Orlando Sentinel: mentions the Rox trading SF for TM

There is no way we'd get TMac from Orlando, without giving up Francis, whether that is directly or with another team in the deal.

I guess the deal I would like, would be Francis to either CHI or WAS, where we pick up the #2 pick, Brown or Chandler, and a bad contract such as ERob or Laettner. Then send the #2 pick and the TE to LAC for Brand. Then, we could take Chandler or Brown, and either send one to ORL, or trade one to SEA, and get back Lewis, then send him to ORL. Add Taylor, ERob, Mobely, and Cato, and take on Hill's contract with McGrady, and I think we could get him. Sign Barry, and that would give us:

Yao/Brand/JJ/McGrady/Barry ... that's a great team ... not enough depth, but a great team.

But, if we're to do a straight Francis for McGrady deal, it would probably include Mobely and Cato. What I don't like about that, is that we'd then be weak at PF. So, probably, we'd want to include Howard or Gooden in the deal somehow, and if we had to throw in draft choices, do it.

 

This really hits the nail on the head in describing the NBA's problems. Basketball used to be a team game. Now it's a game of veteran's calls and players with superior talent being given leeway in all kinds of matters.

 

First of all the trade for walker is for their first and grant hills contract, not Tmac. Second Phoenix wont be able to take Grant Hills contract which orlando wants to desparately get rid of if Tmac is gone. Phoenix only has one max contract and not enough contracts to take tmac and hill.

 

imagine if we had tmac. We could have a shaq-kobe kind of simialr talent. Cd and les need to pull this off.

 

I don't know why some in this thread are hyping up the supposed Suns trade. I'm sure that there are teams that could come up with better trade offers than the rox, but Phx isn't one of them. Phx will only trade for Tmac if they can get him to commit longterm before he's traded. I highly doubt TMac will commit longterm if the team he is going to be traded to is gutted for his services.

 

I still Propose this

SF + Cat + Cato + TE

for

T MAC + Hill

both Teams get better
both Teams become Contenders

Who coaches Orlando next year?

Rocket River

 

I was just thinking that. Remember Tmac has the most influence on a trade because he can just simpty opt out if he is traded to a losing team and Amare and tmac arent going to do very well in the west without any help. Phoenix had a promising future with Joe Johnson Shawn Marion and Amare, but two would be gone for Tmac. Remeber the trade has to be a winning team and Houston could facilitate a trade for Tmac and Hill, thus satisfying orlando and Tmac. We are not a losing team and we will be swapping stars.

 

For those of you who want this so bad, this is not a piece of good news.

Any important trade that could come true will be kept away from the media tightly. Only those that wil not be done goes out to the press. The earlier it leaks to the media the more unlikely it will come true.

 

The reason he didn't want to play in Toronto wasn't that he had to share the spotlight. It was that he wasn't in the spotlight. Back then Vince was playing the 2 instead of an undersized 3 and for 2 seasons or so TMac was coming off the bench.

 

The more I think about it, the more I feel we should be in discussions with the top 3 teams (Orlando, Washington and Chicago) with the principals of a trade being #1 pick for Steve Francis. Ofcourse other players would have to be included to make things work, but I like the idea of dealing Francis for Okafor. Francis is a much better return than someone like Antoine Walker. My guess is that one of these three teams will likely land the #1 pick, and all of them could use an immediate impact player like Francis. Orlando, for instance, may be able to convince McGrady to stay if they can land an established All Star like Francis.

From the Rockets perspective, building a team around Yao and Okafor makes a whole lot of sense esp with JVG as the coach. Okafor is the ideal PF for this team imo; a tough defensive minded player that is good in pick and roll basketball. Okafor brings an effective low post game with a developing game facing the basket. In addition, the team would still have a very effective perimeter scorer in Mobley, and a solid veteran in Jim Jackson. Steady veterans like Brent Barry could be added to fill out the rotation.

 

Bobliu,

You're an idiot. Remember RClemens coming out of retirement? Remember when everyone knew Shaq

 

Sorry, accidental post...

Everyone knew Shaq was going to sign with LA? Big stories often break early, and this could be no different.

MManal,

I agree completely about Okafur. Everyone is clamoring for EBrand, but Okafur is a younger version of the same player, without a max contract. He will perfectly complement Yao, as you said, and he can slide over to C in a pinch against almost all the other centers in the league, giving you the luxury of playing MoT off the bench to spell Yao, with Okafur moving to C.

My main problem with this deal is the glaring lack of a go-to player. Yao still cannot deliver consistently against defenses designed to stop him, and for all of his talents, most agree Okafur will never become a dominant offensive player. Without Steve, and no dependable scorer to replace him, I fear the offensive struggles could become even worse without a real PG to step in for Francis.

I like the BBarry idea. If another deal could be made to bring in a veteran PG like ESnow, the following team could be amazing:

Yao
Okafur/MoT
JJ/Boki
Cat/Barry
Snow

 

i would be worried about getting okafur.. he might be injury prone

 

One thing you have to remember is that McGrady is going to where he wants to play. Personally, I wouldn't want to go to Pheonix if they were trading both Marion and Johnson for me. Is McGrady/Amare really enough to compete in the West, because they would have nothing left on that team.

 

Why the hell would Kobe go to Orlando?

 

Everybody keeps forgetting that Orlando is loaded in PFs. They need a quality center and decent point guard to retain McGrady as their SF. They have DeShawn Stevenson as the designated SG. If they get the true #1 pick, they can trade down to get a big man since the top rated picks are both PFs.

 

But why would he wany to play in Orlando? He's a guy who has proven that he wants to win, and that isn't going to happen in Orlando.

 

Since Okafor is the first pick in this year's draft, he's just going to cost us way too much, and to be honest, and I wouldn't want to trade a proven all-star for a potential. If Okafor would have been in last year's draft, he'd have probably gone #5-9. Then he would have been worth it, and we could have gotten appropriate value in a trade. But, there aren't any Lebrons, Melos, or Bosh's in this draft, in terms of more proven potential.