Orlando Sentinel: Magic want Francis, Mobley and Cato

no offense, but his shooting? The guy has hands of stone. I've never seen a guy miss so many dunks...Again we're talking about CATO here.

 

Chauncey Billups was a lottery pick, so someone thought highly of him...

This trade leaves us way too weak depthwise. Granted, JVG goes with a short rotation, but this trade would leave us with Mike Wilks as the starting PG.

If they threw in Declerq, maybe Reece Gaines, Howard/Gooden, whatever it might seem a little more fair, but it still seems a steep price to pay...

Oh, and we should swap 2nd rd picks as well.

 

I don't know who the f*ck the Magic GM thinks he is. Does he really think that Indiana will gut their team to get TMac? It's not like Orlando has anyone else with value either. And then they want Joe Johnson and Shawn Marion from Phoenix?

If a team actually accepts this ludicrous trade, they will be doomed for many years to come.

 

IF Francis/Cat/Cato were dealt, we would be left with no trade assets what so ever. We have to get a PF, period and signing one might be our only choice.

Ok, starting him is a little nuts, but we should re-sign him. He is still young and has lot of potential. Don't forget that JVG has been known to take "bad" players and use them very productively. McDyess's knee is too busted and I don't want to depend on it.

 

FYI...without Cato, we're stuck playing DeClerq or Charles Oakley at center after Yao picks up his 2nd foul in the 1st quarter.

 

im with you on this one...but will Rockets management take a chance? In my opinion they need to. We gave up way too much for this guy to let him just waste away...

 

No way to give up three of our start five

 

thats what the offseason is for. Free Agents? Cato can be replaced...

 

I can't believe what I'm reading. We have a chance to acquire one of the 5 best players in basketball, and people are talking about role players here. We're talking about Kelvin freaking Cato here. This is amazing.

As great as it was seeing Malone not get his ring, I'm almost beginning to wish the Pistons hadn't won the championship so that we could put to rest this ridiculous notion that teams win championships. Great players win championships. We're talking about one exception in the last 25 years here and people think things have changed. Amazing.

We have people here unwilling to trade for the 25 year old scoring champ because Kelvin Cato is suddenly irreplaceable (we're talking about Kelvin Cato here) and we don't know who will play point guard. Let's atleast come up with some legit reasons here. Tell me his back injury is serious and I'll listen, but this is sad. I really wish Jerry West had used this thinking when he gutted the 4th seed in the Western Conference in 1996 to pursue a 25 year old scoring champ and trade one of the most reliable big men in the game for an 18 year old. We're talking about role players here.

 

They want the ROCKET RIVER DEAL

Rocket River

 

Uhhhhhh, McGrady would be our starter...not Boki.

 

with what caproom or with what tradeable commodities? I'm sorry but I think Cato has been a dependable, albeit an overpaid, PF for us. Sure he doesn't put up 20/10 but he's a pretty good defender and plays pretty well alongside Yao. If anyone can find a starting PF in this year's FA market that will sign with us for whatever money we supposedly have please post it because right now, I don't seen anyone that will play for chump change ESPECIALLY when we're also trying to fill out the starting PG and back up SG/6th man positions

 

I don't mind losing Cato because he can be replaced. Cat on the other hand cannot with what we would have left. If we did that deal we would have

Yao
MoT, Spoon
JJ, Boki, Griff
Tmac,Pike
Wilks

and whatever garbage Orlando includes to make it work. We only have one MLE and one TE. MLE would be required to replace Cato. I don't think the TE would not be enough to get someone to replace Cat and fill the PG and PF spot. Plus you would have to lose another player to use the TE.

 

JJ can not play all those minutes again because he will wear down.

 

For what? For our big title push next year? Because we're running out of time? You realize Yao is 24 years old, right? And T-Mac 25? We get the MLE every year as well as long as we remain over the cap.

 

wouldn't trading Cato away free up some room? You forget what were getting in return.

 

thacabbage, I don't care about Cato, but I think we should get more than McGrady for Francis, Cat and Hands of Stone, and I think we would. What I'm worried about, besides the back, is what happens after a year? Can we get an assurrance that he re-ups with us? If not, we take a risk of losing those 3 for one season of McGrady. If Rudy was still the coach, that wouldn't concern me, but Van Gundy is a pretty stubborn dude, who I'm not 100% sure won't drive McGrady elsewhere after next season.

I agree with what you're saying. If we can get McGrady, and he's healthy, then we need to make it happen. But can we keep him?

 

Deckard: 100% agreed. This is with the guarantee going in that he would re-sign with us.

 

I'd like to see Orlando throw in a player like Reece Gaines too. He played spot minutes at the point guard, but he's a bigger sized guard that could potentially cause mismatches if used right.

 

I'm sure Orlando would throw in one of its big guys along with T-Mac. Gooden, Howard, DeClerq, would work.

Also, there are a lot of vet FAs out there to fill in the holes. Barry or Fisher would be perfect. Griffin and McDyess could be signed for not too much.

Fisher or Barry/Wilks
Jackson/Pike
T-Mac/Nachbar
MoT/Eddie or McDyess
Yao/DeClerq

That seems like a pretty solid lineup.