[Milwaukee JS]Francis gives Orlando edge in McGrady deal

Fegwu · Jan 2, 2005

Originally posted by hooroo
Yes T-Mac could've been traded to another team but they wouldn't have been able to force him to sign an extension. So he still could have bid his time until then.

Anyway whatever please stop replying to my posts. First on my ignore list. Later.
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Still does not make any sense.

Never mind. This looks like a waste of time. Maybe someone else can better explain it to you.

PS. Ignore list usage are wimps imho. I could be totally wrong.

DaDakota · Jan 2, 2005

Teams records are really similar right now, and the Rocks are getting better, whilst Orlando seems to be crashing.

Uh - oh, here come the " I told ya so " posts.

DD

m_cable · Jan 2, 2005

Originally posted by Fegwu

Originally posted by hooroo

Yes T-Mac could've been traded to another team but they wouldn't have been able to force him to sign an extension. So he still could have bid his time until then.

Anyway whatever please stop replying to my posts. First on my ignore list. Later.
Click to expand...

Still does not make any sense.

Neer mind. This looks like a waste of time. Maybe someone else can better explain it to you.

PS. Ignore list usage are wimps imho. I could be totally wrong.
Click to expand...

Ignore lists don't work if you quote the person.

Oh and hooroo, I think your logic is utterly flawed. With Steve and company loading up the cap, the Rox wouldn't have any cap room to sign T-Mac. And if you think a top athlete is going to give up (conservatively) $60+ million in the prime of their career in order to play for some ridiculous fantasy team, you've got another thing coming. The players union would hate it, and the league probably wouldn't like it much either (since it's almost like circumventing the salary cap). And T-mac's family sure as heck wouldn't like it at all. The guys got mouths to feed.

hooroo · Jan 3, 2005

thanks m_cable

you mentioned fantasy team and you're spot on. it was just a whimsical post.

Fegwu · Jan 3, 2005

Retrospecting........good read.

COMMENTARY

By Michael Ventre

Certain trades transform franchises, and others merely serve to remodel. Welcome to the Tracy McGrady-for-Steve Francis swap, which falls somewhere in between.

It doesn't send the same tremors through the sporting landscape, like the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar deal did in 1975 or the Wayne Gretzky move to Los Angeles in 1988. But it does deserve a special place in sports for possibly being the longest-rumored transaction that has ever percolated before the parties got around to pulling the trigger on June 29. The current presidential election campaign is a blip on history’s radar compared to this.

Francis had been holding up the process because he wasn’t sure he wanted to leave Houston for Orlando. It matters not that, contractually, he really has no choice. This is the era of disrespect. If a player decides that being shipped to another city will somehow diminish his stature in the eyes of his posse, he can stomp his feet and threaten to spoil the trade waters with a poisonous attitude if he is not placated.

Fortunately for both sides, after much salaaming, Francis was convinced that Orlando will give him the kind of welcome that the Apollo 11 astronauts received when they got back from the moon. So he gave his blessing.

The entire deal consists of Houston sending Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato to the Magic in exchange for McGrady, Juwan Howard, Reece Gaines and Tyronn Lue. The supporting casts are rather intriguing, but of course, it’s the leading men who will make the greatest impact on their new employers.

Of McGrady and Francis, the former is the better player by far. He can create his own shot, drive to the hole, shoot from the perimeter with some reliability, grab rebounds, defend a little (very little) and pass, even though passing wasn’t a priority while he was the Magic’s one-man band.

Often, the title of Best Overall Player in the NBA is bestowed upon Kobe Bryant without argument, but that’s a mistake. Bryant is a superb talent and a clutch player, but he also benefited from being on veteran teams with a great coach and the most dominant big man in the game drawing defenders to the paint.

McGrady’s reputation was tarnished somewhat this past season as the Magic disintegrated into a mess and T-Mac himself bristled at getting no help while absorbing most of the blame. But placed in a more positive environment, McGrady could again remind everyone that he belongs near the top of the league’s A-list.

Also, T-Mac has played the same number of seasons as Francis — five — but he’s almost two years younger. And he’s actually more mature in the sense that he makes wiser on-court decisions; Francis has a little too much Kobe/Allen Iverson in him, stubbornly trying to force his will against an opponent rather than taking what the defensive gives him.

Juwan Howard has never achieved the level of stardom predicted for him when he was a member of Michigan’s Fab Five, but in Houston, playing in the same lineup with T-Mac and Yao Ming, he will have much less pressure on him.

It was clear that this deal occurred because of two unhappy men: T-Mac and Jeff Van Gundy. McGrady got his wish — a fresh start with a franchise on the rise — and so did Van Gundy in getting rid of Francis.

In Houston, the meeting of Van Gundy and Francis was like two gunslingers squaring off, except one of them was run off for shooting too much. Van Gundy likes his point guards to play the point, which is to say, distribute the ball and serve as playmaker. Francis did not see his role that way. He wanted to have the same situation that Iverson has in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, Van Gundy didn’t want to have what Iverson has in Philly — a lousy team ruined by one ball hog.

With T-Mac, Van Gundy has a superstar on the perimeter and another inside in Yao, sort of like what the Lakers had before their recent offseason implosion. Now he can turn the point guard duties over to someone more suited to the role, like Lue or perhaps a candidate yet to be obtained in another deal. With McGrady, Yao, Howard, Jim Jackson and Maurice Taylor, the Rockets would have an impressive core to make a run at the West crown.

The news is not quite so good in Orlando, but then again, it rarely is. The Magic will change the focus of their team from one man — T-Mac — to a pair in Francis and Mobley, an underrated two-guard. The club also has Drew Gooden, who averaged 11 points and 6 rebounds during a dreary 2003-04 campaign. And they’ll welcome in two marquee rookies, 18-year-old Dwight Howard, a prep phenom who was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, and 5-11 point guard Jameer Nelson.

This is a bizarre mixture, to be sure. Francis will hoist at least as many shots as he did in Houston, if not more. Dwight Howard will struggle, probably for a couple of years, enduring the rookie shellshock from which guys like Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry of the Bulls still haven’t recovered. Grant Hill will make his final comeback, and if history is any guide, the odds don’t look good. Also, Nelson will prove to be terrific, which will put the Magic in a situation where they have a star point guard (Francis) playing ahead of a rising star point guard (Nelson). But where would the Orlando Magic be without friction and controversy?

The Rockets got the better of this long-brewing transaction. But in one essential way, the status quo remains. Houston is still one of the best in the West, while Orlando will continue to be one of the least in the East.

Michael Ventre writes regularly for NBCSports.com and is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.

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Mr Boo · Jan 3, 2005

I just finished reading this whole thread and what gets to me is that it the trade WAS NOT T-Mac = Francis, Mobley, Cato. Lue, Howard, and Gaines were also part of the package. You would think that the reporter would get these details correct when critiquing the trade. You might even consider that the trade may also include J. Barry in the equation since we traded Lue straight up for him.

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