Celtics Should Move Heaven & Earth to Get McGrady

Look at the Golden State game, just 64 points in the last 3 quarters against a team that's more generous with points than Don Rickles is with insults! McGrady is healthy and he's chomping at the bit to prove he can still score with the game's elite. Too often the C's struggle with point production especially when Ray and Eddie are off from 3 poit land. 'Sheed is too inconsistent from beyond the arc. I don't care how far into luxury taxland this propells the C's. T-Mac is the ticket to banner 18. I'd give Houston Tony, Scal, Giddens & Walker plus a percentage of the profits of Logan Airport to get Vinsanity's cousin in Celtic green!-MD.

MD,

Please don't forget the salary cap rules when you request a certain player. You can't just throw money at players, as you should know.

T-Mac makes over $23mil, so you better get a different list of players if you want to trade for him. The salaries have to match. The Celtics don't have enough medium range contracts to use. After the three amigos, there is a huge drop in salaries.

It would take Sheed, Perk, Scal, Eddie and TA (18.8mil) to get up to the required salary. 18.8 x 1.25 = 23.5mil.

If that trade happens, four players would have to be released from Houston since it looks like they already have 15 players under contract. This trade is not going to happen.

However, if T-Mac gets released (like Marbury) we could sign him to the Vet Minimum contract. That doesn't sound like that option would be Houston's first choice. Houston will try to trade him in order to capture some of his salary. That is a lot of salary to match and it may take time. He is a HUGH expiring contract and that in itself may help Houston pull off a trade before the deadline.

Houston could just wait out the year since they like how they play without him anyway. Then he is their own expiring contract and they renounce him to avoid the cap hold. Looking at it from that prospective, Houston is in the driver's seat here.

gyso

Hi MD,
Who T-Mac is going to replace in the starting line: PP or RA?

AK

Tracy McGrady is a pain in the ass, in plain English. Every team he has ever played for has eventually become fed up with his act, and sent him on his way – and he is among the most injury prone players in the NBA. Add to that the fact that he is the most overpaid player in the NBA, and you have the very definition of a no win situation.

One word
NO
Two words
NO WAY

When young and healthy he was a stud.................was being the key word.

Even a team that is lacking scoring like Houston wants to shed him, that tells me about all I need to know.

beat

We already have a 3 in Pierce,loved watching T-Mac,but hes not that same player,we need to get younger not older.

Wasn't Marbury a pain almost wherever he played? Didn't 'Sheed have many people questioning his ability to fit in ? The stock answer to both of those is that fans and maybe front office alike felt the 3 Amigos had enough 'cred to police problems with either of these 2. T-Mac may have shot his mouth off a time or 2 and wound up with egg on his face, most remember his, "feels good to be in the 2nd round of the playoffs" before the deal was sealed (it never got sealed). I don't think this makes him a bad apple. I think he wants to be a part of a championship team before he retires. I really see that he has an upside to offer the Celtics in that desire and to prove he still can play with the NBA's elite!-MD.

MDCelticsFan wrote:Wasn't Marbury a pain almost wherever he played? Didn't 'Sheed have many people questioning his ability to fit in ? The stock answer to both of those is that fans and maybe front office alike felt the 3 Amigos had enough 'cred to police problems with either of these 2. T-Mac may have shot his mouth off a time or 2 and wound up with egg on his face, most remember his, "feels good to be in the 2nd round of the playoffs" before the deal was sealed (it never got sealed). I don't think this makes him a bad apple. I think he wants to be a part of a championship team before he retires. I really see that he has an upside to offer the Celtics in that desire and to prove he still can play with the NBA's elite!-MD.

Two bad examples MD.

The main point on Marbury was that he was a bust in Boston. Maybe he was just finished as a player, maybe part of his mojo comes from his bad attitude. But either way, he contributed nothing of substance last season.

Sheed on the other hand, has NEVER had a bad reputation amongst players and coaches. Referees, yes….but he is a very popular player both in the league at large, and on every team he has played on.

End of the day, the Celtics cant make the salary for T-Mac work anyway – so it is a moot point.

mrkleen09 wrote:

MDCelticsFan wrote:Wasn't Marbury a pain almost wherever he played? Didn't 'Sheed have many people questioning his ability to fit in ? The stock answer to both of those is that fans and maybe front office alike felt the 3 Amigos had enough 'cred to police problems with either of these 2. T-Mac may have shot his mouth off a time or 2 and wound up with egg on his face, most remember his, "feels good to be in the 2nd round of the playoffs" before the deal was sealed (it never got sealed). I don't think this makes him a bad apple. I think he wants to be a part of a championship team before he retires. I really see that he has an upside to offer the Celtics in that desire and to prove he still can play with the NBA's elite!-MD.

Two bad examples MD.

The main point on Marbury was that he was a bust in Boston. Maybe he was just finished as a player, maybe part of his mojo comes from his bad attitude. But either way, he contributed nothing of substance last season.

Sheed on the other hand, has NEVER had a bad reputation amongst players and coaches. Referees, yes….but he is a very popular player both in the league at large, and on every team he has played on.

End of the day, the Celtics cant make the salary for T-Mac work anyway – so it is a moot point.

MD,

Regardless of whether or not the 3 amigos would ever agree to babysit anyone, I agree with mrkleen. How do you propose to get his contract under the Celtic's control?

gyso

I thought this thread was going to be tongue-in-cheek but I guess not! If for some reason Celtics management wanted to acquire T-Mac they would likely have to part with one of the big three in order to make the salaries work. MD, which one of KG, Pierce or Ray do you think T-Mac is better than? He's 31 years old so you wouldn't be getting much younger regardless of which one you pick. His career scoring average is 21 which is about the same as GPA. I haven't actually checked the numbers, but I bet he's missed more career games than the big three combined! I see NO reason why the C's should try to acquire McGrady.

The more the season progresses, the less the objective of player personnel moves is player accumulation and the more it is about team enhancement.

Adding someone like McGrady (even if it were logistically possible, which it's not) would represent player accumulation. But team enhancement is far more than a matter of adding a plus sign on a personnel formula known as the roster. Preseason is a thing of the distant past, and there are shockingly few practices available in which to integrate a player to the team system. And the greater the stature of an acquired player; the more set his habits; the more established his ego; then the more cumbersome the integration process is likely to be.

They're still trying to integrate Sheed. Tony's in the midst of a crash course in reintegration. They're set back in the process of reintegrating Davis. They'll eventually have to restart the very incomplete process of integrating Daniels. The very thought of breaking up a championship starting lineup in favor of attempting yet another major integration just boggles the mind. Alternatively, the notion of assigning a guy of McGrady's stature to a bench that's already in a state of evolution conjures up thoughts of names such as Vicksburg, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and a burg to be named later.

Sam

MD

No comparison to Marbury........would TMac leave 20 million on the table to play here? Otherwise who do we get rid of to aquire him.

As to the attitude only one peson has mentioned that.

As to his health............even when a stud in his mid early 20's he NEVER has played a full season.

If he is still so viable why arn't the Rockets even showcasing him for a team that has had some trouble putting up points?

As I said in his prime he was a stud. I have heard many off court things that he has done for his community so I do NOT percieve him as a troublemaker but his injuries do concern me a lot.

So back to the top. How do we aquire him on the cheap cause there is no way we can afford him at his present salary...............and unless there is an answer to this there is no deal.

beat

Why in the world would you trade a perfectly healthy player to take on a guy like T-Mac. I know they say he is healthy now, but, for how long?? And the only way he would come is if he could start. This is a very selfish ballplayer who could never learn to play team basketball. Houston can keep him, even though they are trying very hard to trade him. I know he is a great shooter, but it is not worth the headache.