What happens when you mix 3/5 of a lottery team with 2/5 of a marginal playoff team?

Okay maybe I went a lil overboard on that, but I still think that Mobley is the reason we couldn't push it over the top. He's a solid player but he is way too inconsistent. Mobley isn't at Artest or Rip's level (maybe statistically, but not I.Q.) and I don't think he ever will be. He will continually be an okay player on an okay team. He jacks up stupid shots and makes stupid decisions, maybe he will end up slowing his game down some day but I personally am tired of waiting.

 

Once in history an all star sg and a good big man were traded for a high school player named Kobe Bryant.

Actually, we are trading a top 10-20 player in Francis, a top 30-60 player in Mobley, and a top 60-90 player in Cato for a top 3 player in McCrady and a top 30-60 player in Juan Howard.

Don't omit Juan Howard out of the equation. Dude has a higher career average in scoring than Mobley.

 

I would have been fine with Cat staying here if we had a clause that said after he jacked up 15 horribly stupid shots (regardless of how many he was lucky to make), JVG can pull his ass.

And by horribly stupid shots, I'm talking about all the times he will shoot from the corner with someone in his face with 15+ on the shotclock, or when he gets the ball early in the possession, makes up his mind its his turn to shoot, puts his head, drives until he reaches pressure, then goes for off the glass. His shooting improved relative to the past, but it still wasn't great. His defense was very solid this year, however.

I just think it's hilarious how most hated him up until this season started and the b****ing about Francis wasn't 1% what it was by the time the playoffs started. One season can really make a difference, I guess. Personally I'm glad he goes, because I think this season is the best you will see from Mobley, and he would probably opt out of his contract anyway.

 

"I would have been fine with Cat staying here if we had a clause that said after he jacked up 15 horribly stupid shots (regardless of how many he was lucky to make), JVG can pull his ass."

A-Freaking-men!

 

ouch...leave Artest out of this one. Mobes may have a slight edge on him on O....but the D triples(sp?) his value. Artest actually became an option on offense this year.

ps....I love the Cat....not dogging him.....

 

Here's the mistake I feel that you and all of the other "T-Mac or Bust" trade supporters are making:

While it is certainly true that T-Mac is a serious upgrade at the 2 spot, what is not certain at all is that CD & Co. will find the right players to complement him & Yao. It doesn't matter if they have the MLE, the veteran's exception AND the trade exception, this is an organization that has a dismal record in evaluating and finding good players as outlined last week in John Lopez's article in the Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/lopez/2642709.

This trade does not address their problems at the 1, 3 and 4. The players they are getting back from Orlando, Lue, Gaines, Howard are not going to do much to improve their competitiveness with Minn, SAC, Dallas, SA and the other elite teams. What you and the others here are assuming or hoping or taking as a matter of faith is that the Rockets front office, the same one that brought you Bryce Drew, Mirsad Turkcan, Pig Miller, Moochie Norris, Eric Piatkowski, Adrian Griffin, Eddie Griffin, Jason Collier, Dan Langhi and the others, will somehow start getting it right after all of these years.

Even when they finally acquire T-Mac, this organization will not be off the hook because it still will have to prove it can put together a winning team because as things now stand with T-Mac, they are quite probably a 48-52 win team. That's up from 46 wins but not quite elite status just yet. It was my understanding that T-Mac wanted out of Orlando because he wanted to play for a contending team - not one that continues to stumble around in mediocrity as this team has done for some time now. Call me cynical, but they have a lot to prove before I can believe that they (Rockets) are smart enough to as you put it "work out the other problems along the way".

 

And the last assumption people are making is this equals Shaq and Kobe.

 

give mobley some more credit than that. I remember when he was the only scoring option he was avg like 25 points while shooting 45%+. I think if an offense was designed for him he would be just as good at redd, hamilton, and the other 2 gaurds below the kobe, mcgrady,pierce class.

 

Indeed.

T-mac/Yao offer a lot more diversity and options together than Kobe/Shaq.

 

Guys - whatever you say about management - they got a hell of a lot of value for Steve and Cat. Cat is definitely not a top 10 player and not a top 10 shooting guard. You guys overrate him consistently because he's a local hero. But the guy disappears in crunch time. If he had been a focal star or called himself the
"Franchise" you guys would have been pissed about him disappearing at crunch time.

I've watched enough of Steve at the end of games. Dribbling until the shot clock winds down. I honestly think JVG was fighting an uphill battle to shake the "Steve's team" image and get guys to listen.

Now, he has one of the best players in the league eager to listen to him. I see TMAC as being a much better contributer in crunch time.

And I'm dreadfully sick of the crap about blaming TMAC for the poor teams he's been on. He was barely developed as a player when he was at an incredibly disfunctional place in Toronto. He got his game together and then worked his way to Orlando. The Orlando deal turned out to be very tragic. Bad coaching. Losing his counterpart in Grant Hill. Having bench players as starters. No big man. If you check with Orlando fans they will tell you than unequivically TMAC and Howard were pretty much all the Magic had. If we took 2/5ths of their team - really - we just took their team.

Now you pair TMAC with a rising superstar center in Yao. You have to love that the Rockets did this deal. It gets us out of the Franchise doldrums and gives the fans to see a team that can truly be great. Add a decent point guard who can pass and defend and some muscle off the bench and you have the makings of a real team.