My Thoughts: Mixed Emotions, Filling Holes, New (and Old) Problems?

First off, I should say that I'm really not sure how I feel about this trade. I have always been a fan of Steve and Cuttino, because they are both all-out players. You never get less than 100% from either of them. Cato's defensive influence is big too, I don't think that is being factored into the equation enough. AS much flak as they have taken on this board and elsewhere over the years, these are good NBA players.

Tracy McGrady is a genuine top-level talent. He definitely has all of the skills, and is just a smooth looking player. I have to say, he was always one of my favourite non-Rockets. Now we get to see how good he really is, and whether he is the type of player to take a team to the next stage.

Here's my first problem. Chemistry. For better or worse, the old team made the playoffs. They seemed to get along well as a group. 60% of the starters are gone, so there are a lot of blanks to fill. What if we don't get the understanding in the team that is clearly necessary?

So, we need more players. I honestly can't believe some of the things that I've heard.

"We just need a power forward that can shoot, defend and rebound". Oh really? Well so do half of the other teams in the league! They don't grow on trees you know. That's why we ended up acquiring Mo T. This isn't such an easy spot to fill.

And then we move to PG. Brent Barry? Puh-lease. He is a shooting guard. That is 33. And has never played decent defence. And averages 3.9 APG for his career. Now, I know that he has lifted this over the last few years, but he's not a point guard, and certainly not a starting PG for a Western Conference contender. He is a nice combo guard to have coming off the bench. That's it. Don't throw a bunch of money at him. Derek Fisher next. Hmmm, well I'm not sure about him. He's solid, in that he is a reasonable decision maker on the floor, can make the outside shoot (albeit he's a streaky shooter), but his defence isn't strong. That's why he flops. He is just about a serviceable starter, IMHO.

OK, so now we've got a couple of players to plug into the starting line up. I think we may end up having the same debate next season as this. Who defers to who? We have the two-time NBA scoring champ coming in. Definitely a proven scorer. Should he defer to Yao? Not sure. It's difficult to draw comparisons between this situation and Shaw and Kobe. Bottom line, Kobe defers. He can and did take over games at times to keep them in games (and shoot them out of games too), but the fact remained, for the titles they one, Shaq was clearly the better offensive option. Is Yao? No. But that then gives us a dilemma, because establishing the inside presence is the key to a tandem like this. The perimeter player is essentially a complimentary part (and sometimes a very big complimentary part). T-Mac doesn't need or want to be relegated to a jump-shooter.

In summary, I still don't know. I don't think this is quite the no-brainer that it is being portrayed as. The potential for improvement is big (the team gel, we get the right role players), but there is potential to fail too (the wrong FA acquisitions, no chemistry, bad back, etc.)

Any thoughts/comments?