Breaking: Artest Traded to Houston
- Thread starter Kingsroots
- Start date
i feel bad for the rockets. they were feeling so good going into next year after that big winning streak and with yao coming back, and now they just going to feel the ron artest pain. I just wonder where that leaves battier in this. Is he on the bench now? eh, i think it was a bad move for them, probably a bad move for both teams.
Well considering the last five years they've drafted 25th, 26th, no pick, 24th, and no pick -- I don't think losing another first round pick for another first round playoff loss is that big of a change. If they lose in the first round again, it won't be because of Artest. That's where they were already without Artest. If they don't make the playoffs at all, that would be evidence of a decline. But even if that happens, Ron leaves after this season and all they've lost is one potentially promising rookie. Worth the gamble I'd say.
This is more or less what all of us in Houston are thinking. We know there will more than likely be problems with Ron, we’re not idiots. Really, I promise we aren’t. But look at the amazing potential for upside here…we now have a “big 3” that you have to have on your squad to do anything in the west. Tracy and Yao just can’t cut it on their own, and now with Battier and Artest together…even if it doesn’t work out for a full season, I really think that between coach RA, and the fact that he’s in a contract year, he’ll be on his best behavior (you know, only missing 10-15 games due to suspensions) and I really think this will work out well for us. Plus, the best player we’ve gotten out of draft in the last couple of years has been a 2nd round pick (please stay in Houston Carl Landry) so we’re just going to trust in GM Morey to make the good things continue to happen, and so far, that trust has not been abused. Personally, I think it’s a steal, from a purely basketball standpoint, and now we just have to hope that we can keep the personal/off-court persona in check. RA is our only hope on this one.
The other big thing is we have GREAT team leaders. We don’t have any other guys in our locker room with a bad mentality, and we aren’t in the middle of a rebuilding process, so our team leaders are veterans that can really make this work. And if it doesn’t work? Screw it, it’s a one year deal, and we really didn’t give anything we’re trying to keep as a core, and we can try again. Cut his a**.
I hope it works out well on both sides, but I really don’t think that Greene has the upside that so many people do. Given, I’m not a GM, or a talent scout, but he dropped for a reason, and to be honest, I really don’t know how much he is going to help you guys a whole lot.
I’ve discovered that I can handle Lakers fans being pissed off with great fortitude. Screw a lot of those guys.
Luck…maybe.
The underlying fact here is that this team did in fact win 22 games in a row, and only the first 13 with Yao. Yes, some people say it was the schedule, yes that run got us into the playoffs, and yes we went out again in the first round. But who cares? We took that 55 win, 22 won games in a row, and made both the defense and the offense better. We could quite possible have the best defense in the NBA after this goes down. Once again, assuming that he won’t miss more than 15 games this season.
From the preliminary things I can see(and obviously there’s nothing set in stone at this point), Ron Ron will be starting for Battier, with Battier being 6th man. Battier really played to many minutes last year, and you could really tell by the end of the first round. This is actually going to be perfect for us, since it really gives us a bad***defender on their #1 scorer, and the other defender resting, or we can shut down(completely) 2 players, or just have everyone playing man to man, and have Battier float around a bit, like he does, to play helper.
It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens.
If you’re interested, here’s a link to a chat we had with one of the guys at the Chronicle(Jonathan Feigan), and kind of gives some good answers to what we might be doing, if you really care at all what goes on in Houston....Haha, have a great day, guys!
Edit: Ok, what the heck is up with this forum adding random quote breaks? I can't get rid of the things. Sorry for the sloppy post, but my boss is coming by. I'll try to fix again later.
The other big thing is we have GREAT team leaders. We don’t have any other guys in our locker room with a bad mentality, and we aren’t in the middle of a rebuilding process, so our team leaders are veterans that can really make this work. And if it doesn’t work? Screw it, it’s a one year deal, and we really didn’t give anything we’re trying to keep as a core, and we can try again. Cut his a**.
I hope it works out well on both sides, but I really don’t think that Greene has the upside that so many people do. Given, I’m not a GM, or a talent scout, but he dropped for a reason, and to be honest, I really don’t know how much he is going to help you guys a whole lot.
I’ve discovered that I can handle Lakers fans being pissed off with great fortitude. Screw a lot of those guys.
Luck…maybe.
The underlying fact here is that this team did in fact win 22 games in a row, and only the first 13 with Yao. Yes, some people say it was the schedule, yes that run got us into the playoffs, and yes we went out again in the first round. But who cares? We took that 55 win, 22 won games in a row, and made both the defense and the offense better. We could quite possible have the best defense in the NBA after this goes down. Once again, assuming that he won’t miss more than 15 games this season.
From the preliminary things I can see(and obviously there’s nothing set in stone at this point), Ron Ron will be starting for Battier, with Battier being 6th man. Battier really played to many minutes last year, and you could really tell by the end of the first round. This is actually going to be perfect for us, since it really gives us a bad***defender on their #1 scorer, and the other defender resting, or we can shut down(completely) 2 players, or just have everyone playing man to man, and have Battier float around a bit, like he does, to play helper.
It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens.
If you’re interested, here’s a link to a chat we had with one of the guys at the Chronicle(Jonathan Feigan), and kind of gives some good answers to what we might be doing, if you really care at all what goes on in Houston....Haha, have a great day, guys!
Edit: Ok, what the heck is up with this forum adding random quote breaks? I can't get rid of the things. Sorry for the sloppy post, but my boss is coming by. I'll try to fix again later.
What Rockets fans should be worried about is which Artest they get on the court... the one who is willing to give the coach what he wants or the Artest that gives what Artest wants. Because deep down he believes he's good enough to shoot as much as Kobe does. I know Adelman knows how to deal with the quirky Ron personality, but there are more than a few Kings fans who will rip Adelman because he didn't manage Chris Webber properly when he shot too much.
I think Ron will be ok next year as long as the Rockets are winning. However, I wouldn't attribute that to Yao or TMac. Neither of them have a reputation as being strong personalities or leaders. I read a couple of Rockets fans (at Clutchcity) use the Rodman on the Bulls analogy with Artest. Unfortunately, this may be more like Rodman on the Spurs. TMac and Yao fall much more into the David Robinson personality profile than the Jordan profile. Fortunately, I think Ron cares more about winning than Rodman did. Rodman was a winner, but cared more about the attention and spectacle.
The bigger concern about Ron that no one has really mentioned (if they have, I apologize for missing it), is his diminished D. His first year with us he shut down every good wing player. While injuries and disinterest may have played a large impact last year. He was getting burned a lot more, particularly by the faster wings. This is worth noting, since Artest is not exactly a heady defender the way Battier, Kobe, Christie, or Bowen is. He is very tenacious and physical and as his body breaks down and injuries compile, I wouldn't be surprised to see him decline faster as a defender.
With that said, he still gets a lot of steals and plays very good man D, but a lot of people still are talking about him like he is a terror to opposing wings like he was 2 years ago.
Autra......
You have the first really good view of this deal I've read and I now see the really big upside for the Rockets and wish them all the luck. As to Greene no one really seems to have a handle on him so we wait and see what happens in training camp and the first couple of months into the season. He seems to have a bigger upside than down but we'll see.
This trade also helps the Kings immediately in the salary cap arena and gives our incredible (good) GM another shot at getting two first round picks where the Kings over the years have done quite an excellent job. The 09-10 season should see the Kings having their "big 3" developing nicely (fingers crossed behind my back!!!): Jason Thompson, Spencer Hawes and Kevin Martin.
So stay in touch with this board around the first of the year and lets see if both teams came out ok or did the Rockets really benefit more, which I think they did/will.
You have the first really good view of this deal I've read and I now see the really big upside for the Rockets and wish them all the luck. As to Greene no one really seems to have a handle on him so we wait and see what happens in training camp and the first couple of months into the season. He seems to have a bigger upside than down but we'll see.
This trade also helps the Kings immediately in the salary cap arena and gives our incredible (good) GM another shot at getting two first round picks where the Kings over the years have done quite an excellent job. The 09-10 season should see the Kings having their "big 3" developing nicely (fingers crossed behind my back!!!): Jason Thompson, Spencer Hawes and Kevin Martin.
So stay in touch with this board around the first of the year and lets see if both teams came out ok or did the Rockets really benefit more, which I think they did/will.
