The trading frenzy continues tonight, as the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings have agreed upon a seven-player deal that will send Tracy McGrady to the Kings and Kevin Martin to the Rockets.
As part of the deal, the Kings will also be trading Hilton Armstrong, Kenny Thomas and Sergio Rodriguez to Houston in exchange for Carl Landry, Joey Dorsey and an undisclosed amount of cash. While the Rockets will likely retain these new players, rumors are still swirling about New York still being the final destination for Tracy McGrady.
According to NBA analyst David Aldridge’s Twitter feed, there is still a “decent” chance that McGrady ends up in New York before the end of the trade deadline despite tonight’s trade to the Kings. He also notes that if the Kings trade McGrady to the Knicks, it would be the same package that New York offered Houston: Jared Jeffries, Jordan Hill, Larry Hughes and picks. If I’m the Kings, I take that deal in a heartbeat and continue to build around the positive momentum that the current roster has already begun to develop.
While this trade can’t fully be assessed from the Kings’ perspective until the McGrady issue is officially settled, they can be pleased with this trade if only for the fact that they acquired Carl Landry. As a front-runner for this year’s sixth-man award (and a scrappy scorer and rebounder to boot), I think Houston will regret ever letting Landry go. Landry will get a great opportunity to lead this young Sacramento team, get meaningful minutes, and most importantly – provide the Kings with some toughness. Sure, the Kings lose Martin, but it seemed as though they grew accustomed to having him out of the lineup when he missed several weeks due to a fractured wrist. Tyreke Evans also blossomed as their primary scorer. While Martin’s surprisingly accurate (and consistently awkward) shot will be missed by Kings fans, his often-lackadaisical defensive effort will not.
The Rockets certainly added firepower to their roster with Martin, but again, defense in the backcourt could be an issue especially when Martin is on the floor alongside Aaron Brooks. Now, weak perimeter defense can often be cloaked when a team has a solid shot-blocker down low to clean up the garbage, but Houston’s Chuck Hayes and now Armstrong don’t really fit that bill. Still, the Rockets have been consistently operating without a go-to perimeter scorer for essentially the last two seasons (no, Trevor Ariza doesn’t count). Martin gives them a player who can score buckets in a hurry when called upon, and he also is relatively effective in creating his own shot opportunities. While the post T-Mac (and Yao) Rockets have prided themselves on gritty, defensive performances, they may want to push the tempo a bit more and look to light up the scoreboards with their new personnel.
Who do you think got the better end of this trade? Where do you think T-Mac will end up?
