How can Boki be a whipping boy when he'll have near zilch playing time? As for Sura, he won't play til mid season and have an injury excuse for the rest of the season.
GMs are that when they pick Yao over Pau, but when they sign Brian Cardinal to a 30+ million dollar contract, or sign Derek Fisher to the same amount, or when they trade Shaq, or when they sign Dampier to 60 million they're morons. For the record, I'd take Yao, but would Jerry West? He might be losing it now a days after signing a rich man's Ryan Bowen to that huge contract.
considering Gasol's scoring DROPPED from year 2 to year 3 - that might suggest that he has already entered his "prime" (and he still put up weaker stats than Yao last season) ... btw - I would like to add that I am a big Gasol fan. I drafted him in a fantasy basketball keeper league as a keeper - I followed him most of the season - then I finally gave up and decided that he was lost in that team offense concept and was a little too soft to bang around the basket, so I traded him. I got Yao in the deal - and I noticed last week that Gasol was dropped (not kept)... so maybe I will draft him again and see if you are right
To be fair, Gasol's minutes dropped as well under Hubie's system, but what was more telling is that fact that his FG% took a dive to around 48%. In fact it's declined every year he's been in the league and his rebounding hasn't improved either. The fact that Yao has shown improvements every year he's been a professional player(in the US and China) tells a lot about the player Yao will become, which I think a lot of GMs can see.
In regards to Francis, (how did P. Gasol get in the mix anyways?) I think it boils down to this: Francis is a shooting guard, not a point guard. If Francis didn't have the responsibility of distributing the ball, and instead had the freedom to run and cause havok, I think most of us here would not be so darn hard on him, or had given up on him. I just hope, that in Orlando, he gets all the freedom he needs and isn't simply constrained to the PG role anymore. Let's face facts, Yao was the number one option (as he should be) last year. But who were the options after Yao? Certaintly not Francis. Francis should've been the number 2 option. And yeah, of course it seems that Francis dribbles too much...but maybe that's because he has to bring the ball up the court. Think about it this way. Imagine a Rocket PG bringing the ball upcourt, the ball rotates around, and finally lands in the hands of our 2 guard, Francis. Francis then proceeds to go to work on the guy. Does it now seem like he's over-dribbling?
Pau Gasol has been in the league, what, 4 years already? This is a guy who came in as ROY, so saying he is still going to improve after 4 years of more-or-less staying stagnant indicates that, if anything, Gasol has actually PLATEUED as a very good PF (18PPG, 10RPG, solid all-around player). But getting 18 and 10 as a PF doesn't make you anything special. Witness the following list: Duncan KG JO'neal CWebb Sheed Brand AWalker SAR Boozer ZRandolph Amare Nowitzki That's 12 players who have as good, or substantially better, numbers over their career than Gasol who play the same position! What does that mean? Gasol is, at best, in the middle third of starting NBA PFs. No matter how you slice it, I think you will find it almost impossible to make a solid case that Pau is substantially better than any of the above 12 PFs. And others, like JHoward and Kenyon Martin, have similar career #'s to Gasol's, so not only is he NOT an elite player in the league as a whole...he might not even be among the elite at his POSITION. Now apply the same test to Yao...after Shaq, Yao is probably the SECOND best in the league at the most important position on the court. Second! And before you discredit the importance of the center position, witness the long list of teams built around a dominant center: Russel's Celts Wilt's 76ers/Lakers Kareem's Bucks/Lakers Moses's Sixers Hakeem's Rockets DRob/Duncan's Spurs and of course Shaq's Lakers Now how many NBA champs have been built around a 18&10 PF like Gasol? Thought so.
Milos, i think you're reaching a bit with SAR, Walker, boozer, and Randolph. Hell, Sheed doesn't really create mismatches anymore like Gasol does. Also, Amare and Gasol have very similar games, but Pau has more range, so that's a close one as well.
Truth is, that we'll see this year how good, Yao really is. We've never seen him without Steve, and I think that we'll also get a better look at Steve from a different perspective. I also can't wait to hear what these people saying that Ward and Sura are more effective will say when we play the Magic this year. I'm not making an argument either way, we were improving, but change did seem to be needed. Some people here just make some very uninformed ignorant statements, anyway, my two cents.
The Howard for Cato compenent of the trade is going to be a positive surprise for Rockets fans. Cato is a role player who should be coming off the bench - his offensive liability is just too great - opponents 4's sagged back on Yao all last year. For that reason - he only average 2 quarters a game - about the same as Mutumbo - who is a better defender and intimidator and more of an offensive threat around the hoop. Howard is a legitimate starter - who averaged 3 quarters a game last year.
Of course Francis was one of the top 2 options last year. He led the team in FGA and was second in FTA (9 fewer than Yao). Steve cannot play the 2 because he has to have the ball in his hands to be effective, and he cannot defend shooting guards (not that he can really defend point guards, but you don't want the Bryants and McGradys covered by Fancy). Even if you call him a 2 guard, have someone else advance the ball over the timeline, and make him guard the 1, his game would be exactly the same.
Why not wait until we've played a few weeks of the season? It's nice that the O looked ok in one game...but then, look at our best game from last year and you might disagree. I'm optimistic, but we'll see how things develop. This argument is going to be very interesting later if both Houston and Orlando do well. If both do poorly, it'll just be depressing.
The proof is in the pudding. If the Magic improve more games then the Rockets, then the trade was a steal for Orlando.
You can't really say that since the east is a lot weaker division and they also had a horrible record last year. Of course they are going to improve more games that the Rockets. Any team can improve on their record from last year. What your saying really doesn't hold any water becuase of the fact that they are in two totall different divisions where one is harder than the other by a long shot. Your also asking the Magic to improve on a 21 - 61 record. Which is not going to be hard at all.
The Magic also had the #1 overall pick in the draft. We got some Spanish guy who isn't even on the team. That might figure into how much they improve as well.
Actually a Greek guy I think. I agree, it is very unfair to compare the 2 teams in terms of improvement in the number of game they will win more this year. They are at 2 very distinctly different starting points. For example, it is easier to get from an F to a B than from A to A+. Speaking of grades, I better get back to studying for my law school midterms.
its unreasonable to look at W-L records - if the Magic win 30 this year and the Rox win 52 and finish in the top 4 - you could still say.. "see the Magic improved by 11 games vs. the Rox only improving by 7 games" they best comparison will be overall team value and dominance. If the Rox win 50+ games and finish in the top 4 and get to the Western Conference Finals - then for this trade to be considered equal for both teams, lets say, the Magic must (at least) make the playoffs in the East
There was only 13 games between Rox and Minnesota at the end of last season - while Orlando was 40 games behind Indiana. If the Roxs make up those 13 games that makes them contenders for home court advantage in playoffs. If Magic make up 14 games - they may still miss playoffs!! I think that says it all. On another note - I wouldn't be so quick to say the Magic will improve many games from last year. They have the same coach - Johnny Davis - as last year. 1996 Philadelphia 22-60 .268 0 0 .000 2003 Orlando 20-51 .282 0 0 .000 TOTALS 42-111 .275 0 0 .000 And they have the same management that has the organization in a downward spiral. There is a lot of negative organizational momentum for the three players coming over from the Rox - who together - made the playoffs for the first time in their careers - just last year. When you consider that their management chose pair them with a highschool baller and a coach with the above track record - you can see that - they have a big mountain to climb - something like Everest!
