This is a multiple choice vote! 1, Yao's performence in the play-off series was disappointing. Rockets needs the scoring champion to be the new franchise and will build the team around Tracy. 2, Yao's potential is still doubtable. H-town should better have Tracy here in case Yao turns out not to be as good as he has been hyped. 3, Steve's playing style does not fit Yao's. Steve should be dumped away no matter Tracy was available or not. It's time for Yao to step up. 4, Rockest wants to win the world champion. Steve/Yao will be getting better year after year, but they are unlikely to be be good enough to make it. T-mac/Yao has a better chance.
I chose 2 and 4 I think as good as Yao is, there will always be a question if he can be the guy that wins the Championship without a superstar wingman. I think the situation is very much like the Lakers with Jaber before Magic. As good as some of the players on that team was, they really needed a top 5 player like magic. Heck, even Shaq wasn't winning championship until Kobe came into his own. I think we can be there now with T - Magic.
I choose 3 and 4. It was no news that Steve had been on the block for a long time. I just didn't expect Cat and Cato were gone too. But again, I never dreamed they got us TMac.
I think it would be more interesting to have a poll for reasons that the Rockets would NOT trade Steve for Tracy. There are millions of reasons to trade Steve away for Tracy.
It was obvious that Steve and Yao's game didn't mesh. Steve was gone before the season ended(although a lot of people didn't want to accept it ) , we just lucked out and were able to get T-mac for him.
I don't see how you can say that. It can be argued that Kobe is the better all-around player (better defense, more clutch), but T-Mac's a 2 time scoring champion. Sure Kobe has had to play with another scorer in Shaq, but until Kobe actually proves it over an 82 game schedule, T-Mac is still the better scorer. Things might change this year, with Kobe being the focal point,and T-mac playing with Yao, but like I said they still have to do it on the court.
T-Mac is just one of those guys that's achieved such status that if he's available, you MUST do your best to land him. He's the very definition of a franchise player. I believe that Van Gundy did not care for Francis personally and was infuriated by his mistakes at times, but also recognized his singular talents. Had T-Mac not fallen into our laps, I believe Francis (and the others) would still be in a Rockets uniform. That said, it's a miracle the guy DID fall into our laps because last year's team wasn't going any farther than where they were at last season.
TMac is clearly the better player, but I think it was the negatives in Francis' game that got him shipped out of Houston. Getting TMac was an unexpected bonus. Structurely, the advent of the zone defense and Ming's presence in the lane adversely affected Francis' game. Francis COULD leap and dunk, but he was a weak defender, dominated the ball, couldn't run a break, was only an average shooter, never got the memo on how to pass, couldn't run a play in less than 25 seconds, was consistently turnover prone, and despite all the "Stevie is such a great kid" talk, Francis had an "attitude" that negatively affected the team. The Francis devotees could never accept these realities, still can't, as evidenced by the ongoing "Stevie" threads on the board. If you have any doubts, check out the responses to this post, all will be confirmed.
I think it's none of the above, but I see Yao and T-Mac have a better chance to win the championship. Steve didn't fit as a PG and JVG wants a PG to run the offense w/ Yao. Steve moved onto Orlando and he's their problem.
An easy way to put this is that Francis and Yao needed another All Star or All Star caliber player to become an elite team, Tracy and Yao don't.
maybe because some might think that steve's game hindered Yao's untapped potential? but then again, that's just a shot in the dark
Without Yao, Steve is the man. With Yao, Steve is co-the man at best & ultimately became expendable, with a little help from T-Mac.
If Yao had posted a 22/10 performance last season, and the Rockets made it into the 2nd round, would this trade still happen? If Francis and Yao play well together, the Rockets win an extra 5 games(probably more wins than their chemistry would be worth), and we get into the second round of the playoffs, would this trade still happen? The answer to both, of course, is YES. Hence, option 4 is the ONLY response. T-Mac is such a superior player to anyone not named Yao on the Rockets, that it makes no difference how Yao performs.
Mac is better than Wink, but he has yet to display that he is better than Wink and Cat combined. That is the question. Let's hope that Mac and Ming are better than Cat, Wink, and Ming. That is the reasoning of management. So then we shall judge.
