Rockets better do sth quick to become a contender. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/8801823.htm
Alright genius, so who is enough to compensate for McGrady? Oh yes of course, how could I have forgotten? Steve Francis isn't enough so they should mortgage their entire future for the 32 year old O'Neal. Brilliant.
this is totally BS! 1. Lakers' not going to "sacrifice a few seasons while working to get Yao." Lakers a lottory team for "a few seasons?" ask Bryant if that's what he wants. 2. what if Yao stays here in Houston or goes somewhere else 3yr later (NY? GS? Cuban's playground? ) Lakers "sacrifice 3 years" and carries "some of Magic's bad contracts (probably Hill's $14mil+)" for Yao's one decision? yeah, Mr. Smith i'm glad for you that you're not a business man. 3. the Magic trading T-Mac (25) and the #1 pick for Shaq(32) who just asked $30mil./yr extention after he's 34? you sure this is the way they start to rebuild? - StevieFlight3 for real
Sam Smith always writes up crap like this, frankly I'm sick of his baseless articles. This is one guy that I really feel (but am not sure) writes like hell but has absolutely no sources to anything. Meaning, he pulls everything out of his ass, and he pulls out a lot of it.
Did the dude just play fantasy NBA for the Lakers? Yao, Kobe, T-Mac for Lakers? Why not add Duncan and KG as well? Wasted another 5 minutes of my life reading this crap.
What are we talking here. Steve Smith? C'mon, I mean this is Steve Smith. Not the classy hoopster Steve Smith. Not even the lousy Steven A Smith. This is Steve Smith, who makes Steven A sound suburban (compared to his column). Worse than Vecsey even. I mean, this is Steve Smith.
Wow. So, in summary, he expects to trade away a declining O'Neal to a rebuilding team that Shaq has burned in the past for another top 5 player in McGrady and the #1 pick (because the trade would be sooo lopsided if the Magic didn't throw in the #1 also ). Simultaneously, he plans to dump enough cap space to magically sign Yao Ming in 3 years (because we all know how much Yao Ming is an attention monger ) in spite of the fact that LA will have 2 max contracts in McGrady and Kobe, and probably will have picked up a bunch of bad contracts from Orlando to balance Shaq's ridiculous salary in the above trade. Quick someone sign me up as a GM of the Lakers! Who knew building a championship contender was soooooo easy!
While I agree the article is just a bunch of random thoughts, I think TMac+#1 for Shaq would be a good deal from Orlando's perspective. Assuming Shaq stay healthy and in decent shape (this year is fine), they would be a playoff contender (in the East) immediately - they could easily put up 55+ wins for the next 3-4 years. Shaq's getting old, but he's not THAT old. I actually think the Lakers would come out on the short end of the stick. Kobe is great...TMac is great, but they both do the same thing and the #1 pick is great, but you never know with those. The Lakers definitely get worse.
So a Laker fan wants Yao Ming? That's shocking. When you're spoiled like they've been, you become a victim of magical thinking on a regular basis. Yao isn't going anywhere and the Lakers are gonna suck after Shaq retires.