[The Ledger] McGrady Trade Is Lose-Lose

Only a dolt would argue that he's not closer to his goal. Arguably, all he needed this season was a healthy team to make a decent run.

 

This article infuriates me.

 

even if the whole team is injured, they still must be held accontable for their failures. It's tough, but its life.

 

Hmmm.....

Do you trade away three talented but limited players (Francis, Mobley, Cato) who had already maximized their potential in exchange for hands down, one of the best players in the league still in his mid-20's with his best playing days still in front of him???

Sounds like a draw to me too!

 

Going for Broke
by theSAGE

It is in this sports analyst's opinion that the trade for T-Mac was an unambiguously good one and not a loss for the Rockets per the above mentioned author. What haunts the folks in upper level management for the Rockets though is their player personnel strategy post the T-Mac trade in filling in the roster with role models.

The reality of the matter is JVG blew up the entire roster sans Yao after JVG's arrival in Houston. So not only was the opportunity for changes there but that changes clearly HAVE been made. However the quality of those changes is a different story. In the humble opinion of this analyst, JVG and CD made a serious error in overlooking the "durability" factor of our team In talking championship '06, I think the thinking was "go for broke." I mean, even our older veterans stuck around one extra year thinking it was the "go for broke" year. But to what avail?

T-Mac, at 26 is an OLD man. One can read it in his comments after losses and the soreness of fighting an aging body. With 8+ years in the league, that's a grueling toll on any body let alone a superstar who was asked to do more for this team in Orlando. Steve Francis on the other hand is arguably a young man - in both mind and body. A bout with an ear disorder correctable though diet, yet never having suffered anything chronic per se, Francis was also arguably the healthier of the two in the blockbuster deal. So how much is health worth? Or when measured against talent?

Hedging their Bets
The real answer is none of the above but merely the foresight by management to have hedged their bets by surrounding Yao and T-Mac with younger more athletic players from the get-go. Although the professionalism of veterans is always a plus for JVG, sometimes even here, one needs to compromise, if youth and health are a much needed commodity. And the irony is that youth and health are actually in ample supply in the league. Plenty of unsigned former players, plenty of second-rounders sitting on the bench, and plenty of foreign players still looking for a job.

Thus, the loss suffered by the Rockets isn't for McGrady per se, but in management falling for the same error as Orlando -- getting seduced into thinking McGrady is superman in health and strength And sure it's easy to get seduced given how talented and how superb an athlete McGrady is. But, in the very end, the people to have suffered the greatest loss are the Rocket fans who came into this year with high expectations.

 

1) Maybe too early to say Francis maxed his potential...

2) You are making big assumption that T-mac stays healthy.

3) Basketball is a team concept, finding the right mixes is probably
the toughest thing, a good example is today's Pistons, they do not have a single superstar.

Only time will tell, for now, I agreed that the trade is not a good one for us.

 

The only thing that really ever bothered me was when people would say this is one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history. I thought comments like that were absolutely foolish. and that has nothing to do with the health situation.


the rockets have been involved in two of the most lopsided trades, giving away malone and hayes. both those guys immediately went on to win championships.

 

So you are saying Francis is about to win it all?

 

my point is this, even though at his best tracy is a top five talent, and at francis's best he's only top 15, mcgrady is only going to upgrade your team so much. because they're really only a couple of players in this league who guarantee a shot at a championship. and to add to that, he's still a peremiter player for all his talent and very few guards in the history of the NBA are players who have absolutely carried their teams or dominate for a whole season.

 

1) Francis turns 29 next month. He's one of my favorite players and one hell of a player in his own right, but he's reached his ceiling. I have league pass and I watch nearly every Orlando game, he's still the same streaky, turnover prone, reckless player he was as a Rocket. He's still a star player but he isn't capable of carrying a team the way T-Mac can.

2) If I was CD and Nostrodamus himself told me before I made the trade T-Mac would miss 30 games a season I would STILL make the deal. When you have a chance to acquire a talent like McGrady you don't hesitate otherwise he ends up getting dealt to a team that was in the running, such as Phoenix, then coming back to kill us.

3) I know all about team basketball and don't need a lecture on team chemistry. Do you really think if this current squad hadn't been dismantled by injuries the way it has our players wouldn't have developed rock-solid chemistry by now? Injuries are a chemistry killer, this season exemplifies that.

I'm a huge Francis fan and I will glady admit that I would re-trade him 100x over again if it meant I would acquire a player like T-Mac. The deal was still a no-brainer and will go down as CD's best acquisition as GM.

 

I personally don't buy the author's logic. The SF-CM Rox were never basically in the Lakers' playoff series. The TMac Rox took Dallas to 7 games without one of the key components of the trade (Howard). Hardly apples to apples IMHO.

From what I've observed about human nature, many of the posters holding the 2005-06 Rockets "accountable" in spite of the huge injury toll won't be able to get on the band wagon fast enough if there is a major trade deadline deal and/or a solid 2006 draft pickup.

 

Sure they were. That series could've easily gone the other way with the game 1 escape by the Lakers and the game 4 OT game where the refs absolutely killed us by fouling out Yao on some very questionable calls.

 

Good points! T-Mac is an old man and his body is starting to show it. He's been in the NBA a long time never mind his age. You can buy a 2005 car with heavy miles on it and it will wear out accordingly. The Rockets have a 2 to 3 year window to win it all with our current stars. Yao has heavy mileage on him also with his national team commitments you can expect his career to be shorter than most big men. This team might get lucky in the draft like the Spurs did. Right now, the draft may be the only thing that can save this team because the Rockets don't have a lot of tradable players besides their two stars.

 

RM95
You are...

1) Totally discounting Howard in an apples to apples comparison

and

2) Scratching to say SF/CM were in the series when the same set of conditions (officiating and a game that could have gone either way) would have put the TMac Rox into the 2nd Round.

The author is not making an accurate comparison and IMHO, you are falling for his false logic.

 

You can tell that whoever wrote this (I really didn't care to look at his name, or read the article all that thouroughly) has been saving it for the right moment. It's just funny it comes the morning after Tracy was carried off on a stretcher.

He had back spasms for God's sake. I'm willing to bet that he'll be back within 2 weeks, if even that. Even when he's playing hurt and missing some games, we're better off than what we had before the trade.

I just don't want to see all these ****ers jump back on the bandwagon when we get everyone healthy and sneak into the playoffs.

 

I guess I should have prefaced my comments with the fact that I don't buy this guy's premise. I think the trade was more win-win than anything, but definitely not a loss for us.

I think we could've easily won both the 2004 series v. the Lakers and the 2005 series v. the Mavs had a couple of breaks gone our way.

 

Cool. I had forgotten how close some of the Laker games were and with a bounce here or a bounce there...could've been real interesting. We agree 100%. But the "win-win" armor has a crack in it with the Magic trade of Mobley. But that's another story for another time.

 

to me, looks like Kobe got much stronger and faster after his heavy mileages.

 

Until last year Kobe was never asked to carry a team on his own. He had Shaq and before Shaq other players where LAs main focus like Nick Van Exel. Yes he has major mileage but T-Mac has spent most of his years in the NBA with a less talented supporting cast than Kobe.