Leave the Rockets alone. They have all the players they need. Now, if the Magic are stupid enough to take K.T. and Collier for Mike Miller, we could be happy with that. Otherwise, leave the Rockets alone! We need Cato. We need Rice. We need...patience.
Without this trade, we make 7th seed. With YOUR trade, we make 8th seed. With MY trade we make 6th seed. Yao Ming will not and can not survive without Kelvin Cato. He will breakdown. He cannot handle the minutes yet. We need someone who can play full time at C, JUST IN CASE. We'll survive. Mobley is a good 3-pt shooter, and so is Rice. But Collier is not someone who can play 20 minutes. Maryland, don't you gree that Ming will breakdown without someone decent behind him? Don't you agree that we'd rather have Rice at SF instead of Collier at C?
Cato is a beast, without him yesterday.. we could have lost. Cato set the tone and lead by example. Offense + DEFENSE = THANKS FOR THE WIN CATO!!
I agree that I dont want to see Collier at center but thats why we get Declerq -- a decent backup. I think Glenn Rice will break down before Yao will. In regards to Mobley's shooting - under the heavy zone defence's he now faces this year he's shooting 28.2% from 3 pt range. Not good enough. I believe Cat will improve but he's a streaky shooter like Maxwell. We need a pure shooter next to cat and steve that wont break down. Another trade w/ orlando that works under the cap is .... Houston trades: PG Moochie Norris (3.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.1 apg in 18.7 minutes) PF Kenny Thomas (8.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.8 apg in 28.4 minutes) PF Jason Collier (3.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 0.0 apg in 10.7 minutes) C Kelvin Cato (5.3 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 0.6 apg in 22.9 minutes) Houston receives: PG Darrell Armstrong (9.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 4.3 apg in 31.6 minutes) C Andrew DeClercq (1.2 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 0.4 apg in 12.4 minutes) SG Mike Miller (14.0 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 3.1 apg in 32.4 minutes) PF Pat Garrity (10.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.6 apg in 31.9 minutes) Again I like your deal but think about it from Orlandos point of view. They will insist upon Cato -- Miller was Rookie of the year and is only 22 years old. Why would they want our broken down parts instead of Cato?
Im a HUGE fan of Mike Miller's game and would love to have him on this team. Rudy T and co. were very interested in him when he was being drafted but just were not able to move up enough. The biggest asset to this team moreso than Miller's shooting, open court playing, passing, rebounding etc. is his ball handling. Mike Miller is a very good ball handler for someone that is 6-8 and is able to slide over to the 2 guard position at times. This is the type of high IQ player this team needs to get it flowing. It is going to be extremely tough to convince the Magic to move Miller in any case. Therefore, a deal w/o Cato or Griffin is not going to work. Orlando has one of the most intelligent front office teams in the league and is not going to trade an asset like Miller for KT and a bunch of fillers disguised as depth. I am not against trading Eddie Griffn in some form of a transaction (direct or 3 way) to get a player Miller if its workable. However, I dont think the Magic would want Griffin b/c they need a veteran interior presence to upgrade their team. Either Griffin fetches the player they want in a 3 way or they would want the Cato/Thomas package imo. Folks have to realize, you've gotta give something to get something. Sorry Sane, but KT and a bunch of fillers is not going to land Mike Miller, its fruitless arguing that point. If I were the Magic, I would strongly consider the initial deal suggested by Maryland Terps. If you put Cato and KT up front in the Eastern Conference with a wing tandem of Hill and McGrady, that team would be much improved and be able to compete with the elite of the conference. Right now, as great as Tracy is, their interior defense just sucks way too bad to make it anywhere significant. The trades that are worth discussing are ones like this one that have benefit to both teams. A lot of the trades proposed on this board involve giving a bunch of trash for some stud which any sane GM would not do. Trading in the NBA is about making tough decisions; no one is going to give up a good player for trash.
The Magic won't trade M.Miller unless Hill is 100% healthy. I don't think Hill would be anywhere close to that this season, so I don't think it's going to happen.
If the trade went through, the Rockets would come out on the short end. I don't know how many of you been watching the Magic other than the highlights, but Mike has the tendecy to disappear for a few games at a time. Some thing we don't need. If Mike can be consistent, then it would be another story.
I'm talking about this year. Of course Steve would not settle for less than Cato on his long term deal. Cato will still make more than Mobley until 2006' -- CRAZY!
Why not give Cato a chance? He is improving due to the competition from Yao Ming! If it wasn't Cato who contributed the 22pts, 9-11 shooting and 6 blocks, then the Rockets might not win in Oakland... ps I am not sure if Cato has learned some shooting skills from Yao...
AMEN. That's why the original post works best. It's a win-win! We may see Orlando in the finals when it goes through.
This trade will still not help the problem of getting enough minutes for the players. If any trade is going to be made it will be like 3 Rockets players for 1 other player.
One other possibility which could enable the Rockets to keep Cato would be to ship Mobley somewhere in a 3 way where the Magic can get the interior presence they need. No idea what Mobley could fetch in those terms for the Magic but that would enable the Rockets to keep Cato. Mike Miller would be a much better fit on this team than Mobes imo.
I don't think we should trade anyone. IMO we need to give them time to play together and pick up on each other's game better. I think we keep Cato. We keep Mobley. We keep KT. As sad as it is... we keep Moochie. It's early. We don't need to trade anyone unless we go on a incredible losing streak. We are getting better. The longer they play... everyone on the court becomes better because of experience playing together. Rice has got a sweet shot. He's been doing it for years. Provides good veteran leadership. Eddie Griffin... you have to remember... he's barely 20! Give him time. All we need people... IMO... is experience. PATIENCE
As much as I agree, trading Mobley would upset the chemistry too much -- namely Steve. He would take great exception to management dealing away his best friend. He lobbied hard to keep Cat in Houston at a salary below his worth at the time. It's Cato or No-go.
how can you say trading cato and gaining mike miller helps us? or even orlando for that matter? sure miller can shoot 3's...but so can rice, francis, cat, and griffin. we don't need another 3 point shooter. miller can't play defense and he is just too valued by the magic since grant hill's health is highly questionable. if you want a pure shooter from the magic then why don't you go for garrity? he shoots better from 3point land and also wouldnt be as tough to acquire. also...how do the magic benefit from getting cato's huge contract when they have already made it known that they are going to pursue much better players with that money that would become cato's contract in your trade. also...we are in the western conference if you forgot. you need BIG men to win, not small forwards. this seems like a different more motivated cato this year. he can rip down boards, block shots, and enforce the middle. without cato we have NO ONE who is an enforcer and we become a much softer team with mike miller. in summary, this is a bad trade for both teams involved.
Ok, I'll be blunt about it. You people are MORONS. Mike Miller is much better than every single player mentioned that the Rockets would be trading to Orlando. Also remember, Miller came out as a sophomore, he is only 22.
