T Mac could be made to work here, but the cost to SA (in players who have complemented well) would be high. Suns could make most sense to Phx -- if they decide against making a run for Kobe. Kobe is not 'free' until his trial is settled and that's not until September, as scheduled now. Lakers? Only a Kobe deal makes sense to Orlando, IMO So, Suns? Or Rox? Or do the Spurs 'roll the dice'? Remember -- whatever team makes the deal is committing a max contract to T Mac and discars cap management for years.
As a Laker fan, I would totally support a Kobe-TMac trade. T-Mac is just a much better team player and it would be nice to see a willing passer who is also a deadly scorer to accompany Shaq's final (waning) years.
i'm sorry to be an ass but that introductory statement just made me lose interest in whatever you had to say.
i dont think he would want to go to the lakers. i would bet on the spurs, suns, or rockest before them.
T-Mac to the Suns teaming up with Amare could be a very good duo. Rockets must make a run at him. It;s not everyday a team gets the opportunity to get a superstar. Francis is a star player, while McGrady is a superstar player.
There will be tons of offers for T-Mac, but it will most likely come down to where he wants to play. 1. I really think Housotn is the right team for T-Mac. He gets to play with a low-post All-Star that isn't selfish at all, we would be immediate contenders. We could put a nice offer on the table as well. 2. S.A. would seem like a good fit with Duncan, it almost happened. But I don't think S.A. has enough to offer for him. EVEN IF a Parker/Manu/filler offer was made, it won't put butts in the seats. The owner of the Magic must know that whatever trade happens won't make them contenders, not even close, but if they can get an all-star back (like Steve Francis) he won't atleast won't lose too much revenue, people would be excited to see SF. BTW, I wonder if NJ will make an offer. They got completely blown out tonight and probably not too happy. Would NJ offer K-Mart/RJ for T-Mac/Howard? A Kidd/T-Mac backourt would be the best in the league, hands down.
The thing I worry about is... Would T-Mac want to play here if Francis and Mobley are gone? Why not Phoenix then? Amare won rookie of the year over Yao, AND he's T-Mac's best friend. If T-Mac is going to go somewhere with one other solid player and a so-so roster, why not Phoenix over Houston? I'm not sure he'd want to come here if it meant Steve and Cat were gone.
http://www.nypost.com/sports/17088.htm Vecsey's column today: May 21, 2004 -- FOR obvious reasons, Tracy McGrady has narrowed his choices to play next season - or the following one, at the latest, should the Magic unfathomably fail to arrange a trade - to four teams, all of whom flaunt a centrifugal force. According to a confidant of the rundown compulsive scorer, he has targeted the Suns, Rockets, Spurs and Lakers, but won't officially alert Orlando management of his decision to opt out of his contract at the end of 2004-05 until after The Finals. As previously reported, the Suns would be prepared to swap Shawn Marion for McGrady, whereas the Rockets, the source claims, almost assuredly would give up Steve Francis. While neither All-Star provides equivalent oomph, both deals - if the odds were evened up a tad - can't help but tempt the leveraged Magic, because both Francis and Marion are locked up for five more seasons. The white bread, no-crust franchise already has lost one too many irreplaceable heirlooms (Shaq) minus any reimbursement; owner Rich DeVos can't and won't let it happen again. It's unimaginable (impossible may be closer to reality) how the Lakers could hope to compensate the Magic; Kobe ain't about to switch identities and addresses with McGrady. As for the Spurs, rising restricted free agent Manu Ginobili would have to be built-in to any sign-and-trade package that almost certainly, for cap purposes, has to include Malik Rose. Oh, so that's why Gregg Popovich was saving him. I see, why risk injuring the team's vital contributor to two titles by playing him too many minutes (by all means, let Robert Horry pick up his wallow where he left off last May) against the Lakers? Cool, only a gifted man like him could concoct such a genius thought. * So, the Lakers return to their birthplace for the start of tonight's Western Finals. I don't want to suggest the Zen Hen House is overconfident, but it just put Shaq on the injured list and activated Vern Mikkelsen. Not to detract from Kevin Garnett's accomplishment (the lone Timberwolf to notch a field goal in the fourth quadrant), whose team survived Sacramento and Flip Saunders' coaching, but unless George Mikan is tanned, rested and ready, Shaq need only shut down the Mall of America and Jesse Ventura. If you're tallying demerits at home, Saunders became the millionth coach to allow an opponent to unload from deep with a seconds-to-go three-point lead; allowing Chris Webber to nearly send Game 7 into OT was just plain stupid. * Leaving Wally Szczerbiak (only T'Wolf sub to score; 10 points) on the bench for the whole third quarter after what he achieved in the second (four field goals, three offensive rebounds, not to mention a 12-point explosion without breaking a sweat in Game 6) is approaching the brain-dead off ramp. No offense to Fred Hoiberg (six boards, 0-2 FG in 19 minutes), but giving him time that belongs to Szczerbiak, or playing a 35-year-old (Latrell Sprewell) 44 minutes is obtuse. As much as Saunders tried to prevent it, Szczerbiak wound up being the difference in Game 7. When finally re-inserted in the fourth he continued to be aggressive. Though he never got another shot (Spree slickly looked him off two or three times in order to get the ball to Garnett against double coverage), Szczerbiak took the pressure off K.G. by snaring another offensive rebound and feeding him three times for easy scores. * As for the good folks of the California capital, the chorus already can be heard: Break Up The Maloof Brothers. Rick Adelman, whose biggest adjustment in the series was changing the part in his hair (or was I seeing things?) may also be disbanded over Geoff Petrie's stiff objections. Despite a vat of valid excuses (Webber's un-sprightliness and free throw line gag order, Bobby Jackson's unavailability, Vlade Divac resurrecting images of Patrick Ewing in his prone, Brad Miller replicating how he performed under playoff pressure as a Pacer, and Peja Stojakovic and Mike Bibby combining for 7-25 FG in Game 7), the species Maloof may have had enough of Adelman. May I present next year's Kings coach: Gray Davis.
This T-Mac thing is sounding more plausible everyday. If McGrady narrows it down to those teams, I think Francis' All Star game status would tip it in our favor. Francis is better than Marion, but more importantly, he's way more popular. Also, it sounds like we wouldn't even have to take on Hill. It's sounding like the two deals are Francis and portion of TE for T-Mac, or Marion for T-Mac. I would still try to sweeten it by swapping Mobley with Lue.
