You can spin it anyway you want, but the bottom line is that Orlando increased their record by 18%. Also, Tracy was the only one in the organization against the drafting of Howard. Tracy was trying to get the organization to trade the pick for two veteran players.
gotta admit it, Weisbrod had some balls to make that kinda move. No one knows the real tmac except those that play and work with him. Same can be said about the rest of the team, but Tmac has a lot of fingers pointing his way.
The Pacer offered the better deal, but the gm didn't want Tracy in the east. Tracy kinda forced his hand because he was only going to and not eto if he had a good big man. Weisbord was fired, Otis Smith came in and the transformation started by drafting Nelson,signing hedo for mle, and suckering ny to take francis contract for penny. Otis Smith is a basketball guy that made basketball moves.
Wrong. Weisbord traded a future first-round pick to the Denver Nuggets for the draft rights to guard Jameer Nelson, and drafted him. Weisbord also signed Hedo.
Hedo and Jameer were very average when they first came to Orlando. Weisbrod doesn't deserve credit for their current play. Stan Van Gundy and the recent staff are the ones truly responsible for Orlando's turnaround. After all, Orlando's roster is mostly the same this year as it was last year. That means they've coached and developed well, not traded. Whatever your feelings on TMac this season (which is FOUR YEARS after the trade), it's ludicrous to think we didn't rip off Weisbrod. The guy was a dope. True, Weisbrod did take Howard, but honestly that was NOT a hard decision. That's like saying the Rockets were geniuses for taking Yao.
They lost the finals because they were too soft and bynum was hurt. That pick could have been used to pick up a defensive stopper and who knows, maybe they would have won it.
How is it ludicrous? Did we get better? No, we did not advance. It was a lateral move. Please prove how we got better.
The real question to ask is, would we have been better off if we hadn't made the trade? Compare the past four years of T-Mac's production to Francis/Mobley/Cato's production over the same period. Would we have made the playoffs in 06-07, and 07-08 in the ultra competitive West with Francis/Mobley/Cato? Would we have been able to muster 22 wins in a row, a historic streak which still left us only 5 games ahead of the eighth seed and out of the playoffs last year? Nobody really can say for sure, but Francis declined drastically after the trade. Cuttino stayed solid, but he was no T-Mac. And Cato? Somebody tell Kelvin Cato, WE WANT OUR MONEY BACK!
I don't think so. I believe Otis Smith is responsible for Lewis, Nelson, or Turkoglu. Weisbrod is still an idiot.
you can't account for yao's season ending injury. and you can't account for reg. season injuries that prevent us from having better records. we have gotten better. we've always been considered contenders if we're "healthy." we weren't considered anything with francis/mobley. it sucks that the injury curse hits us. it is what it is.
