Florida Today: More on T-Mac & Hill Comments

Florida Today: Howard Ready to Go, but So is T-Mac

It might be a reach, but Magic find help

Howard ready to go, but so is T-Mac

BY JOHN DENTON
FLORIDA TODAY

ORLANDO -- The thin strip of tape stuck to the side of the backboard in the gym at the Orlando Magic's headquarters won't be pulled down anytime soon. There for all to see, it is a testament to the awesome potential oozing out of Dwight Howard's every pore.

In Howard, the Magic believe they have finally found a youthful, athletic big man who can dominate a game on both ends of the floor. Already, he has shown the ability to shoot from afar as well as being able to score from the low block. And as for that strip of tape, well, it's attached 30 inches above the rim, the spot where Howard touched from a standing leap. Combine his 7-foot, 41/2-inch wingspan with his 381/2-inch vertical leap and the Magic think Howard is a can't-miss prospect.

Help most certainly is on the way for a franchise that plummeted to a 21-61 record last season. Of course, the irony in that is that star guard Tracy McGrady will likely never play with the phenom forward loaded with so much potential. McGrady has had a strong case for nonsupport the past few seasons, often making it look as though he was on the court playing one-on-nine.

And now he could be on the way out just as the big man he has pined for, for four seasons, is joining the Magic.

The McGrady trade saga has churned into its second week with no definitive end in sight. Steve Francis, the key piece of compensation in a potential trade with Houston, has held an in-depth conversation with Magic management, suggesting that a deal might be imminent. But as he did with Thursday's drafting of Howard, Magic general manager John Weisbrod continues to keep all discussions shrouded in mystery.

While the mere mention of trading a superstar the caliber of McGrady has piqued interest throughout the NBA, Weisbrod seems to enjoy holding the figurative hammer and says he feels no pressure to hurry into a deal.

"The knowledge of it would be useful for us in free agency, but as long as we know what our options are, I don't feel a lot of pressure from the timing of it," Weisbrod said. "If we didn't formally resolve the Tracy situation until August 10, I don't think that would adversely affect the other things that we have going on."

Weisbrod says all of that matter-of-factly, seemingly oblivious to magnitude of the situation and how a McGrady trade might shift the balance of power in the NBA. According to Jeff Fried, the agent for Francis, the trade on the table would involve the Magic getting Cuttino Mobley, Kelvin Cato and Francis, while the Rockets would get McGrady, Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue and Reece Gaines.

One factor that might speed up the process and result in an announcement this week is that Lue has the option to opt out of his contract by Wednesday. Lue's agent, Andy Miller, was confident that he can get Lue a better deal than the $1.65 million he is due next season and said his client is likely to exercise his option. If Lue becomes a free agent, he can't be included in a trade.


Magic sales pitch

It would be interesting to know if the additions of Howard and point guard Jameer Nelson, Orlando's draft-night haul, had changed McGrady's feelings about the Magic, but he hasn't spoken publicly in a week. He said when the season ended that one of the stipulations of his return would be the Magic significantly upgrading its roster this summer.

Getting a play-making point guard and a center/power forward who could block shots seemed to be a must in order to getting a long-term commitment from McGrady, who can be a free agent this time next summer.

But Weisbrod said that Magic improvements have rarely come up in his negotiations with McGrady and agent Arn Tellem. He suggested that getting Howard would likely play very little of a role in McGrady's decision of whether to stay or go.

"The nature of the conversations haven't been like that. It hasn't been about trying to find ways to convince to stay," Weisbrod said. "It's been about determining what's best for our team and clearly reiterating time and again what we're looking to accomplish. To let him react to that or make a determination on that isn't an option. There's been nothing sales-oriented about this process."

Howard was in the unenviable position of being asked about a star player in McGrady that he might never play with. Like McGrady did, Howard is trying to make the leap from the preps to the pros. McGrady said earlier in the summer that he didn't want to wait on a high school player to develop, knowing full well that it took him three NBA seasons to blossom into a star.

"I would love to play with T-Mac," Howard said. "He is one of the few guys who came out of high school and made it big. It would be good learning from him and how he made his transition. Wherever he goes, I'll be 100 percent supportive. But hopefully, he's playing for the Magic."


The new franchise?

At this point, it seems as if there's a better chance that Howard will be playing with Francis next season than it is McGrady will still be in Magic blue. Weisbrod became a Francis fan from afar, watching him play nightly on TV. Being that he is a former hockey player, Weisbrod's interest was piqued even more earlier this season when Francis hit a taunting Amare Stoudemire with an elbow just under the chin.

"When we talked, I brought that up and he was like, 'You saw that? You remember that?' " Weisbrod said.

The Magic are interested in Francis even though he is coming off his worst season as a pro. He had to rally to get his shooting percentage above 40 percent and he shot 29 percent from beyond the 3-point line. He led the NBA in technical fouls, was suspended a game for missing a flight when he wanted to attend the Super Bowl in Houston, finished with the second-most turnovers and feuded regularly with new coach Jeff Van Gundy.

But in Francis, Weisbrod sees a tough-minded player who might be just the kind of leader the Magic lacked last season.

"He's not a problem child, he said. "He's stubborn and competitive and he likes to win. I don't know him very well, so I don't want to rush to judgment on him."


Irreparable rift?

Signs seem to suggest that judgment has already been passed on McGrady. The team anointed him captain before the season in hopes the new role would get him to take on a more active leadership role. But the soft-spoken McGrady was admittedly uncomfortable in that role.

Weisbrod was infuriated with how the Magic seemed to lay down in the season's final month. Orlando surrendered dozens of layups a game and lost 13 of its last 15. McGrady was effectively benched for the last nine with the official designation being tendinitis in his knee. But it fueled the rumors of their being an irreparable rift between Weisbrod and McGrady.

Not true, Weisbrod said.

"I don't really feel like it's a reconciliation issue," Weisbrod said of his talks with McGrady. "I don't have any difficulty talking to him or reaching out to him. He's never reacted negatively to me in any conversation that we've had.

"He's certainly had instances where he has risen to the occasion or showed character. The (2003) playoff series ended for us badly, but he did go in as the eighth seed, in a hostile environment (in Detroit) against a defensive-minded (Pistons) team and he still drilled them those first two nights. There are evidences of him rising to the occasion. Everybody is drawing the conclusion that I think he's a bad kid or a low-character kid and I don't think that at all. I think he's a great kid. I'm just trying to do what's best for our team."

And even though McGrady is a four-time All-Star and the NBA's scoring champion the past two seasons, Weisbrod said that might mean making a trade. And then again, he said, it might not.

Allen Iverson was all set to be traded to Detroit four years ago before Philadelphia decided at the 11th hour to hang on to its mercurial star. Iverson went on to win the MVP award and led the Sixers to the NBA Finals that next season.

Could the same now happen with McGrady? It's not likely, but Weisbrod has stressed that the Houston trade is not nearly as far as long as it has been perceived to be. And the Magic have made plans both with and without their star guard playing alongside the 18-year-old Howard next season.

"As we shuffle our pieces on the board over and over again, we have scenarios where we plug in different pieces in Tracy deals and we have ones where we wonder what it would look like if we kept Tracy in the mix," Weisbrod said. "Until it's done, you certainly have to weigh it as a possibility because he does still have a year left on his contract."

 

Hill says trade is on verge

BY JOHN DENTON
FLORIDA TODAY

ORLANDO -- Grant Hill thinks that the much-debated trade involving All-Star guards Tracy McGrady and Steve Francis and others is finally going to happen.

Hill, in Houston on Saturday displaying his extensive African-American art collection at Texas Southern University, told Houston TV station KTRK that he's been informed by Orlando Magic management that the deal should become official any day now.

The trade, first leaked last week by agent Jeff Fried, will have the Magic sending McGrady, Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue and Reece Gaines to Houston for Francis, shooting guard Cuttino Mobley and center Kelvin Cato. Francis had a 20-minute phone conversation with Magic general manager John Weisbrod on Thursday night and is expected to visit Orlando this week.

"A little birdie told me it's going to happen . . . I think," Hill said with a laugh. "I think it's going to happen. . . . That's part of the business of professional sports and he's going to go on and do well here in Houston with coach (Jeff) Van Gundy and Yao Ming, and hopefully we're going to go on and do well with the guys we have. Life is about change and sometimes change is necessary, but sometimes change can be good. But I think for the Rockets and the Magic it can be good for both."

Hill admitted that he was sad that he's not going to get the chance to play alongside of McGrady for a full season. Hill signed an identical seven-year, $93 million contract as McGrady did in the summer of 2000. However, he's played just 47 games the past four seasons because of a troublesome fracture in his left ankle.

"On one hand, I'm excited about the possibility of playing with Francis, Mobley and Cato," said Hill, who didn't play at all this past season and is hoping to finally return healthy next season. "I think they can really help our ball club. With myself coming back and being healthy, the first pick and with some changes we can really turn this thing around fast and be a playoff-caliber team.

"On the flip side, I was there for four years and never had the opportunity to be healthy and really play a whole year with Tracy. So we will always wonder what could have been."

 

So, Orlando management is telling Hill one thing and the media another. Nicely done.

I kinda hope this causes people to start asking Wise-enheimer what the **** is going on. I mean, he tells one of his star players it is getting done but the media that nothing may happen. Well, which one is it?

 

That has got to be my favorite line of the article. Oblivious is the right word.

 

Everyone who is talking is confirming the deal EXCEPT Wisebrod. Francis, Francis' agents, every media outlet, Larry Bird, Grant Hill...hell, this may be the most well-publicized trade denied by someone so vehemently in the history of sports.

 

If the deal doesn't go down by Tuesday, we could be looking at a much longer process. I mean, if Lue opts out, that means no deal before the 1st most likely which means no deal before the 15th because of the moratorium imposed by the NBA.

That also means the Rockets very likely won't be able to pursue other deals during that time because the McGrady thing will be up in the air and some free agents will be stuck waiting on a trade that may or may not happen to decide where they are going to play next season.

It's a freakin' house of cards and this guy is the Dubmass of Clubs.