The best GM in the NBA may have just committed his worst career blunder ever. Houston Rockets’ GM Daryl Morey has agreed to trade All-Star Guard Tracy McGrady after both parties failed to reach a compromise on how to work T-Mac back into Houston’s rotation, following his return from micro-fracture surgery. Bad move. Morey has been nothing but brilliant in his tenure. He assembled a quality team without any big-name signing or high draft pick. He found Carl Landry, a 6th Man of the Year candidate, in the 2nd Round. He convinced the Spurs to give him Luis Scola for a pack of gum. But as great as Morey has been, he’s about to face his toughest challenge so far. We’ll just call it Tracy McGrady’s Expiring Contract.
In case you haven’t been following the soap opera, here’s a recap. McGrady and Rockets coach Rick Adelman agreed that they’ll only play him 7 minutes per game in his first few games back from microfracture surgery. After 6 games, Mac told the team he was sick of the “cameos” and asked for more face time. Houston was unwilling to do this, claiming that they didn’t know how to increase T-Mac’s minutes without disrupting the team’s chemistry. When the news reached T-Mac’s ears, he hopped on a plane and left the team out to dry on some “Wah, wah, daddy won’t give me my minutes, so I’m taking my ball and going home” type shit. McGrady demanded a trade from Houston. Morey agreed.
Here are five reasons Houston will have a hard time trying to move T-Mac.
McGrady has only played a combined 46 minutes this season
McGrady has averaged 3.3 points while playing a measly 7 minutes per game this season. He’s 7-19 from the field. But those numbers don’t tell us much about his overall game this season. Playing a limited role exaggerates his flaws and understates his strength as a player. He’s looked his sleepy old self on the defensive end sometimes and occasionally sharp at the other end. He went for an outstanding 10 points, 3 Asts. in 7 minutes. Still, I imagine that any team that decides to take on such a large contract intends to use him for more than 6 minutes a game. Unfortunately, they didn’t see enough to get excited about.
McGrady’s league-high $23 million salary
Speaking of a large contract, this is probably the biggest reason T-Mac will be a tough sell for Houston. With teams struggling to stay financially competitive for the 2010 free agency period, convincing another team to take on T-Mac’s expiring contract is going to be tricky, especially in a downtrodden economy.
McGrady will get the Iverson treatment
The McGrady situation in Houston is eerily similar to the Iverson situation in Memphis. You’re dealing with two ring-less former scoring champs with attitude issues. As we saw in AI’s case, teams avoided the All-Star Guard like a leper. Like Iverson, T-Mac plays best when he’s holding the ball for 40 minutes. McGrady can still be a productive player, especially in the post-season. But like AI, Mac’s best years are behind him. Young teams won’t hault the development of their players for a star that won’t be there the next season. Contenders don’t have the space to accommodate a big contract.
Rockets can’t trade T-Mac without taking on a long-term contracts
Unless Morey knows something we don’t know, Houston can’t trade T-Mac without taking on some crappy contracts and/or players.
Rockets will have to sacrifice some core players
An All-Star form McGrady (and I don’t mean the phony fan vote bullshit) would’ve been a great bargaining chip for Houston. But with T-Mac’s form still questionable, Houston’s potential trading partner will demand that they spice up the package with other goods. Any deal involving a marquee player will require the Rockets to give up one of their core young talents (Landry, Brooks, Budinger). This is something Houston isn’t likely to do.
Finally, both sides mishandled this whole situation poorly. McGrady would agree to one thing behind closed doors and then go whine something else to the media. On the flipside, Houston never had him in their long-term plans and should’ve played him all the way or not at all. When healthy, McGrady is one of the best in the NBA. He can provide that closer that Houston so desperately needs. He’s a terrific passer who can draw double teams and create scoring opportunities for himself and his teammates. Best of all, he’s in a contract year, so he’ll play his tailbone off in order to secure a better contract next year. The ideal situation would’ve been to play T-Mac and allow his contract to come of the books next year. That gives you about $15-$20 Million towards signing a long-term quality player and re-signing some of your key players.
I’m all for ending the McGrady era in Houston (the two parties were at an impasse, anyway), but I don’t like the way Houston handled this situation. They seem more determined to get back at Mac for jerking the team over the last 2 years than making a sound decision that will benefit them in the long run. I’ll go out on a limb and say that Morey probably knows what he’s doing. The guy has probably forgotten more about sports than I’ll ever know. If Houston pulls this one out and wind up with a star player without giving up Landry, Scola, or Brooks, I’ll be first in line to demand a lifetime contract extension for Daryl Morey.
