Rocketeer, I am in awe of that pic. It looks like a media day 2004 pic that will be taken in early October.
We get mad when Francis and Mobley take stupid shots and don't pass to Yao... We'll be doing that 10-fold with T-Mac.
Ah ah ah! See, unlike Francis and Mobley, T-mac EVEN while being as selfish as he was this year with the magic,, he managed to do it on a "consistent" basis. Key word my friend. Another key element, this is a guy you CAN count on to be your clutch go to guy anytime he needs to, and while doing so, will get ya 30pts a game, almost every single game while shooting a 42 percentage. It's called desire AND smarts. You give him a Yao that's set free to be the player he is meant to be, and stop forcing him to "bang" down low. T-mac outta give you 27-30pts a game with a 44-45 percentage, with Yao's driving, most importantly PASSING and jump shooting abilities near the top of the key. And in turn, T-mac's consitency and smarts, will truely help Yao out in cutting down those double-triple teams he usually gets IF and when JVG decides give him two or three low post plays, just to keep the opposition on their feet. Simply put T-mac>Steve All there is to it. All Steve has that T-mac doesn't, is constant recklessness, stupidity and more assists, which means nothing, since his turnovers are half of that, which is horribly terrible for a PG. Done and done.
And by "consistent" basis, I meant that EVEN while being selfish, he managed to back up his selfish play with consistent POSITIVE results. But no one man, can carry a talently depleted team as the Orlando Magic.
1. I think the Magic can get more for TM than SF, even if we agreed to take GH's contract. 2. Isn't TM's health a bit iffy these days. 3. Wouldn't the Rox be risking too much to trade for a player, who becomes a FA at the end of the season. Raven
On a last note, Francis and Mobley take stupid shots, actually.. Mobley's matured a bit and has cut down on "stupid shots", Francis however is stuck in everlasting immature recklessness. T-mac does not. And comparing Francis and Mobley jacking up shots to T-mac taking and making shots. Is like comparing Allen Iverson jacking up shots to Kobe Bryant taking and making shots. And if your mind depicts these such examples as talented and mature equals, to be fairly and justly compared to eachother in different scenerios. Then my friend, I'm afraid your mind depicts things with a perception as deep as a bird bath. Either that or you're just simply biasedly blind. Which would make sense, since you are insinuating that the lack of passes to Yao was the result of our team's dismay. When clearly, to all those of us with eyes, noticed that Yao had the passes, he simply failed to follow through. He is not ready to be a leader, stop forcing him to be something he himself has admitted to not be able to be, yet. It's been 2yrs, so let's be patient with him. However it's been 6 with Francis, more than half a decade and he still isn't ready or capable of being a leader. I know how our neigboring Francis supporters blindly use Steve's success against ONE team to say he is ready and how just as naggingly do Steve hater's completely just deny he even ever had a good game. Fact is, he DID have a good game in the postseason, and he DID have success against ONE team throughout the regular season and post season. But in no manner, shape or form demonstrated new found maturity, growth, or any other signs of intellect that would and should be the only reason to rely on a player for years to come as our go-to guy and "Franchise" player. We should not be praising him for his successes against one team, proclaiming him as our "true franchise clutch player" etc etc As much as we should not be doing same with Yao if he happened to've played against the Mavs and completely destroyed Shawn Bradley's 'mighty', pressuring opposition, which is just as threatening as the Laker's PG's defense... or perhaps more so since he can i supposedly, "block" shots.. Anyway, let's try to see with clear eyes and not with biased stubborn hearts.
And what do YOU propose we do with another guy who can't play? Don't we have enough of these type of players to deal with?
http://www.suntimes.com/output/banks/cst-spt-banx09.html I'd be glad to trade Francis for Marion, straight up.
DAMN! That is AWESOME. I would give anything buy Yao to get McGrady. I think w/ Orlando thinking they're going to lose him like Shaq, they may do a sign-n-trade but they need a star and some size and would need to shed a contract and they need something in the middle. Cato Francis Nachbar Next Years Draft Pick (already given this years to Utah) for McGrady Howard Trade Exception A team of Francis Stevenson Hill (If he comes back)/ Garrity Gooden Cato That team is better than what they have and fits Francis' style very well in the east. We would then trade Mobley for a taller steady PG like Eric Snow Sign Brent Barry Snow Barry McGrady Barry Jackson Weatherspoon Howard Taylor Yao (Pickup) That team is perfect for our talents. Snow/Jackson/Barry/Howard/Yao/Taylor are all stron mid range shooters to benefit McGrady. They would be unable to double McGrady w/ Yao and vice versa. DREAMING!!!!
Francis/Cato/Nachbar is better than Marion/Johnson and Voshkul. Marion is even less of a max player than Francis. He is a good rebounder for the three, but overall not worth his contract and cannot put butts in the seats which is important in Orlando with their small market.
Ya, what was I thinking? T-Mac has proven to risen the play of his teammates. Especially this year. T-Mac also has a good medical track record. His back will hold up with ease. T-Mac is a proven winner who has beaten all comers, especially in the damn tough East. Honestly, I think it is you who is blind. T-Mac is the defnition of fool's gold. The last thing we need is a shoot-first, play defense last player. Will he be content with dumping to Yao? Admittedly, Yao will need to turn on the aggression to ever be a dominant player. I don't know if he will ever reach his potential because he does play way too soft. Unfortunately if we had T-Mac here, we would never really find out what Yao can or cannot do fully. I am not saying this as a Francis defender at all. I want Francis gone and replaced with a better fit than T-Mac.
Give it up guys, T-Mac is a total pipe-dream Look at it like this: No matter what kind of offer we can give Orlando, there will always be another team with a better one. 1. Any offer from the Rockets will be an expensive one, atleast SF/Mobley/Cato or MoT/either filler or draft pick. Even if we take Hill off their hands, SF/Cato or MoT will combo for atleast 20+M. 2. T-Mac is still a top 5 player, if they do decide to deal T-Mac, they are expecting the best of offers. Even the Marion, Johnson, Jake, 1st rounder, is a better offer than a SF/Cat/Cat/pick. I'm not putting our guys down, but for $$ and future sakes, the Suns offer is better. 3. If Rockets do contact Orlando, I could bet that Orlando would be expecting Yao Mings name in the talks, which won't happen. 4. Even though it is mostly up to T-Mac, Orlando would be much better off trading their #1 pick plus fillers for good players. Surround T-Mac w/ some talent (Lue, Gooden, Howard, isn't even a team, I can't believe Magic thought they could use that lineup and get somewhere) and they are right back in the playoffs.
1. They'd be expensive sure but it's the East we're talking about. They'd be instantly better than they were with T-Mac. They still have most of their players. 2. What other teams could/would offer better? Steve, Cuttino and Cato would be MUCH more attractive than anything Phoenix could offer besides Amare. We're solid if we have to negotiate. We have significant pieces they need and more of them than other teams. 3. Just like they'd 'expect' Labron's name to be in there. Maybe 'they do' seriously expect Yao but I'd seriously doubt it. The difference between T-Mac and Yao is that T-Mac is available. You don't see people doing Yao trades. (Well I haven't read GARM closely this afternoon so who the heck knows) 4. They get Cato, Francis, and Mobley fo T-Mac/whoever. They still have their top pick to trade for any number of good players, if they don't keep it like they should.
Uhm, no. We DON'T want him to rise the play of his teammates. Their play will rise by simply removing Francis. We're not getting T-mac to be a playmaking PG. We would be getting him, to be our go-to shooting gaurd. A guy we can count on to make points on the offensive end on a consistent basis. He has better driving skills than Francis AND he unlike Francis has a very nice CONSISTENT jumpshot. And we definitely do not want him "dumping" it in to Yao. That is a flawed experiment, it is not within Yao's game to CONSANTLY be in the low post. Just look at how much his soft shooting touch has suffered. As for the remark prodding at his defense, uhm, T-mac is also known for his defensive capabalities. He can even surprise with a few blocked shots. He can even rebound aswell as Steve can. He is a well rounded player, he is not an Allen Iverson, he is argueably the best 2 gaurd, next to Kobe Bryant. And if we did have T-mac here, we WOULD be able to see what Yao is truely capable of. Not by being tended to by a PG that must do his job for him. I'm so sick of how the YOF's whine about how it's a PG's fault for not serving Yao as best as possible. Yao must do his job himself, all he needs is to be passed the ball, be given the ball. He has been given the ball all this past season, and doing it in the low post showed how much it deprives Yao's other talents and how it wears him out quicker. The way T-mac WILL help Yao, is through his consistent scoring and respectable jumpshot. It will draw the double-triple teams AWAY from Yao. And uh, I never said T-mac was a "proven" winner. I said he is a proven consistent scorer with a well rounded game, has offense and deffense. You cannot make next season yet another focus on Yao, he himself has said "no thanks" to being forced to be the leader as quickly as possible. All we need from Yao next season, is 20-10, with atleast 2.0 block shots and a few assists. He has the talents to average atleast 4.0 assists a game, let's use them for god's sake. As for a PG who can control the ball, can bring the ball up the court safely and just dish it to the people he needs to hand it over to, Brent Barry. Very good jump shooter, very good perimeter game that requires little to no dribbling (which we need when we kick it out) and he can even drive it in from time to time without FORCING things like Francis does. We do not need a superstar 11assists per game PG. You use Yao properly, use his passing skills.. install Boki into the starting SF slot, bring in Brent Barry. Should get atleast 10 assists per game with those three combined. Plus, consistent offense, with pretty good defense from T-mac and Boki (boki has the drive to be pretty good defensively, surely you all noticed), Brent Barry won't be as much a liability defensively, not that defense is in his repitoir(sp?), as Francis. And Yao also, should really try to improve his defense and block more shots, he has the height. All that is "ify" about T-mac, is his health, his back. That is all, but it's seriousness is not as questionable as we think, for next season. He should be our number one priority this offseason.
