Ok so do we give Tmac another year, or shop him this summer?

If anything its time to trade Rafer. I've heard alot of people refer to him as a big key to us winning and even heard some people refer to him as a star. WTH? If there's any GM's thinking like this then we need to capitalize, immediately.

 

For only 2 quarters? That's too little to ask for from a $20M.

 

KG doesn't do it for 4 quarters, same with duncan, same with a few other highly-priced superstars.

tmac can compensate with rebounding, playmaking, playing PG... basically he has a lot of other things to offer.

 

Superstar money? lol.. Yao makes superstar money, Melo, AI, VC, Bosh, KG everyone makes superstar money. None of them are playing better overall basketball than TMac. For f sakes, TMac is averaging almost triple double in this series, leading our team in ALL the key stats! OMFG give this guy a friggin break.

 

Who gives a ****, he dont perform in the 4th quarter when it matters

 

Man you guys think we can get Kevin Martin and someone else for Mclady. I think Kevin Martin has a tremendous upside. he is young and athletic. he has game. all he needs is to get stronger. Maybe We could some how get Martin and Artest.

Alston/Brooks
Martin/BJax
Artest/Battier
Landry/Scola/Harris
Yao/Mutombo/Harris

This would be a really good lineup.

This would give us three(Martin,Artest, and Yao) options instead of two(McLady and Yao)

Martin and Artest dont get injured all the time either.

Maybe Morey could get this to work and get a steal. It seems like Sacremento just signed Martin to a long term contract.

 

LTF -
McGrady would have to be on the table IMHO. I'll be accused of being a McGrady "hater" which I'm not. But I'd do it. The reason I'd do it runs way deeper than Rose's upside or a dislike of McGrady.

Apart from the fact Rose potentially makes Brooks available in another trade, you're going to have $20m of contracts coming back. The dynamic range of that is from Clutch's hypothses of huge cap space next summer from an expiring like Marbury to some very good to decent players coming in and moving currently marginal players way out of the rotation.

That said, I really think Rose would be unattainable because the Knicks are IMO the only team 1 thru 8 that would think about it.

Calderon? Like him alot. Just don't see the Raptors giving him up. And since TOR is basically PHX East, there's not much the Rocket's have that would tempt them.

One thing that makes the TOR situation a bit interesting is the fact Rasho appears to have an $8.4m POpt for 2008-09. If Nesterovic does something wacky like not take the option (because maybe he wants an extension he feels TOR won't give him) then TOR becomes the 3rd team with signifcant cap space. But they also hold Rasho's Bird Rights. I'll leave it there but it's something to keep an eye on in the summer.

 

if you get martin only, we'll suck so bad you wouldn't even know. dude is simply an off-the-ball type of scorer that can't play defense, rebound, pass, or make plays for his teammates. he's not going to be able to score if you just give him the ball and tell him to score (which will happen in the 4th quarter in playoff games)

HOWEVER, if we get him AND artest, then i'm all for it.

but that is not going to happen. the kings are starting a new foundation with martin, uldrich, garcia, and a bunch of young guys. they are going to shop artest b/c they're full of him and wanting to get young guys back.

 

I know I won't. Tmac,I know you worked really hard last offseason and was in the best condition of the past few years. Too bad the injuries screwed it up for you. So please work hard in this offseason and you will come back stronger than ever. After all, you are only 29.

 

1 more year with TMac and Yao, if they fail again one has to go ( Tmac )

 

You really think Riley wouldn't think long and hard about a Wade/McGrady combo in the East?

I agree with you on the idea that PG is the most important position in today's NBA. I really think if we're going to move McGrady, we need a top-flight PG in return - something much more potent than a Kirk Heinrich.

I might even consider:

Ford/Kapono/Moon/Parker/Humphries and a 1st for McGrady/Hayes.

I know the Raptors would be depleting their depth, but they would also have one of the best starting lineups in the East with a Calderon / McGrady / Bargnani / Bosh lineup, while we get five quality players and an additional first rounder. Obviously there's no WOW star coming back to us, but I think it makes us incredibly deep and sets us up for some 2 for 1, 3 for 1 package trades for a higher calibur player - Especially with the ability to combine the two 1st round picks in a trade.

 

The raptors want to move those people desprately. It is unnecessary for us to give them Tmac. If any team can take them, they may also add a no.1 pick. Same as the suns did for K. T.

 

No way LBJ is coming.

 

This is the thing about T-Mac. If you look at a list of the top PER players this year, T-Mac has a veeerrry low true shooting percentage. In fact, T-Mac is at #46 with a PER of 18.5 and TS% of 48.7%. You have to look all the way down to #133 Tyrus Thomas and again to #176 Ronald Murray to find guys with lower TS%. That shows that T-Mac is probably hurting the Rockets when he shoots and doing a lot to help us win when he does not shoot. He needs to tone down his shots to maybe 15 per game and Yao should take 25.

We need a guy who is a pure scorer that shoots pretty well. He doesn't need to do anything but score efficiently and play passable defense. Mike Miller is that guy. He has a TS% of 62.5% and could probably be depended on to take at least 15 shots if not 20. Richard Jefferson is another guy who might be able to be had with the right expirings.

Trading McGrady will not help us in the short or long term. He just needs to become a PG from the wing and forget when he used to be able to average 30 pts. Once T-Mac's contract expires, we can try to get Lebron or whoever else to replace him.

 

I think there are two routes we can take with this team at this point:

1) Keep the core we have, give T-Mac another shot and now that we have the young nucleus of power forwards and some steady guard play, see if he can lead us into the second round in the playoffs.

With this scenario, the following players could possibly be on the trading block or be released this summer: Battier, Brooks, Alston, Jackson, Hayes

2) Restructure the team, admit that McGrady is Houston's basketball answer to David Carr and understand that we have to go in a different direction before other players (re: Ming, Yao) waste the best years of their career waiting for a soft superstar to take them to the top.

As much as it pains me to say it, I don't see T-Mac getting any more fire in him than he had in the Dallas series. He talked retirement in the summer, he does complain an awful lot, and he isn't Kobe and he isn't Lebron. He just doesn't have it in him anymore, and it pains me to say it because I defended him for so long. Look at Tyson Chandler and how he's become next to a young, superstar caliber point guard. Imagine if that was Yao. Carl Landry would be our David West. I don't know guys, I just don't want us to waste more and more years waiting for something that we knew deep down would never happen.

Much like the Texans.

 

I think you have to see what you get for him--not necessarily calling around, but listening to what other people offer. He's clearly on the downside and needs to work on his conditioning and FTs, which have been steadily declining. However, he is still a top-15 to 20 type player, and it will be almost impossible to get equal value for him, especially because his body is starting to decline. His NBA age is greater than his physical age.

 

There is no need to move T-Mac, especially since it is unlikely we will get anything close to equal value in return.

The problem is we don't have another legitimate scoring option. Tracy is still extremely talented but his body is not what it used to be and even though he is a good passer, he is not a PG. He needs to play off the ball next season and we need another guy that can score points so that it isn't so damn easy for the opposing team's to focus on Tracy on the perimeter. This is true even when Yao is in the lineup.

What we really need is a better PG that can penetrate and score as well as take the ball handling duties away from McGrady. We need a guy that can break down defenses and get into the paint. Tracy can draw defenders but he isn't quick enough any more to get into lanes and he doesn't finish around the basket like he used to.

In many ways, the story of this playoffs is the same as last season. We have improved slightly with the addition of Scola and Landry but we still don't have enough offensively-capable players. We can't get through the first round with an inconsistent third scorer like Alston, plain and simple.

I think the Rockets have plenty of solid role players coming back next year: Battier, Scola, Landry, Brooks, even Chuck for defensive purposes.

What we need is a better PG and a third scorer if we want to be contenders. If we can find that in one package, great.

 

I am all for trading McLady however there just arent that many ATTAINABLE players around I would trade him for unless we could get a combination of players for him.

McGrady is super talented but lacks the will, the heart, and is injury prone. His low shooting percentage, his lack of driving to the basket, his lack of making freethrows, his ludicrous contract, and most of all his lack of leadership just make me sick. It is time for the organization to trade him.

If only we could have traded McGrady for Kobe when we had the chance if we had the chance who knows.

I never expected the Rockets to win this series with the Jazz but we had some games that we should have won. Especially game 4.

 

that's what people don't get. the acquisition of gasol is important b/c it moves odom to the 3rd option guy. now they have kobe, gasol, and odom. spurs have duncan, parker, and manu. celts have their big 3. those are the top 3 teams in the L.

scola can be that guy i think next yr. i feel he will take it to another level next yr.

what yao needs to do this offseason is to really improve his game in a way where he can combat double teams. he can easily be taken out.

what tmac needs to do this offseason is improve his stamina and shot. next yr, he should play more of a chris webber type of role in this offense where he should direct the offense at the high post.

yao - 21ppg, 12rpg, 3bpg
tmac - 20ppg, 7rpg, 8apg
scola - 16ppg, 9rpg
landry (off the bench) - 12ppg, 7rpg

the rest follows. we have potential guys. i know we all are frustrated by now. but the thing with tmac is he can change his game to fit what this team needs.

 

if i was morey, i would.

1. see the pieces i can try to fit with mcgrady and yao.

2. if plan 1 doesn't work as though, trade mcgrady to a team that also has a blown up all-star with big contract and is losing like us. for example, allen iverson, marion (i would hate this), redd, brand,