NBA Talk: Without Yao, Should Houston Trade T-Mac To the Knicks?

Posted by Josh Dhani under NBA Talk:

I first found out from Henry Abbott of ESPN.com ”TrueHoop” that the Houston Rockets may consider trading All-Star shooting guard Tracy McGrady to the New York Knicks for Darko Milicic and Eddy Curry. With this trade, Houston will reduce their luxury tax payments, in which they’re desperately in need of reducing, and will save $10M this season.

It’d be the right move for Houston I think. With Yao Ming out for the season, the Rockets have a very strong chance of not making the playoffs this season. I don’t think they can find anyone to help them for rebounding the ball. Luis Scola is their best man and I don’t think he’ll be much of help all by himself.

But with the injuries running around T-Mac for the past few years, it’d be best if Houston could trade him. Also, they’ll add more help for the big men on the court if they acquired Darko and Curry. The help in rebounding would be positive and beneficial. I don’t see why they do not want to do this transaction. It’d be half-witted of them as well.

Here’s how both teams would fair if they actually did this exchange.

Houston Rockets

With acquiring the two big men, the depth chart would change dramatically. With McGrady, the Rockets would of had him at shooting guard with Ariza at small forward and Shane Battier backing him up.

But with T-Mac out, I think Ariza would most probably move to T-Mac’s place at shooting guard while Battier starts at Ariza’s spot for the small forward. It would fit perfectly. Here’s what the depth chart would look like with Curry and Milicic in the picture:

PG: Aaron Brooks/Kyle Lowry
SG: Trevor Ariza/Jermaine Taylor
SF: Shane Battier/Brent Barry
PF: Luis Scola/Darko Milicic/Carl Landry/Chuck Hayes
C: Eddy Curry/David Andersen/Joey Dorsey/Brian Cook/Yao Ming

After seeing some great play of Aaron Brooks during last year’s NBA playoffs, he has earned the starting point guard role. Kyle Lowry also showed signs of improvement as he’ll be backing him up in the rotation.

As I said before, the shooting guard and small forward spots will be changed drastically. With Trevor Ariza starting at shooting guard, it moves Brent Barry to small forward as he’ll be backing up Shane Battier while Jermaine Taylor backs up Ariza.

Darko Milicic will move to power forward, backing up Luis Scola, while Eddy Curry maintains the starting role at center. David Andersen might make some surprises and Carl Landry and Chuck Hayes look to be impressive. Joey Dorsey and Brian Cook may make some moves in the rotation while Yao Ming will be sitting on the bench with his severe injury.

Overall, the Rockets will look better than before with this and might have a much better chance for the playoffs. So that’s how the Rockets will look after this trade, let’s see how the Knicks do.

New York Knicks

Okay, I think we all know we won’t be seeing playoffs for NY, but it won’t be all bad with T-Mac in the picture, right? With the talent they have currently, and with Chris Hunter and Joe Crawford waived, their depth chart will probably look like this:
PG: Nate Robinson/Chris Duhon/Toney Douglas
SG: Tracy McGrady/Larry Hughes/Cuttino Mobley
SF: Wilson Chandler/Marcus Landry
PF: David Lee/Danilo Gallinari
C: Al Harrington/Jared Jeffries/Jordan Hill

I think Krypto-Nate will be playing a much more substantial act at point guard with Chris Duhon and Toney Douglas complimenting him. Tracy McGrady is in the house, leading the Knicks in the shooting guard position and probably points for this season with Larry Hughes and Cuttino Mobley assisting him.

Wilson Chandler will be moved small forward along with Marcus Landry. Landry has been playing very hard in training camp, and I think he’ll be playing exceptionally well this season. David Lee is a no-brainer at power forward and Danilo Gallinari will be a nice alternate.

At center, Al Harrington will be the starter while Jared Jeffries will substitute him. Newcomer Jordan Hill will look to spark in his rookie year with his mentors. I think the Knicks have a stronger chance of making the playoffs.

But like I said earlier, I really don’t think he’ll make it. But Nate Robinson suggests that they will. But even though I say that they won’t make the playoffs, it doesn’t mean they’ll be bad as they’re capable of.

Both of these would make a smart deal if this thing would ever to happen. I think it will though. With the NBA regular season just days away, it’s going to be fun. And with this transaction to occur, it’d be very entertaining.

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Comments

4 Responses to “NBA Talk: Without Yao, Should Houston Trade T-Mac To the Knicks?”

gr33nbag on October 25th, 2009 4:34 am

I wonder if you realized that Mobley retired last year. Some people are just unbelievable… Geez!
shon on October 25th, 2009 6:45 am

I do think the rockets should move t mac, especially with yao out for the season. and i think new york would make a logical destination. however i dont agree with the players that would be coming to Houston. in this scenario the knicks would be getting tracy mcgrady, the leader of the Houston rockets, and former all star for eddy curry and darko milicic? cant see how that helps Houston.

While darko has had a decent preseason at the center and could probably help Houston in the size department. curry hasn’t been able to prove he has the heart or desire to make it in the nba in the past few seasons. regardless of his potential, nobody wants to pay somebody 10 mil to sit at home (for two seasons).

I think that because t mac has been so injury prone since coming to Houston, and due to the fact that mac is going to be an unrestricted free agent after this season, most teams will be reluctant to trade any players of significant value for him. therefore, i think the rockets should really be looking for the best possible way to dump salary. if they were to rush a deal for t mac they could try to trade mcgrady to new york for cuttino mobley (they could save about half of his salary due to his expected retirement as insurance will be picking up roughly half his salary Houston would only be responsible for about 5 mil) and jarred jeffries (Houston should not be overly kind to new york in taking eddy curry off their hands. curry is New York’s problem. not to mention that curry is owed more than 11 mil next season while jeffries is owed about 7)

in this scenario new york gets the opportunity to look at a possible leader. its obvious when watching this team play that they are clearly lacking in this area. the knicks desperately need to make the playoffs this season if they are going to make a strong push for free agents and mcgrady has to prove that he is back if he is going to salvage his nba career. best part is that he comes off the books next season if things dont work out. he could stick around and help the team after this season as well and he could probably help to lure a free agent here in 2010 (amare stoudamire or chris bosh) (lebron and wade will be staying put)

Houston gets the chance to save big money (they would only be responsible for about 12 mil this season and 7 next season which doesn’t even almost equal t macs 23 million dollar salary, not to mention the luxury tax savings)

its important to note that houston will be under the cap next season and they probably will not want to mess that up unless they were able to get a young player in return. (force jordan hill as a throw in possibly? altho i dont think rookies can be traded just yet) remember they dont have to trade mcgrady, they could just simply allow him to play there this season and have him walk away if he so chose.
Kevin from NY on October 25th, 2009 9:37 am

You do know that Cutino Mobley is no longer playing basketball…so I doubt he will be assisting the Knicks in any way.
Jim on October 25th, 2009 1:40 pm

Is this rumor or was it really discussed by the teams? I would do this in a New York minute.