You guys do realize that out of all the players involved in this trade, Cato is the worst player out of all of them right? He's worse than Howard obviously, worse than Lue AND he's more expensive than Lue. Gaines' true potential has yet to be seen but I would like my chances with him rather than Cato the trashman. As far as I'm concerned, Orlando shipped out one of the best players in the NBA in Tmac, J.Howard - solid PF, Lue - solid PG, and a potential player in Gaines. Rockets shipped out one my fav players in Francis - which I'm sad about because this guy's been a Rockets all his career and I actually would like for him to stay a Rockets but I guess it won't be happening now, Mobley who's a streaky streaky SG, and an absolute waste of NBA space in Kelvin Cato. If I were Houston, I'd like this trade. If I were Orlando, boy did I get jacked. Juwan Howard's contract is not by any means horrible. He does have a long term deal but year for year, Cato has an even worse contract. Cato's contract expires in 2 years and is worth 16.5 million. That is just horrible. Juwan Howard (forget about all that bs about how he'll never live up to his fullest potentials. So what. Look at Sheed. He has not nearly filled his fullest potential and yet he comes out with a ring. Also Juwan's current contract isn't even that bad), whose production pretty much almost doubles Cato, is scheduled to make 17 million over the next 3 years (Cato's contract expires in 5 years for 31 mil). Plus we got Lue and Gaines for next to nothing (~1 mil/yr contracts). So please, explain to me why this is a bad trade for Houston and a steal for the Magic? What if Orlando makes it to the playoffs next year with this lineup? Not impressed. What if they make it through first round? Tmac + a little more help could've done it himself but fine, if this is such a steal trade for the Magic, they should at least win 2 games in the semifinals in the Weak East.
Yeah, but Francis and Nelson is a really small back court, don't cha think? Also I really like how you guys thought about the lineup if they had Emeka, it would look alot brighter for them. Definite playoff team w/ Okafor.
Don't get me wrong Magics fans, I think you guys are improving your team out of this trade. Tmac just can't do it himself and he needs help. We can't get it done with Francis playing the point out here in the West but all the luck for Francis in the East. This is why I think the trade benefits both teams but I still think that Houston is getting the better end of the deal. No matter though, both teams are improved in my opinion. Orlando I think will go further in the playoffs than they have in recent years (maybe not this coming year, but definitely the year after) and Houston will hopefully go further than round 1.
Maybe we'll get to play T-Mac and the Rockets in the Finals sometime down the road when both teams develope. Wouldn't that be fun? :mrgreen:
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SupraJames:</div><div class="quote_post">You guys do realize that out of all the players involved in this trade, Cato is the worst player out of all of them right? He's worse than Howard obviously, worse than Lue AND he's more expensive than Lue. Gaines' true potential has yet to be seen but I would like my chances with him rather than Cato the trashman. As far as I'm concerned, Orlando shipped out one of the best players in the NBA in Tmac, J.Howard - solid PF, Lue - solid PG, and a potential player in Gaines. Rockets shipped out one my fav players in Francis - which I'm sad about because this guy's been a Rockets all his career and I actually would like for him to stay a Rockets but I guess it won't be happening now, Mobley who's a streaky streaky SG, and an absolute waste of NBA space in Kelvin Cato. If I were Houston, I'd like this trade. If I were Orlando, boy did I get jacked. Juwan Howard's contract is not by any means horrible. He does have a long term deal but year for year, Cato has an even worse contract. Cato's contract expires in 2 years and is worth 16.5 million. That is just horrible. Juwan Howard (forget about all that bs about how he'll never live up to his fullest potentials. So what. Look at Sheed. He has not nearly filled his fullest potential and yet he comes out with a ring. Also Juwan's current contract isn't even that bad), whose production pretty much almost doubles Cato, is scheduled to make 17 million over the next 3 years (Cato's contract expires in 5 years for 31 mil). Plus we got Lue and Gaines for next to nothing (~1 mil/yr contracts). So please, explain to me why this is a bad trade for Houston and a steal for the Magic? What if Orlando makes it to the playoffs next year with this lineup? Not impressed. What if they make it through first round? Tmac + a little more help could've done it himself but fine, if this is such a steal trade for the Magic, they should at least win 2 games in the semifinals in the Weak East.</div> catos salary sucks. but if you look at most centers in the league, all their contracts suck. cato is a legit big man in the paint on defense. juwon howard is a classic underachiever, cant rebound, cant defend, and the worst thing about him is his contract. all 5 years of it. atleast you can deal cato after this season to a contender that needs the bulk or to a team looking to get under the cap. forget it about howard. i seriously hope houston sends jhoward to the bulls or minny.
I was thinking this thread just started today and already has 5 pages. I was like wow but anyways good trade for both teams. Not quite sure how Houston fans feel about this since I'm to lazy to read all the post. But the Rockets most definately should be one the elite teams with McGrady and Yao. Orlando may be on the rise as well, but definately not like Houston is.
Let me put it this way: Since Cato can't play offense and J.Howard can't play defense, at least Juwan Howard's offensive prowess is better than Cato's defensive prowess. I'm not saying Juwan's one of the better PFs in the league, I agree he can't D up that well but the man still gets 17 and 7 every night. All these other players don't really matter when compared to the issue of how well Tmac can play alongside Yao. That's all what it comes down to really. Let's just hope Tmac actually wants to win and share the rock.
So it's pretty much done. Well, good deal for both sides I suppose. Magic get a couple of great players for their superstar and some of his supporting cast. It should work out fairly well for each sides of the draft. Only person is doesn't work out well for is Jameer Nelson. He is now likely to be the back up unless Francis or Mobley gets traded at some point during the offseason.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Moo2K4:</div><div class="quote_post">So it's pretty much done. Well, good deal for both sides I suppose. Magic get a couple of great players for their superstar and some of his supporting cast. It should work out fairly well for each sides of the draft. Only person is doesn't work out well for is Jameer Nelson. He is now likely to be the back up unless Francis or Mobley gets traded at some point during the offseason.</div> Francis will stay for sure. mobley might get dealt still.
Francis, Mobley and Cato were the leading defensive force of the Rockets last season. Wondering how much D can JVD dig out from the new squad.
He won't be digging much defense out of T-mac. I think that that the Magic should consider making Mobley a 6th man and have him come into the game early like Ginobili does in San Antonio. That would let Francis play the spot he wants at the 2 guard and let Jameer start so he can show his potential to the coach. SupraJames, that's the thing that worries me, I'm not sure McGrady is willing to share the rock with Yao. The whole point of this deal was to get Mobley/Francis out because they weren't giving the ball to Yao and he wasn't developing as they would like. With McGrady there, I don't see Yao getting the ball much more than he was with Francis and Mobley. McGrady takes like 30 shots a game! I hope he proves me wrong and actually starts sharing the love around to Yao and the rest of the team in Houston. I also want to see him play more hardnose defense. The Rockets should make the playoffs, and so should the Magic.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting brief:</div><div class="quote_post">Francis, Mobley and Cato were the leading defensive force of the Rockets last season. Wondering how much D can JVD dig out from the new squad.</div> i agree, the rockets do lose alot of man on defense from this group. i think the important thing to note about rockets defense the last couple years though....is yaos presence. the 3 previous years to yao being a rocket, the rockets werent a very good defensive team. then yao comes in as a rookie, and the rockets move from middle of the pack to #7 in the league in opp. field goal %. and then jvg first year as a rockets coach arrived, and they move up to #2. tmac has excellent defensive capabilities. i hope van gundy can get him to play some of the defense that he did in toronto.
^ Let's get this straight, Tmac was <u>never</u> a great defender or even a good one at that. He may have averaged 1.5 steals and (around)1 block but he would also allow the opposition to score 30% more points than their average. TMac could be a good defender, but he has never been one yet. I too believe the Rockets have lost some depth in their roster, but now their offense has been boosted. Yao <u>will</u> get better and I heard he is trying to build an extra 10 pounds of muscle this summer making him a force soon to be rockened with.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Mr.Fundamentals:</div><div class="quote_post">^ Let's get this straight, Tmac was <u>never</u> a great defender or even a good one at that. He may have averaged 1.5 steals and (around)1 block but he would also allow the opposition to score 30% more points than their average. TMac could be a good defender, but he has never been one yet. I too believe the Rockets have lost some depth in their roster, but now their offense has been boosted. Yao <u>will</u> get better and I heard he is trying to build an extra 10 pounds of muscle this summer making him a force soon to be rockened with.</div> he has great defensive capabilities. he can really move his feet. get up and challenge shots and has good hands. his instincts cant be questioned....his effort has been. he must atleast get back to what he was in toronto....because it was nothing as bad as this... http://82games.com/03ORL5D.HTM
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting lost_elephant:</div><div class="quote_post">he has great defensive capabilities. he can really move his feet. get up and challenge shots and has good hands. his instincts cant be questioned....his effort has been. he must atleast get back to what he was in toronto....because it was nothing as bad as this... http://82games.com/03ORL5D.HTM</div> Ture. Attitude is everything. Zeke and Joe Dumars were not strongly built but they played perfect D.
