Sorry for being so late with a reply; I've been out of town for a couple of days. First of all, letting T-Mac walk was not an option for the Magic, because many of the fans there are still hurting from Shaq's defection to the Lakers. There was absolutely no way that the good people of Orlando would have tolerated a repeat. Second, some combination of Cassell, Sprewell, Szczerbiak, Hoiberg, Hudson, Hassell, and draft picks would not have been garbage, and would certainly have been a whole lot better than nothing. The package probably would not have been as good as the Rockets' offer, but that was almost irrelevant: Orlando's management was not in control of the deal, T-Mac was. If T-Mac had expressed a preference for Minnesota, and you were watching the negotiations in person, you would have gotten whiplash from the speed of the Rockets' withdrawal. So T-Mac could have been a Wolf if he had wanted to be. But as far as I can remember, he did not even mention Minnesota as one of his preferred destinations. So my question remains: why did he want to come here to play with Yao, instead of going to Minnesota to play with KG?
KG sure now is a better player and maybe YAO will never be as good as him. But KG is not TD like player. He is a jump shooter, just like TMAC, I wonder if you pair them up, who will be the leader in the ROX team. and still no real inside present.
As Charles Barkley said: "Give me some of that stuff you're smoking, cause that'll get me good on one Saturday night". KG is a finesse player, that does not mean he's not an inside player especially defensively. He's not any more of a jumpshooter than Duncan is a jumpshooter. I personally believe that KG is a superior athlete compared to Duncan and he has more game. What does "TD like player" mean? Does it mean choking in the playoffs and getting the credit for your team's success? KG, Kobe, T-Mac, Lebron, Shaq would all win the championship if they had Duncan's supporting cast. Oh and having two leaders on your team would be bad huh?
All of those guys have better supporting casts than Duncan. Duncan: Parker, Ginobili KG: Spreewell, Cassell, Szczerbiak Kobe: Odom, Butler, Mihm LeBron: Ilgauskas, Gooden, McInnis Shaq: Wade (got MVP consideration), Joneses, Haslem I think what you must have meant was that if you put Duncan with any of those supporting casts, then he still wions the championship.
...Duncan, Parker, and Ginobli are on another level where to me i think only Shaq and Wade can compare to. Kobe's, KG's, and Lebron's supporting casts arent even close to as good as Duncan's.
Don't mind him.. He's just drunk that's all. But to add on, he completely forgot Nazr Mohammad who btw is better than Udonis Haslem. So, really, the only two who you could compare with on StupidMonkier's list of "better role players than the spurs", don't even have a third option that's on par let alone better to the Spurs' fourth option.
KG is light years ahead of Duncan. If they play one-on-one up to 21 with UNBIASED officiating, KG wins 21 - 15. Its just my opinion, but KG would be considered a legend if he wasnt in such a bad situation. I know this is almost sacreligious, but if KG went to college for a year or two and played Center then he is the next Hakeem. He has all the qualities that made The Dream special: Quickness, Agility, Hops, D-Fence (not as good a shot blocker, but a very good position position defender a la 'Sheed), Determination, Trust in teamates, etc.... It just kinda sucks that Marbury and Googs wanted out, Malik Sealy died, Terell Brandon got hurt, Joe Smith's agent was a prick, Cassell/Spree aged 10 years in one season, and the list goes on. He's got no shot at winning a title unless he forces a trade (which he wouldnt, cuz he is VERY loyal) so he wont get any love over the next 20 years when its all said and done and people look back on this era of B-Ball
As an owner though, you probably keep Yao. The exposure ($$$) that Yao brings is HUGE (and he is a pretty dang good player). I dont agree that KG and T-Mac have similar games though. KG has been going to the post a lot more in recent years and his turnaround J is pretty good. I think a better question would be which nucleus is easier to build around T-Mac/KG or T-Mac/Yao. Its definately a tough call, but I'd go with T-Mac/KG. All you need is a defensive Center (Cato, N. Mohammad, etc.) and surround yourself with three point shooters. Whereas with T-Mac/Yao I think you need another playmaker b/c JVG doesnt want Yao in the high post. Assuming the T-Mac/KG squad can only afford the MLE, LLE + the vets minimum to fill out the starters and the T-Mac/Yao squad has 2 MLE spots + the LLE, here's what the lineups could be (The bench would just be our current group for the sake of simplicity): Damon Jones/M. James <----------------------> Sura/M. James Raja Bell/Barry <------------------------------> Mobley/Barry T-Mac/Raja Bell/Bowen <----------------------> T-Mac/Bowen KG/Padgett/SPoon <--------------------------> J. Ho/Padgett/Spoon Cato/Deke <----------------------------------> Yao/Deke I'd say the T-Mac/KG squad wins a 7 game series in six....
The GM that woudnt accept a Trade 4 Kg 4 Yao, would be fired, then the fans would round the Gm up, and sort him out. KG is so far ahead of Yao, it isnt funny.
Not sure about that - is he ever going to not have a high center of gravity, slow lateral movement & reaction time via experience? I doubt it. But anyway, I would hesitate before making the trade, I don't know if tmc could play with KG anyway. Oh, and this thread is offensive to those of us posting from China.
