Imagine if McGrady said "I'm tired of doing this by myself" .... the Orlando Sentinel would go OFF on ME-MAC rants.
Just don't like at the stats of the man Steve is supposedly guarding. The guy has horrible lateral quickness when it comes to defense. DD
Trading Mobley made sense from a contracts point of view. Mobley's a talent that is good enough to command a costly salary, but not so good as to make him worth it at the end of the contract. With 12% increases every year, Mobley could well be a cap-albatross in 2009 for whoever has him (depending on what happens with the next CBA). I don't think it was the money he would command they were worried about but the number of years. So, they gave up some talent so they wouldn't get stuck in a contract trap. May have been a good idea in the long-run.
Mobley: a Study in Mediocity SAC was 26-11 before Mobley joined (70.3%) SAC was 55-27 last year without Mobley (67.1%) SAC has gone 6-5 since Mobley joined (54.5%) ORL was 18-14 before trading Mobley (56.3%) HOU was 45-37 last year with Mobley (54.9%) HOU was 43-39 two years ago with Mobley (52.4%) How’s that trade working out for you, Sacramento? As much as I like Cuttino, his effort, his passion, his professionalism, I now have to agree with those who have said "if Mobley is your starting SG, you can be a good team, but not a great team". don't ask me who said it, someone is bound to have
You left out a couple: Orlando post-Cat: 7-9 (43.8%) Houston post-Cat: 28-12 (57.1%) I think you know that a team's record w or w/o Mobley despite all other changes is a stretch. Both Orl and Sac have struggled since the trade. Both teams lost chemistry (Francis-Cat-Cato nucleus, Christie-Webber-Bibby-Peja nucleus), and will need time to get things going again. I still think this was a dumb trade by Weisbrod. Christie has slowed down enough that I don't consider him to be close to the stopper he once was, and only offers half the offense of Mobley. I'm sure Weisbrod wanted to avoid the potential PR hit for letting Mobley walk in the summer, and though Francis would be better off without Mobley. I think it'll come back to bite him. Evan
I didn't realize that Cuttino technically didn't play the first two games after the trade (both wins for SAC), but since Cuttino was in the Kings lineup, SAC is 9-5 (after last night's loss).
also the kings have been hit with injuries lately to webber and peja which hurt their record even more. just saying that mobley on the kings has not hurt them in anyway while the magic have suffered
there is a couple of games that Cat did not play bcos of some back problems as well.... since when did Francis trash talk that Magic got the better end of this deal? he is all against it from start till probably now
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050209/SPORTS/502090341/1002/sports Orlando suffers 'degrading' loss Francis calls for teammates to get physical BY JOHN DENTON FLORIDA TODAY -- Steve Francis sat at his locker, slump-shouldered with a gleam in his eye as bright as the diamond-crusted pendant hanging from his necklace. He then launched into a heated tirade that pointedly questioned the toughness of his teammates. Quite frankly, it was the first hint of fight in the Orlando Magic all night. The Jekyll-and-Hyde Magic hit a new maddening low Tuesday night, displaying very little passion and even less defense in a humiliating 113-109 loss to the lowly Golden State Warriors. Francis, who found out earlier in the day that he had been left off the Eastern Conference all-star team, took out his frustration on his teammates after the loss. He called it "the most degrading loss for me of the season" and suggested that he was the only Orlando player willing to deliver hard fouls. "I'm tired of doing this by myself; I'm the only one who's mad out there," Francis said. "We've got to have other guys step up and be physical, take fouls if you have to, and don't just let guys put their hand behind their head and lay the ball up and do whatever they want." Golden State (14-35) entered Tuesday night having lost 10 straight road games and 17 of its past 19 games overall. The Warriors were playing their fourth game in five nights and hit Orlando having not won in TD Waterhouse Centre since Shaquille O'Neal was a junior at LSU (1992). But against a sleep-walking Magic team, Golden State scored its most points in a regulation-length game this season. A Magic team already in the throes of a three-game losing streak fell to 25-23 on the season. Nine of those 23 losses have come to teams with losing records, further infuriating head coach Johnny Davis. "It's always a frustrating thing for a coach to not know which team is going to show up on a day-to-day basis," Davis said. "That's part of the growth, that's part of the process for this team. We have good talent and on a given night we can beat anyone. But then just the opposite is true also. "So which team are we going to be? As I said to the guys, 'We have to decide how good we really want to be.' " Grant Hill had a team-high 28 points, but just 10 after halftime. He tied the game up at 107 with a driving layup with 1:24 to play, but he missed a short jumper in the final minute and the Magic down one. Unlike the venting Francis, Hill spoke in a hushed, somber tone after the game. "It's not good," Hill said shaking his head. "It's consistently not good. And that's not a good thing." Francis had an interesting analogy when it came to his not being picked for the Feb. 20th All-Star Game in Denver. Said Francis: "It's like (rapper) Jay-Z going to the Grammys, knowing he's a Grammy winner, but not winning. He doesn't stop making hits. I'm not going to stop playing ball." The loss reeked of last season's 21-61 disaster when the Magic were the laughingstock of the league. Jason Richardson scored 32 points and Derek Fisher had 25. Even lightly regarded center Adonal Foyle, who entered the game averaging 3.2 points, had 15 points, 13 of them coming in the fourth quarter. He had scored no more than 12 in any game previously this season. Francis fouled out with 1:07 remaining when he had to grab a free Foyle in the lane. It's the fifth time this season that he fouled out and the second time in three games. Just one of four players in the league averaging 20 points, six rebounds and six assists -- Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and LeBron James are the others -- Francis hit his averages with 21 points, six rebounds and six assists. But he was angrier about Foyle running free in the lane. "I don't think guys came focused and defensively we didn't have no intensity," he fumed. "They did whatever the (heck) they wanted to do and that hurt us." The smallest TD Waterhouse Centre crowd of the season (12,121) saw the Magic lose to the Warriors in Orlando for the first time since Feb. 3, 1992. The game was one of three this season not even televised locally, but it will be a while before the Magic and their fans rid their memory of the stench emanating from the arena Tuesday. "It started from the first play and it went to the end of the game," Francis said. "You work hard in practice, come to shootaround hard, and guys act like they are focused and they come on the court not paying attention to nothing. They just get in the lane and get layups and we have to foul." Hill said the Magic, who allowed the Warriors to shoot 47.6 percent, have to do some soul-searching before Thursday's home game against the Atlanta Hawks. Atlanta defeated the Magic 80-79 last week. "We're all mad and frustrated and we're searching for answers," Hill said. "I think we're playing hard and competing, but defensively we're just not getting done. I've been on good defensive teams and we're not a good defensive team." Rookie point guard Jameer Nelson tried to breathe life into the Magic late in the game, scoring 10 of the team's first 13 points of the fourth quarter. He had 16 points off the bench.
It is in the article right above your post. It is funny to me to see Fancy complaining about how his teammates play defense.
You would think Francis would learn by now that his open mouth, insert foot comments have a way of sucking the life out of the team. Wonder what Weis-ass thinks of the trade now?
Weisbrod said he wasn't bothered by Francis calling out his teammates after the debacle against Golden State and said he feels some players are not bothered enough by losing. "Our contentedness. ... That's a frustration I share [with Francis]," he said. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/spor...19871.story?coll=orl-magic&ctrack=1&cset=true
My how the season has turned around. http://bbs2.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87689&perpage=40&pagenumber=1 Hell, at least we don't have to see threads like these anymore (not trying to bash you DaDakota)... http://bbs2.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=69049
Seems like a backhanded compliment without any meat to it. As if Cat started for the Spurs they would not still have the best record in the league? Cats a good player who plays hard, and is now on the best team he has been on. Good for him. I'd sure like to have him back for anyone outside of TMac or Yao.
But they would be even stronger with Cat at the 2, Manu at the 3, and Bowen and Barry off the bench. After Manu, Cat would be the SA wing player with the best overall game factoring defensive and offensive abilities. I am seriously happy Cat isn't with the Spurs, that would make them much tougher to beat.
Thanks SM. I am not surprised Francis said those things - I am glad he is not our problem anymore. I believe he still feels betrayed about the Mobley trade thingy - one would think that he would have gotten over it by now.
