Have any of your asking for Felton actually watched anything more than his stat line? He can't finish at the hoop, is even more streaky than Rafer with the long ball, and is only an average defender at best. ESPN's player file confirmed what I already knew from watching him. I used to think I had fantasy gold when I picked him on a team and realized it was fools gold the way he shot the ball....plus he looked bad when I finally saw him in a few Charlotte games.
Barbosa for Artest might not be a bad trade for us, except we'll get worse defensively, and have 3 PGs on our roster. As much as I'd love to trade Artest for a PG, i dont think Morey can do that unless he can package Rafer or Brooks with him also. But then, there prolly arent too many like that on the block.
the title should be changed to "what would you do that actually makes sense for the team"...... Although defense can always be improved and length is needed, camby just takes away minutes from Scola and Landry, who really aren't a problem and have been fairly efficient for Houston. It sure wouldn't solve the offense though. Bargnani isn't a true (back up) center, at least not what we need because he'd not a defensive anchor like Deke. We need basically need a younger deke. Bargnani would be hanging out in the perimeter and would leave the basket wide open. Monta requires the ball just like ron and tmac. Both tmac and ron are problematic. Rafer is as well. Rafer is not fixable, he needs to go. Tmac may no longer be prolific, but i think his skills are still valuable to the team. Ron is not going to change his game AND may leave after the season. So Rafer and Ron should be trade pieces. Luther as well for obvious reasons. What do we need in return? A point guard (not a scoring point) and a swing man or back up center. I don't think there's a need for a PF unless he's effective as a center as well.
Keep the big 3......... We will NEED Ron before it is said and done........ We will need Tracy before it is said and done... When playoff intensity arrives, we are going to smile when Ron and Tracy show up... Do not panic, Everything is OK...
Will never happen? See link below: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=TradeWatchPG-090127
The question with getting rid of Rafer has always been, who is more effective that is available? I mean Rafer is already a non-scoring point who generally provides solid defense and low turn over numbers. We are unlikely to get an all star PG, and I would rate Rafer about average compared to most other non-all star PG's in the league. Sure some shoot better, but perhaps they turn the ball over more, or dominate the ball more, or play worse defense, or just cost way too much cap space for the minimal improvement they would provide, or just aren't on the trading block. As for Tmac, the problem is that he only seems to be effective when he dominates the ball. I personally don't think this is selfishness, it's just his skill set and style of play is to feel most comfortable with the ball the majority of the time, and he isn't particularly great moving without the ball or doing any sort of motion offense where setting picks or getting others involved by ways other than directly creating an assist is something he is willing to do. In the past he has generally been healthy enough to make his ball domination the best thing for the team, especially considering the quality of some of that supporting cast in previous seasons. But this year the supporting cast is more than sufficient and his personal performance is down enough where the ball dominating really becomes noticeable in a negative way. After all it's hard to criticise someone dominating the ball when they are scoring close to 30 a game with 6-8 assists and a reasonable shooting %. Take those things away and it sticks out big time. I would love to have a healthy and motivated Tmac on this team. That just doesn't seem to be realistic on a consistent basis any more. If he was just a role player that would be fine, but as a franchise player he just hasn't been able to play at that level consistently enough for us to continue to have so much salary cap space tied up in him.
Yeah that's what i mentioned earlier, it seems like point guards these days are either untouchable or not worth it.....however, i think we need a consistently good shooting point, even if it means more turnovers and not as good on defense simply because he's going to get a lot of shots. I think turnovers can always be limited, they're usually high because the point has to do too much, in this case he doesn't. The team defense can always make up for less one on oen D from the point position, shooting can't be made up though. I'm pretty sure there's a lot of games lost by 7 pts or less where Rafer shot like 4 for 16. The team has shown it can win with low or high turnovers, low socring or high scoring game, but it can't seem to shake off bad shooting by Rafer most of the time.
...that's why I think a Vince Carter+Sean Williams for Tmac trade makes some sense. Basically Tmac/VC is the similar skill set. McGrady is a better passer but VC seems to not be breaking down as fast as Tmac. Williams is a long 6-10 and is built like a taller Ben Wallace - with that same instinct to rebound and block shots. His only problem is he is young and a little immature - get's himself in foul trouble and generally isn't as attentive in practices as he should be. Around the right vets on a playoff team though, he might be worth a shot as a backup PF/C. I have seen him play a few times and the kid has an amazing knack at blocking shots and the hops to hang with anyone....but he has to just get a little smarter. Anyway, he's worth a shot as a throw in to make contracts match to get rid of Tmac as the Nets appear to be giving up on him. Plus VC can hit a game winner...I can't remember the last time I saw Tmac do that which is sad for a guy making $20mil....
