We did good in the trade to get McGrady, BUT McGrady is unlikely to be the heart and soul of any team. We lost the team heart and identity when SF was traded. We needed a trade, (See my moniker) but gave up Steve's on court heart to move in a different direction after five years of frustration. No one on this current team looks like they are going to pick up that slack. We need to get someone who can whip this team into shape and keep things going on the court. We do not have a court leader. McGrady is not Kobe in that regard. VG cannot be on the court to execute plays or help Ward and Lue play defense and make good decisions or light a fire under Taylor's no-rebounding a$$ or give Yao an attitude. Don't know what CD was thinking but I never bought into the crap about how, after all the rumors during the summer, that signing Sura and Ward at the last minute was anything other than desperation. It was NOT about getting the players they wanted or who fit best with the team as CD stated. Now we are stuck with Ward's contract and have no one to trade to get some fire on this team until the summer when we lose Lue and Boki and Mutombo. McGrady was a no brainer. Steve had to go and I wish him the best of luck with his new team. TMac may or may not be guilty of lacking leadership abilities but he can still do things only a couple of other people can do on the basketball court and is a keeper if only for that. Now we need to recover some of the heart we lost and it may not happen this year.
It seemed like Turnovers cost us the game down the stretch. Same old ****. That damn Francis! Oh, I'm sorry we don't have him to blame anymore. Who are people going to point the finger at now?
Looks like most on this board are looking at JVG, MoT, Juwon, Yao, PGs, etc. No one wants to just except the fact that this team is not complete and won't be an elite team this year. They are going to lose some games (like the last two) and they are going to beat some better teams. It's going to be a roller-coaster ride but I think they will get better by the second half of the season. Shouldn't this site be called clutch-haters.net instead? lol.
Is anyone actually doubting the TMac trade? The unfortunate fact is, while we got the better player, we also gutted our team. It's going to be a couple season before we can throw some dead weight (Taylor) overboard and bring on decent talent to surround Yao and McGrady with. Right now, the only role player doing well is Jackson. That's it. Evan
by the time that dead weight is gone the rockets will be paying both yao and tmac the max negating any cap space.
Nobody is perfect? Well, I think Kobe woulda been perfect for a team with Yao. Kobe would fully utilize Yao's potential. Kobe knows how to play with a big man after all.
