One now has to wonder if Tracy McGrady is really hurt. It was reported that he hurt his knee but there was no structural damage. He was suppose to be out for a short time, then it was a couple of days, and now he suddenly is not coming back on the floor to play for Houston any time soon. Is TMac's knee really hurt or is his feelings hurt. Reports now say he may never play for Houston again. He wants out. Laker fans can only dream of putting together a roster with a triple threat the way that the Boston Celtics have. A very disfuntional Danny Ainge, who was the laughing stock in the NBA as a GM finally woke up and traded the NBA's worst roster into the NBA's best roster by somehow trading a bunch for cast offs that nobody wanted for two all star franchise players named Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. And he did it without trading away his all star franchise player Paul Pierce. How did he do that?
He got a lot of help from former Boston star Kevin Mchale, who as the GM of the Minnesota Timberwolves traded away Kevin Garnett, one of the best players in the league, for chump change. It will go down as one of the worst trades in NBA history. After years of failure, culminating in that horrible trade that has destroyed that franchise, you have to wonder how long Kevin will remain in Minnesota. Once being fired, it is easy to imagine that he will end up with a job in Boston. Kevin is already Boston's most valuable player, er GM, even though he was working for Minnesota. Minnesota fans wonder if he is already on their payroll.
If Boston can do it, why can't we. All we have to do is trade for TMac without giving up our franchise player, Kobe Bryant. Our new triple threat would be Kobe, AB, and TMac. With the supporting role players and strong bench, we would not only be competitive with Boston, we would be competing again for an NBA title. So how do we do it without gutting our roster?
First off we would need to find out what Houston wants. Would they really trade a star like Tracy to a conference rival? It has happened before. Do they want great players in return or do they rebuild? If they want players, and since they do not need a starting center with Yao in the middle, AB is off the table which is fine with us. Houston will unlikely get equal value for TMac. So we would start with Lamar, VladRad, one of our young guards, either Sasha, Farmar, or Critt, and maybe a first round draft pick. If they want to rebuild, you work with that same package except you substitute Kwame's expiring contract for Lamar Odom. Houston might ask for Ariza to be in that package instead of one of our young guards. However, they need a guard more than another small forward. Either one of those packages gives Houston enough and it becomes a win win for both towns.
Well, if becomes a win win for the Lakers. The triple threat is in place. The playoffs are just down the road. And the path to the Western Conference Championship Game no longer looks so much like the bumpy road we are looking at now. If we make this trade, bring on the Boston Celtics in the NBA finals. The rivalry returns. We can compete. We can win. Oh, my alarm just went off, I guess I was just dreaming!
JamFan
