<font color="black">I have established this thread to understand thus far what has been everyone?s feelings concerning the player movements that occurred during the 2003-2004 off-season. </font><font color="black">I would like to know what movements have been absolute pluses and absolute negatives in your opinion for these respected teams. </font> <font color="black">I only ask that you comment on the movements that interest you. You do not have to comment neccersarily on every single player movement.</font> <font color="black"><font face="Verdana">1. </font></font><font color="black"><font face="Verdana">Orlando</font></font><font color="black"><font face="Verdana"> trades Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue and Reece Gaines to </font></font><font color="black"><font face="Verdana">Houston</font></font><font color="black"><font face="Verdana"> for Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato</font></font> <font color="black">2. </font><font color="black">Washington</font><font color="black"> trades Jerry Stackhouse, Christian Laettner and the rights to No. 5 pick Devin Harris to </font><font color="black">Dallas</font><font color="black"> for Antawn Jamison.</font> <font color="black">3. </font><font color="black">Phoenix</font><font color="black"> signs Steve Nash and signs Quentin Richardson </font> <font color="black">4. </font><font color="black">Utah</font><font color="black"> re-signs Carlos Arroyo and signs Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur </font> <font color="black">5. </font><font color="black">Toronto</font><font color="black"> signs Rafer Alston</font> <font color="black">6. </font><font color="black">Miami</font><font color="black"> acquires Shaquille O'Neal from Los Angeles Lakers for Lamar </font> <font color="black">Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant, a first-round draft pick and second-round pick</font> <font color="black">7. </font><font color="black">San Antonio</font><font color="black"> signs Brent Barry </font> <font color="black">8.</font><font color="black">Denver</font><font color="black"> acquires <font face="Verdana">Kenyon Martin</font> from </font><font color="black">New Jersey</font><font color="black"> for three future first-round picks</font> <font color="black">9. Golden State re-signs Erick Dampier and trades him, along with Dan Dickau, Evan Eschmeyer and draft rights to Steve Logan, to Dallas for Eduardo Najera, Christian Laettner, draft rights to Luis Flores and Mladen Sekularac and two first-round picks</font> <font color="black">10. </font><font color="black">Portland</font><font color="black"> acquires Nick Van Exel from </font><font color="black">Golden</font><font color="black">State</font><font color="black"> for Dale Davis and Dan Dickau</font> <font color="black">11.</font><font color="black">Cleveland</font><font color="black"> acquires <font face="Verdana">Drew Gooden</font>, <font face="Verdana">Steven Hunter</font> from </font><font color="black">Orlando</font><font color="black"> for <font face="Verdana">Tony Battie</font> and two future second-round picks</font> <font color="black">12. </font><font color="black">Philadelphia</font><font color="black"> acquires Corliss Williamson from </font><font color="black">Detroit</font><font color="black"> for Derrick Coleman and Amal McCaskill</font> <font color="black">13.</font><font color="black">Atlanta</font><font color="black"> acquires <font face="Verdana">Antoine Walker</font> and <font face="Verdana">Tony Delk</font> from </font><font color="black">Dallas</font><font color="black"> for <font face="Verdana">Jason Terry</font>, <font face="Verdana">Alan Henderson</font> and a future first-round pick/ </font><font color="black">Atlanta</font><font color="black"> signs Stephen Jackson and trades him to </font><font color="black">Indiana</font><font color="black"> for Al Harrington</font> <font color="black">14. Jamal Crawford and <font face="Verdana">Jerome Williams </font>tradedto New York for Othella Harrington, Dikembe Mutombo, Cezary Trybanski and Frank Williams./</font> <font color="black">Houston</font><font color="black"> re-signs Mike Wilks and trades him, Eric Piatkowski and Adrian Griffin to </font><font color="black">Chicago</font><font color="black"> for Dikembe Mutombo</font> <font color="black">15. </font><font color="black">Boston</font><font color="black"> re-signs Chris Mihm and trades him and <font face="Verdana">Jumaine Jones</font> instead of <font face="Verdana">Marcus Banks</font> to theLakers for Gary Payton, Rick Fox </font>
For the Houston-Orlando trade, I still think that it benefits both teams. Obviously, Orlando has improved much more, but I'm hopeful that Houston will become an elite team in the coming years if they can keep McGrady and Yao together and build the right team around them. The Rockets are basically rebuilding right now. Unfortunately, they are saddled with some terrible contracts, so it will be tough for them to retool the roster in the off-season through free agent signings. But McGrady and Yao are fairly young, and who knows where this team could be 3 or 4 years down the road. Rockets fans just have to be patient.
i agree with your answer totaly concerning the rockets. patience is a virtue. But do you think that now that we actually see the problems yao has; that steve francis and mobley were a better fit. i personally would rather have two scorers than one with mob and francis than to have one mcgrady that could get injured and then the rocks are left open.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post"> The only area where Yao's problems seem more obvious is his turnovers, and the reason is because this year Yao is trying to score much in the paint while defenders are surrounding him. Last year, he took more jumpers from around 10 feet and turnaround fadeaways. This year, the majority of his shots seem to be short hook shots around the basket and layups/dunks. But because he still lacks strength and reacts slowly to defenses, he's vulnerable to getting the ball stripped when he holds the ball close to the basket. I think Yao's offensive talents, at this stage in his career, are further away from the basket. He hasn't shot the ball well from outside, so maybe he (and the coach) are hesitant to get him to shoot more from outside, but I think that's where he could really excel. But overall, Yao hasn't regressed so much as the expectations for him are much higher than year than previous years. We saw a significant improvement in his game from 1st to 2nd year, and so its dissapointment that this year isn't much better than last year. I had predicted 20 and 10, and he's closer to 18.5 and 8.5, but then I also thought he'd be playing 35 minutes a game instead of 31 (his numbers would be 21 and 9.6 if you adjust for that difference, which is respectable). Also remember that Yao's numbers have improved in the second half of his first two years, so I think Yao will start playing better in the coming months.</div> I agree that yaos game seems to be more perimeter oriented than i think a 7 foothers game should be but look at Nowitzki. And i also believe when yao first came in the league it was reported that yao was a three poiont threat. so i agree with you totally. But i believe the reason yao is playing such short minutes is because he seem's to be struggling this year to produce. And also yao's bench play is giving valuable minutes to mutombo who in my opinion has helped the rockets out tremendously this year. I just believe that the rockets should look for another coach other than van gundy. Because i just dont believe he is the right fit for the job. i believe they need a coach that will work with his teams strentgh instead of trying to mold the guys into his players as gundy failed to do with francis and mobley. But i'll give the rockets time.
