Lets see. Trade Francis and Cuttino for T Mac and stuff like that. Ok. I thought that the point of the offseason was to get better not to stay samer. So, let me get this straight, T Mac is smarter than Francis or Cuttino? Does he shoot less than Francis or Cuttino? How about will he give the ball more to Yao than Francis or Cuttino? What about the fact that T Mac will be more apt to a strong coach after getting rid of his first strong coach in Doc Rivers? I mean, Rivers said that T Mac got mad at him because he called him Tracy!!! So, why not trade Yao for a Mc Grady type and just have a guard oriented team? Why even bother with Yao developing into the focus if we continue to get players who want to be the man instead of playing WITH the man? T Mac is barely 24 years old or something like that. You think he is ready to be second fiddle? Elton Brand is the man we should try and get. Him or someone LIKE him. Players LIKE him. I love T Mac. I know the thought of having your won Shaq/Kobe combo is tempting. But I rather take a Spurs team anyday. We got good pieces closer to that type of team anyways.
How about will he give the ball more to Yao than Francis or Cuttino? Uh, he might be better than Yao. In that case it wouldn't matter if he gave the ball to him more. Btw ... do you ever REPLY to threads, Almu?
T-Mac is twice more valuable than Brand. There's a reason players like Brand and SAR play on lottery teams.
tmac would make this team better. We could have a kobe-shaq kind of talent. And if u think it will make the team worst u just are in love w/ the backcourt or somethin.
Yao and Tmac and scrubs make us better than last year, plain and simple. The kid is a young all star and potential MVP. Their are only a handful of players in this league that always command a double team when they have the ball and TMac is definitely one of them. It's seems days you need 2 of those players to win a championship and Yao and Tmac fit the bill. You could easily build a championship around those 2 players. You can't say that about any 2 players on our team now. This is all mute because we will never get him unless that is all that's available for Orlando and as you will see in the offseason the offers will increase with frequency and quantity and quality. TMac is a rare one and the Rockets can only dream.
My feeling is that with T-Mac and whatever we had left on our team (Yao), we'd be a force in the West. It also takes more pressure off Yao to turn into whatever he wants to. Just surround them with shooters and make sure the PF handles his rebounding load. We don't even need tremendous talent at any other position, just hustlers.
How many guard oriented teams are there in the Western confrence? I mean, teams that have the offensive focus from the perimiter and not in the paint. I guess there is Seattle, and to lesser extents Pheonix and the Mavs. Dallas may have a bunch of 7 footers, but they all play like guards. Out of all those teams, how many of them actually made the playoffs, and of those who made it past the 1st round? Zero. Now I agree that Yao will take a while to develope, but he is further ahead than most people realize. At the same age, Steve was avg. 18pts, .5 more than Yao. He got these 18 points on a team where he was the MAN, where the ball was fed through him and in a world where the zone didn't exsist. Yao doesn't get the ball when he should, and he rarely is given the ball in the first 15 seconds of the shot clock. I don't know if trading Steve is the right thing to do. Getting T-Mac would be great, but we would still be left with a hugh gap at the PG posistion. I like Brand, and if the Clipps go after Okafar (sp) then he might be expendable. The one thing I do know though is that Yao will become the best center in the league. There isn't all that much in the way. He needs to learn how to play against some of the quicker centers and fowards in the league, and needs a more consistant shot that he can goto if his jumper isn't falling(Kareem mentioned that Yao should go for the sky hook...)
TMac is a great, great player, but he's not Magic Johnson. If Yao is going to be like Kareem, we need the other star to have the court vision and ability to lift the rest of the supporting cast to play above their natural talents. TMac hasn't really made any of his teammates look better like Jordan, Magic, Bird did. Is that a lost art? LBJ has flashes of that sixth sense, but a lot of today's stars just don't seem to have it. ........ I have grown sour on the Yao/Brand pairing. It's kind of like having Parrish and McHale and not having Bird. There would have to be more - that other guy that makes it all happen. I'm looking for guys that can make it happen - the two guys are Brent Barry and Ray Allen. Fill in with shooting forwards like Harpring and Murphy and the team would be something great, bigger than it's parts, undefendable.
I have to disagree. There's no rule that says a team can't have 2 people taking the bulk of the shots. Even with Kobe tossing up 20 shots, Shaq was able to lead the Lakers to a championship. Besides, T-Mac is a SG. He doesn't need to pass the ball to Yao all that much. If we get T-Mac, then the SOLE purpose of the PG would be to feed Yao and T-Mac. Brand is good, but I worry about him and Yao getting tangled up in the post. They both are most efective when deep in the post. We don't want to be paying MAX money for a blue collar guy. I would much much rather have T-Mac. Putting Yao and T-Mac together will maximize both their strengths, while putting Yao and Brand together may negatively affect both their games. I would rather have Ray Allen as well. But Brand would be 3rd on my list, tied with Swift.
Just on a side note, I would be more than willing to sit through another inconsistent season followed by a first round exit if it meant getting T-Mac. I.E., don't worry about the other positions. We'll fill them out later. Even with 2 CBA PG's, a Yao/McGrady combo would make the playoffs.
There are only a handful of players that are better than T-Mac. When you have a chance to get a player like that you really have to consider going after him. Brand is a solid player but he's not at the same level as T-Mac. With that said I would prefer to keep Francis (unless we can get another superstar in return like T-Mac), I think he played better than anyone on the Rockets in the playoffs and i think we can win with him.
PG - ? (look for FA/trades) SG - T-Mac <---first option SF - JJ/Boki PF - ? (look for FA/trades) C - Yao <- second option Bench: Cato What we will be getting is a SHOOTING GUARD that is just that: A shooting guard. Plus, he's not sloppy (low turnovers). So, instead of trying to make our PG (Francis) score like a SG and then also try and do PG things. Why not get a real SG that can light up the court. Later we can bring in someone like Barry to be our PG. Yao will be fine being the 2nd option. He doesn't have to be "da man." But T-Mac has the personallity and ability that will justify "da-man" on the Rockets. And yes. I agree with the PF need. But lets take care of our "super star" first.
TMac is a great player but lets not gut our team in order to get him. The man's game is based on slashing, quickness, and explosiveness... and the fact that he's pretty tall and already has back problems, I just don't think his game will age well. Plus, who's gonna be running the point if we trade Francis?!? If the right trade presents itself, go for it (elite powerforward), but if not, so be it. Yao's gonna come back after the offseason better and so will Francis. 7th seed this year even with the horrible finish, maybe 5th seed next year, and then 3rd seed the year after...
