCHISE, not YAO. YAO will be a very good role player, just like he is now....

It seems to me like you just dont like Francis and Mobley, because according to you it is them that is holding Yao down, like they personally beat him up at night so that he is tired before a game. Give me any evidence that TMAC will make Yao look like shaq, heck even play like shaq...

 

People who fear that T_Mac will take away from Yao in a manner similar to Francis are, IMO, going about this all wrong. The problem with Francis isn;t that he takes too many shots; he doesn't. I always wished he;d take more.

It's that, as an offensive point, he dominated the ball. He brought it up, he decided what was going to happen. And when the guy who brings it up decides to put on a clinic beating his man, there's nothing anyone else can do. This is what would frustrate Yao's development as The Man; he could fight and get position all he wanted, but if Francis A) Decided to keep it,B) Decided not to dump it in until putting on a clinic forst, or C) made a bad entry pass, Yao could do nothing about it.

Playing off the ball T-Mac won't have nearly the same effect, even if he takes a few more shots than Francis did. You can combine more than one big time scorer; look at Shaq and Kobe, etc. It;s when one of those scorers is also your set up mant that you encounter problems, given Francis' less than natural abilites as a playmaker for others.

And don't expect McGrady to be leading the league in scoring for us; there's a reason why he wants out of Orlando, and he is an unbelievable all around player probalby at his best when he's not the only offensive force. Instead of 30 ppg, I look for him, with Yao, to put up 22-24 ppg, but add 5-7 assts and 6-8 rebounds. When he was in Toronto, and they were starting the whole Next Jordan/Pippen thing, I actually thought he could be better all around than Pippen. He was, at the time, an excellent man on defender, a great playmaker, and most of the most natual rebounders I;ve ever seen.

His scoring is way less impressive than his overall floor game...he's simply one of those guys who seems to be at the right place all the time. Give him a Yao, and he;ll be happy as hell, IMO, being one of, if not THE best all around players in the game. People now think of him as a score only guy, but that;s so far from what he used to be or can be.

 

T-mac will make Yao look like Yao, even better than Steve did.
I've said it before. With T-mac, baring JVG lets him be free to be T-mac offensively, being a consistent scorer/slasher/finsher. Yao will finally have someone to pass to on a more frequent basis. That'll help and bring out his passing skills more. T-mac's driving abilities will also aid Yao's jumpshooting skills to return to the form of old or perhaps even better, with T-mac's ability to make a pass and have it actually come in contact with the hands of the player he's passing it to. That will also, help Yao improve on his driving skills which he does have but is rarely utilized.
And of course, T-mac will take away those pesky double-triple teams Yao got in his previous seasons.

So actually, T-mac won't make Yao play like shaq. But, better than Shaq, since Yao does indeed possess greater skills. Like I said before, Yao should never be forced to play like a 350lb big man who's only skills are brute strength, agility and athleticism.

 

Yeah, I wondered why McGrady doesn't average 7 or 8 rebounds per game. He should be able to do that. I'd take a 25ppg/7apg/8rpg type output from McGrady. He just seems built for that type of output here in Houston w/Yao.

 

Okay, then let me throw a trade idea in the middle of this thread. By trading Francis, Mobley & Cato, we'd be dealing away all of our viable trade chips & still not have a PF that can both rebound & shoot, or a 1st round draft pick with which to draft one. Portland is reportedly shopping SAR around & NY is shopping Kurt Thomas as well. Even if McGrady demands a trade, it'll still cost us a lot & we'll have to take Hill's contract. Simply put, we'll have to gut the team to get McGrady & rebuild again. However, if we can do what I'm proposing (or something similar), we should have a solid nucleous to build around & a couple of large expiring contracts to add the necessary talent in the next year or two.

Houston sends Francis/Spoon to Orlando.
Houston sends Mobley/Cato/Taylor to Portland.

Orlando sends McGrady/Hill to Houston.

Portland sends SAR to Houston.
Portland sends Dale Davis/#12 pick to Orlando.

Orlando gets a star in Francis to replace a superstar, a veteran center in Davis to groom Okafor, a hard working PF to back up Howard (this also allows them to trade Gooden in a subsequent trade), & the #12 pick in this year's draft to pick a player or trade. Also, Davis's $9 million contract expires at the end of next year.

Portland would pick up a nice SG, with dramatically improved defensive skills, a legitimate defensive center (Shaq neutralizer) to play alongside Randolph, & a sweet shooting backup PF to play 6th man off the bench, in exchange for an aging veteran & a talented PF that won't start with Randolph on the team.

Houston gives up 3 starters & 2 reserves (all in the 8 man rotation) for 2 starters & cap relief after next year. This trade leaves us with a nucleous of Yao/McGrady/SAR/JJ to build around. The additions of McGrady/SAR would open up the middle for Yao. As for the PG position, the nucleous of Yao/McGrady/SAR/JJ should make us a very appealing destination for FA's like Barry, Damon Jones, Payton(?), Rafer Alston, Brevin Knight, Charlie Ward, Fisher (P/O player option), Van Exel (P/O), Troy Hudson (P/O), Lue (P/O), etc., etc. Also, SAR's $14.625 million contract expires after next season & we should be able to resign him for less. With Hill's & part of SAR's contracts coming off the books, we should have about $29 million tied up in McGrady/Yao/JJ/Nachbar/Piatkowski. If you add in our FA PG (Payton?) at $5.1 million, that takes us up to about $34 million. We'd still have to resign SAR & round out our roster with FA's.

Our new lineup next year would look like this:

C: Yao/FA (Doleac, Foyle, Keon Clark, Kevin Willis, Ostertag, Collier)
PF: SAR/FA/Padgett
SF: McGrady/Nachbar
SG: JJ/Piatkowski
PG: Payton(?)/Jackson/Wilks

We'd obviously be weak in regards to our depth. But, if you accept that we're in a 2 year rebuilding mode, we should be able to add some quality depth after next year. Just my opinion.

 

Informative analysis -- and one of the more thought-provoking posts thus far.

 

If we get Mcgrady, will he push kobe for the all star spot?
These were the total votes for 2004.

Tracy McGrady (1,231,825)
Kobe Bryant (1,759,717)

I think with chinas extra voting, Tmac would make it.

 

Actually, they'd both make it. In the all-star game, they don't distinguish b/t PG and SG.... just the top two guards make it.

T-Mac would just take Steve's starting spot in the ASG, leaving us with the same amount of all-star starters as last year.

 

imagine our marketing.. we would blow up pretty well

sell out crowds...

i usually buy most of t-macs shoes so im sure his jerseys will sell pretty well in houston

 

Innovative thinking as always, HT. I didn't see you using the TE in there, or did I miss it? If unused, that could add some of the depth you seek.

 

well you wouldnt push steve out of starting spot because he woule be in the east.