T-Mac on the Rockets trade: 'It's a sad day'

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T-Mac on the Rockets trade: 'It's a sad day'
By the time the Rockets arrived for their Thursday morning shootaround, the lockers of Bonzi Wells and Mike James were empty.

"It's a sad day,'' Tracy McGrady said.

McGrady couldn't put a happy face on the Rockets sending Wells and James to division rival New Orleans in return for veteran guard Bobby Jackson and rookie guard Adam Haluska. The Rockets had won nine consecutive games when general manager Daryl Morey pulled the trigger on the deal. They broke up their momentum, their winning mojo, to bring in a soon-to-be-35-year-old to back up point guard Rafer Alston.

In essence, they traded Wells and James for an older version of James.

Sure, James has had his problems this season. James averaged 6.5 points in 16.3 minutes per game with the Rockets this season, shooting a miserable 35 percent from the field in the process. He had fallen out of coach Rick Adelman's rotation and wasn't contributing anything but his willingness to show up for work early and stay late.

James is 32, so there's no reason to think he can't snap out of his shooting funk if given the chance. Clearly, though, the Rockets weren't counting on it happening any time soon with this team. James has averaged 11.1 points in 25.9 minutes per game in his career, compared to 10.0 and 22.5 for Jackson. Both James and Jackson are smallish shoot-first guards. James has a career .426 shooting percentage from the field and .379 from behind the three-point line, compared to .419 and .360 for Jackson.

Think the 6-foot-2 James shoots first and asks questions later? He has averaged an assist every 6.8 minutes in his career. The 6-foot-1 Jackson has averaged an assist every 8.5 minutes

Oh, and Jackson is also shooting below 40 percent from the field for the third consecutive season. So how does this help the team?

"I don't know,'' McGrady said. "You never know. We'll see. I really don't have much to say about it. We'll see.''

Wells averaged 9.2 points and 5.1 rebounds in 22 minutes per game. He was wildly inconsistent, and he missed too many layups and too many free throws and too many shots in general, but he gave the Rockets a presence they don't otherwise have. Some teams simply cannot match up with him when he's in his aggressive, attack-the-rim mode. More than once, McGrady said, "He will be missed.''

"To lose Bonzi, that's pretty tough to lose,'' McGrady said. ``That's a lot. His ability to get us extra possessions on offense. Just his presence out there on the basketball court.''

The Rockets will have to count on guard Luther Head, rookie forwards Luis Scola and Carl Landy and sharp-shooter Steve Novak to fill in the void left by Wells. Adelman and Morey contend that in the playoffs, there's a premium on being able to make shots against tough defenses. The presence of Jackson and an expanded role for Head and Novak means the Rockets will be able to surround McGrady and Yao Ming with more shooters. At least in theory, the Rockets have more counter moves to defenses geared to shut down T-Mac and Yao.

The trade is also a sign the Rockets weren't comfortable trying to make a playoff run with rookie Aaron Brooks backing up Alston. Adelman coached Jackson, a former NBA Sixth Man of the Year, in Sacramento. Familiar with Jackson's strengths and weaknesses, Adelman endorsed the trade. In time, perhaps Adelman will have the McGrady and the rest of the players seeing things the same way.

The Rockets extended their winning streak to 10 by fending of the Miami Heat on Thursday, 112-100. Asked if he's uncomfortable with breaking up a team that is 19-4 since the start of 2008, McGrady offered this answer:

"Uncomfortable? You kind of had a sense that something was going to happen, so I kind of mentally prepared myself for it. It's just how it is. Yeah, we are playing well. You hate to break that up, and Bonzi was a big part of it. But I'm a player. I will play. I don't have any say-so in the decisions. You just hate to see things happen like that, especially when things are going so well for your team.''

T-Mac wasn't the only Rocket wondering about the move. Players — and fans, for that matter — don't want to hear about a trade being beneficial because it gets a team out of paying a luxury tax.

"Man, it's tough,'' Landry said. "When things are going your way, you look for things to stay the same. When things are different, sometimes I guess you question why. But it's all a business. It's all a part of the game. You've just got to take it and be positive about the situation and try to build on it.''


Posted by Steve Campbell at February 21, 2008 01:45 PM