Hey fellas. I've been following the clutchfans for years now, must say, yall amaze me. I'm a "long time, first time"-er. Anyway, I agree with most of the things that has been posted. We have a weak bench, we lack athleticism, and our "superstars" lack the killer mentality. That's all true. But I can't help to think that even if we do upgrade at the 1 and 4 positions, those players' abilities would be hindered solely because of the system we run. I've always thought even if we had drafted a tony parker or a giniboli, we would have never seen them become the stars they are now because every single play (as limited as they seemed) was designed for yao and mac, minus the occassional screens to free up jho for the jumper. I like JVG but if he continues to run the same ol busted plays and refuse to develop the young players, then he must go. We may have some gems (in spanoulis, novak, and snyder), but we would never find out under the current system. The same goes to anyone else that we may pick up in the offseason. I still can't get over the fact the Bonzi was barely used this year and could've been the X factor in our playoff run. Sure he was a cancer and JVG was afraid that he would break up the team chemistry but I don't think that he would have done much damage since our core guys are really tight with one another. I truly believe that VSpan can fill the role that Sura provided for us in the 04-05 season, since he plays hard, and that can be contagious. Keep up the good job guys. GO ROCKETS
The number of people coming to defend JVG, and yet want to trade T-Mac is just unbelivable. Ok Tracy has been somewhat erratic in shooting this year, but man, he has shown that he can still contribute at the highest stage. Whether T-Mac can lead the team to the Championship is debatable, but he isnt the reason why we lost. T-Mac's contribution is still good for its money, even if he is probably one back surgery away from becoming albatross. Its clear that Gundy way of playing isn't going to cut it because (1) he doesnt recognise talent enough and (2) Rockets just blew its best hope of reaching final for many years. I don't think Dallas is going out to GS next year. We need to find some innovative ways to trying to maximize the offensive capabilities of Yao and Tracy, and find some ways to acquire more "talents." I don't think Jeff is the man.
I want to keep T-Mac. He can get out of the first round in Houston, provided that he has the right combination of players in his periphery. Mcgrady's not cursed, he's not any of that. He has just had some really bad luck. The Rockets organization needs to get their **** together and figure out where the meltdown occurred. How do you guys feel about Jamal Tinsley? Danny Granger?
Simple really. I came across multiple posters who said that the only way we can improve our roster and 'spread the wealth' is to trade one of our superstars, and most cited T-Mac as the only possibility since Yao is basically untradeable (and I agree, that's why it's pointless to even argue any scenario involving Yao being traded; never going to happen). That's why I felt compelled to create this thread and see what people might want in return if hypothetically speaking the Rockets decide to move forward without T-Mac. I amended my original post with a later one in which I sought to clarify that I am NOT in any way advocating that T-Mac gets traded, in fact, I am against it even more so than trading Yao (which I am also against). However, it's apparent to me now that most posters didn't read it or just skipped over that part of the thread. But no, I don't want to trade T-Mac either because I know for a fact that we will get immediately worse if we do, and would have to suffer through more rebuilding headaches and everyone knows that McGrady is only replaceable by no more than 2-3 players in the league who can do what he does for us, none of which are or will ever be available on the market. He stays for sure. So this thread was nothing more than to entertain trade ideas IF the organization ever decides to trade him. But whether or not some of you guys admit it, there is a sizable group here that would like for us to trade him, get something for it, and just build around Yao like we did around Dream. I disagree with that, but it's out there...
I wanna keep T-Mac...he can get outta the 1st round. That was the 1st time he had homecourt advantage and he lost...he played pheonominal, he didnt do anything wrong i got a good trade though Vspan+Bonzi+Rafer+Juwan for Mikey Moore+Richard Jefferson+Jason Kidd
I agree with you totally. If we can trade tmac for kg then all we would need is a good pg that can run the offense, SHOOT, and penetrate. If we could get that then we would be an elite team. If we could some how trade: tmac, howard (or whoever else is expendable) for kg, and foye or davis or james? or maybe we could just trade kg for tmac and try to sign somebody like billups in the offseason. (miraculously)
Not thrilled about the idea, but TMac may be traded. Depends on what's offered. If he goes, I really hope he goes to a contender. I would love to see him happy, but I would love to see us happy even more.
Here we go again....... Yao is not our savior people. I love him to death but Im coming to realize he may never become Hakeem or Shaq. He is an all star but not a super star. He is inconsistent but good when he is on. If we acquire KG him and Yao play basically the same game. Post up and mid range jumpers. KG is a little more athletic but I don't see where two people clogging the paint helps us. At the end of the day we still CAN'T SHOOT. Now KG and Mike James for Yao, Raefer, and JHo/Novak I would consider. Then we would ALMOST be able to keep up with Pheonix and Golden State. We would get the same numbers out of KG that we are getting out of Yao points and rebounding wise, plus a quicker more athletic defender that can guard Tim Duncan and Stoudamire.
Ok if you do not think that Yao is our savior and that Tmac is. Then how about trading Yao and Vspan/Snyder/Novak/Tsakilidis for Dwight Howard/Ariza/Nelson etc. I mean then we can have a seroius athletic defensive prescense in Dwight the way Hakeem was. Also Dwight is rapidly growing his offensive skills/moves. If that trade were to occur along w/ a new coach like Carslile (sp?) or Aldeman then we can really wreck havock in the west.
Magic would never trade Dwight Howard. He's younger, more athletic, and makes less. I'm pretty sure they're looking to build around him, not move him.
The only reason I would want to trade McGrady or Yao is because we have no other way to build around them. We are completely without viable options to build a championship team. Low first round picks and the MLE will NEVER get us even with the likes of SA, Phoenix, Dallas, Detroit, or other up and comers like Chicago, Cleveland (although they are in salary cap hell as well) and others. We have to trade Yao or McGrady now to get any kind of room to maneuver, otherwise we are one and done for years to come. Anybody ok with that? Anybody that watched the Utah series should have seen our weaknesses exposed: PF, PG, and horrible depth. Bringing in has-been veterans or shot in the dark free agents like Mo Williams or Grant Hill will not cure what ills us. We have to re-build like it or not.
Good post. That's precisely why I scoff back at those who think that it's beyond the realm of sanity to ever consider moving either McGrady or Yao for more pieces. Question: how will we be able to compete with the likes of the Suns or even the Jazz if we continue to be a 2-man team with a bunch of NBDL talents? The MLE and low picks won't get it done any time soon. The only other viable option is if Le$ is willing to take back big contracts and willing to pay the lux tax as a consequence, which he has already made clear he won't do unless it was for a player that he believed would "put us over the top" and win us a championship. Suggestions? Ideas?
now seriously, after the way yao played in this playoffs and w/ the game moving to a faster pace, u think any teams would give up a lot to get yao? seriously. most teams don't play JVG style of basketball. even the spurs w/ tim duncan don't run everything through him during the reg. season. and w/ tmac's back, u think anyone would give up a lot to get him? what u gonna get for them is some bad contracts and possibly high first round picks. but unless u get a top 2 pick in the next yr draft, there are not a lot of superstars. we have the foundation for yao and tmac. as bad as they played together, they still put 50 pts on the boards, w/ yao rebounding decently, and mac creating magnificently. our role players JUST CAN'T MAKE SHOTS. why the spurs have bowen making them? horry making them. why jazz can have giricek making them? our role players just SUCK. but not all of them do. i think battier came on at the end of the series. he's slowly getting good in the playoffs. i think this was head's first yr in the palyoffs and maybe he was overly nervous. but he can shoot lights out and will continue to improve. hayes is a great off the bench player. what we need is basically a PG that can shoot. we dont need a guy that can dribble as well as alston (which he does extremely well), but that guy has to shoot. and a good PF. not great, but just decent. look, we should have beaten the jazz even if our role players SUCKED. if tmac would make his DAMN JUMPERS. if yao would get those crucial rebounds and improve his offensive arsenal, we would have won. we can blame the role players, but our stars can be better themselves. we're CLOSER than most of u think. tmac and yao need to work on their kinks this ofseason. tmac w/ his J and strength/conditioning, yao basically everything that was exposed in this series. if we beat the jazz (which we should have), we would have gone all the way to the conf. finals. and i believe we would beat the spurs if we see them. so RELAX. we're VERY CLOSE. i still believe the lack of offseaosn last yr for tmac hurt his rhythm. yao not working w/ hakeem was a mistake. if those 2 get their games together (which they really didn't v. the jazz) and we add 1-2 more shooters, we're set. so RELAX. rebuilding can take YEARS YEARS YEARS. yao is not a franchise player if u trade tmac. and tmac can't do anything by himself as shown in orlando. just playoffs and out again.
^^ Good Post. I agree with you, rebuilding will take years...but i think we should trade Yao for someone like KG. KG wants out of Minnesota, and package with Yao could be very enticing for the wolves. With him we have the ability to play any kind of offense and very good defense. BTW, what do you think we should do with the coaching situation?
Awful lot of "ifs" in your discourse. All we need is a PF and a Point Guard that can shoot. Isn't that what we've needed for the last 4 years? Learn from history, WE AIN'T Getting what we need with low draft picks and the MLE. If we keep Yao and McGrady we will begin re-building in about 4 years when McGrady hangs it up. We still won't have made up any ground on the elites, so why not start now? Either way it is years before we compete for a championship. By the way, I agree it is unlikely we could get even value for Tracy, but I believe Yao still has great trade value (especially because of the Chinese fans and $ he brings with him.)
again, yao hasn't proven he can single-handedly carry a team. and w/ KG, they haven't been into the playoffs. what makes you think minnesota would want yao? if anything, an eastern team would want yao b/c all the good and fast teams are here out west. yes yao would fit perfectly w/ tmac b/c he covers A LOT of our deficiencies: rebounding esp. versus fast teams as we saw w/ a guy like boozer, pick and roll D, and has the abiliy to step out and spread the floor for tmac if guys pack the paint to stop yao. yao is just very one-dmensional offensively. but we're NOT gonna get KG offering yao. they would want tmac + picks/battier. KG makes more than tmac so u need to add in some extra stuff. but i still have faith in our 2 guys. tmac just needs to regian his rhythm. that's all. yao is a great 2nd option guy. and when we learn not to put too much stuff on him, yao will be much better and defenses wont key in on him as much. we just need to add some athleticism and shooting.
oh yea for coaching, i would want rick adelman. he's an offensive genius but i dont think he knows what to do w/ yao except what JVG does right now. he cant use him like brad miller b/c yao cant shoot very far and he's too slow. but he's our best bet to mix it up offensively. he's also good defensively but ppl dont understand that b/c of the kings style of play. watch him coach the blazers back in the day.
