nyk4ever wrote:TMS wrote:DrAlphaeus wrote:TMS wrote:14 straight DNP's had to have hurt Nate's trade value
I don't know if it does. It's not like he got DNPs because he was a bad player... he wasn't a 
player. And outside his agent poppin' ****, he handled it like a true company man. Coming back and dropping 41 shows he's still a remarkable player, especially considering he's the shortest dude in the league.
You know what, I see what you are saying in the context of that quote. Nevermind me. 
yeah, i don't think we needed to make it a public issue that MDA could not stand this guy on the team by sitting him for so long... it made other teams think they could fleece us in a deal by offering up scraps when everyone knows what Nate can do when he's got it going... if we'd have been playing him all along i think we would be better off in trying to get value back for him.
does TJ Ford have value?
he hasn't played in weeks because Jim O'Brien has stashed him on the bench and he's a better player than Nate is.
I love TJ but he isn't better than Nate at this point. He had a great rookie year, is a leader and plays right. However, he has a degenerative back issue and I believe his spine is narrowing. He could land wrong in a game and end his career and possibly be paralyzed. I also think he has a huge contract but I am not positive about that. If his back was ok he would be a great pick up for any team despite his contract.
The nearly two years between the '04 fall and Ford's return to the court have been difficult, for both Ford and the Bucks. Ford has a congenital condition--he learned about it in 2001--called spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spine that pressures the spinal cord. He had surgery in May 2004, followed by monthly MRIs. Ford admits he worried he never would play again but tried to stay with the team anyway. The stress of not being able to play was too much, though, and the Bucks sent him home to Houston last January.
