Unless TMac can come back be 100% healthy, that deal isn't looking too good now. We would have some depth and with Yao coming into his prime, building around Yao instead of TMac might have been the way to go.
Whoa Cabbage. Not true. I wasn't against the idea of getting of McGrady at all. At that time (pre-back injury), TMac was a huge improvement over SF3 (still is). However, I was concerned about how much they gave up specifically Mobley or Cato because that created weaknesses on the team that continue to exist today and the folks in charge were not smart enough to deal with those weaknesses. Now Kelvin Cato will never be mistaken for Otis Thorpe but his (limited) skill set fit in perfectly with Yao's plus he gave them size and a physical presence at the 4. They replaced him with a shorter, less physical JH. After that trade the Rockets boasted of a front line of Howard at 6-9, Witherspoon at 6-7 and Padgett at 6-9. The result? They have been looking for help at PF ever since. It was the same with Mobley. Ever since that trade, they have been looking for an SG with some size who can score. That should have been Reece Gaines but we all know how that worked out as everyone can see why Orlando was more than happy to get him out of town. Also, I was very concerned about was how nearly everyone took it almost as a matter of faith that CD could "surround" Yao & TMac aka our two young "superstars" with the proper role players even though there was very little evidence to support that view given CD's track record at that point in time. Nothing has changed - it's 2 years later and the problems created by that trade have yet to be addressed. Worse, the inferior supporting cast they roll out on the floor has allowed opposing teams to negate any advantages we get from having Yao & TMac on the floor. It's just not supposed to be this way. Having two players like Yao & TMac is supposed to be a huge advantage - this team should be contending for the conference chanpionship along with Dallas, Phoenix and SA. Instead, they have been passed by Memphis, Denver and the Clippers in the West. And we are STILL waiting for CD to find those role players to "surround" Yao & TMac.
Hillboy - The loss of Cato was short-term. He got beat out of minutes in ORL by Tony Battie, was easily replaced by Mario Kasun and Darko and couldn't get off of DET's bench to save his soul. You could run to the security of "but he'd play well for VG if we had him" but the league has changed. A PF with no range and who can't get his own shot in the low post is not going to cut it these days. If your logic was the trade was imballanced because we lost Cato, that's just not true. But what is true is the we received Mike James as part of the trade (for Reece Gaines). No matter how much you want to pump Cato up, he ain't Mike James. EDIT: And if Mobley were all that, why did the Kings have his Bird Rights and let him walk? Because they had younger, cheaper talent in Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia.
