djohn2oo8
01-15-2010, 02:42 PM
Undersized power forward Carl Landry, the victim of a shooting 10 months ago, is the No. 2 scorer for the surprising Rockets.
• The shooting. "I went out," he said matter-of-factly, "and got something to eat very late at night -- about 3 in the morning -- and had an attempted carjacking that went wrong and got hit in the leg with a bullet."
Landry was midway through his second NBA season when, on March 17, he was attacked. He said the shooter was within 10 yards when he fired two shots. "And I kept running, so I was really blessed,'' he said. "I didn't know that I got shot. I guess I was lucky it didn't hit a nerve, it didn't hit a bone, it didn't hit anything up here." He lays his hand over his chest. "It hit my calf and it was just flesh, just meat. It was almost like going to the doctor and getting a shot in your arm, it was really no pain."
It hit him hard, nonetheless.
• His reaction. "He really is an underdog," said Rockets coach Rick Adelman. "He came in the summer league [as a rookie] out of shape and he looked terrible, and we told him that. And then he came into training camp in great shape. He's learned as he's gone, but he's got so much room for growth."
Landry was acquired by Houston in a 2007 draft-night trade after the Sonics took him early in the second round. A history of severe knee trouble had kept him at junior college and Purdue for five seasons, making him a 24-year-old NBA rookie. Over his first two seasons with the Rockets, he would be hard on himself, wary of his small margin for error. He took criticism to heart.
"I want to say the turning point for Carl was last season after the shooting," said Rockets player programs director Shawn Respert. "That's when he realized how delicate the balance was between keeping himself ready to play, and how easy it is to lose it by making some poor decisions. It has opened his mind to learn to have more fun. It does seem as if he's way more outgoing, not in a child's-play way, but in the right way. There is a lot of joking. He's kind of the lighthearted one now."
• His offseason. "I spent a lot of time with my family, rested, got fat," said Landry with a laugh.
"He came in mid-summer a little bit heavy, not that that's wrong. I'm sure half of the guys in this league after having the playoffs sat out and took some time off," said Respert. "But he came back almost 10 pounds heavier. I said, 'Carl, this is not what you want to do after getting a big contract.'"
Landry is guaranteed $3 million annually through next season.
"I said, 'This is not how you want to reward yourself. You can't afford to do it,'" said Respert. "He worked his butt off and he came back to training camp in great shape. At the end of the summer, he was back to where he was at the end of the playoff run. He was working hard and he was having some fun with it. We didn't drill-sergeant him to death. It was fun, and I also think it was a thrill ride for him to see what us getting out of the first round had done and the spark the city had when we did it."
The Rockets came into this season without their top post players in Yao Ming (out for the year) and Ron Artest (departed to the Lakers). With Tracy McGrady sidelined by knee surgery, they were an undersized team lacking in star power and scoring. They would need more production from Landry, who averaged only 8.7 points per game over his first two years, and yet he appeared to feel no pressure.
"I started to appreciate every pass, every score, every rebound and things like that," said Landry. "You never know when it might be your last game. You always hear it, and with me it never registered. But after that day it did."
• His breakout year. The 22-17 Rockets rank among the league's most impressive surprises, and Landry is literally in the middle of it. Averaging 16.6 points, he is their second-leading scorer while playing an efficient 27.1 minutes off the bench, launching his candidacy for the sixth man and most improved awards.
"I want to be an All-Star in this league someday," he said. "I want to win awards like sixth man and most improved player and defensive player of the year. I want to be that kind of player, and it starts now. The opportunities that I have with those guys being out, it starts now and I can't waste it. It's an opportunity I may never have again."
Adelman does not hide his admiration for Landry. "He's very willing to listen, and his game has gone from last year to here, to way up," said Adelman. "He's much more confident attacking the basket now, and he's a very good 15-foot jump shooter. It says something about him that we just kind of turn the game over to him in the fourth quarter and he responds.
"I think he can be a very good defender, he plays people out on the floor well and he's learning how to guard better inside. His quickness and explosiveness catches people off guard. We've seen people try to put bigger guys on him and intimidate him, and he's too quick.
"But what I love about him this year," said Adelman, "is when we give him the ball, he is not scared. He is not scared to make a play. He challenges the other team."
He is no longer afraid.
"It's amazing how that keeps him going, for a guy I thought put tons of pressure on himself because he expected himself to be very good from the beginning," said Respert. "His role is to score points in that low post and to run the floor and help rebound. And if he defends, it's even better. He knows it's such an easy job for him to do. Guys would love to have that job, and he saw that after the shooting and not being able to play. He saw guys who were in there doing those things, and how it doesn't slow down, it doesn't stop for anybody. This thing just keeps going and going, with or without you."
So I sit next to Landry in the locker room before a recent game and build up the nerve to ask a ridiculous question: Did that shooting liberate his career? Did it turn out to be a good thing that happened to him?
He stares at me and then laughs loud and hard. "I guess so, yeah," he said. "If that's what it took for me, that's what it took. It may not take that for everybody; it may take something different. But that was the moment where I matured, and I was more grateful."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/ian_thomsen/01/15/countdown.all.star/1.html
• The shooting. "I went out," he said matter-of-factly, "and got something to eat very late at night -- about 3 in the morning -- and had an attempted carjacking that went wrong and got hit in the leg with a bullet."
Landry was midway through his second NBA season when, on March 17, he was attacked. He said the shooter was within 10 yards when he fired two shots. "And I kept running, so I was really blessed,'' he said. "I didn't know that I got shot. I guess I was lucky it didn't hit a nerve, it didn't hit a bone, it didn't hit anything up here." He lays his hand over his chest. "It hit my calf and it was just flesh, just meat. It was almost like going to the doctor and getting a shot in your arm, it was really no pain."
It hit him hard, nonetheless.
• His reaction. "He really is an underdog," said Rockets coach Rick Adelman. "He came in the summer league [as a rookie] out of shape and he looked terrible, and we told him that. And then he came into training camp in great shape. He's learned as he's gone, but he's got so much room for growth."
Landry was acquired by Houston in a 2007 draft-night trade after the Sonics took him early in the second round. A history of severe knee trouble had kept him at junior college and Purdue for five seasons, making him a 24-year-old NBA rookie. Over his first two seasons with the Rockets, he would be hard on himself, wary of his small margin for error. He took criticism to heart.
"I want to say the turning point for Carl was last season after the shooting," said Rockets player programs director Shawn Respert. "That's when he realized how delicate the balance was between keeping himself ready to play, and how easy it is to lose it by making some poor decisions. It has opened his mind to learn to have more fun. It does seem as if he's way more outgoing, not in a child's-play way, but in the right way. There is a lot of joking. He's kind of the lighthearted one now."
• His offseason. "I spent a lot of time with my family, rested, got fat," said Landry with a laugh.
"He came in mid-summer a little bit heavy, not that that's wrong. I'm sure half of the guys in this league after having the playoffs sat out and took some time off," said Respert. "But he came back almost 10 pounds heavier. I said, 'Carl, this is not what you want to do after getting a big contract.'"
Landry is guaranteed $3 million annually through next season.
"I said, 'This is not how you want to reward yourself. You can't afford to do it,'" said Respert. "He worked his butt off and he came back to training camp in great shape. At the end of the summer, he was back to where he was at the end of the playoff run. He was working hard and he was having some fun with it. We didn't drill-sergeant him to death. It was fun, and I also think it was a thrill ride for him to see what us getting out of the first round had done and the spark the city had when we did it."
The Rockets came into this season without their top post players in Yao Ming (out for the year) and Ron Artest (departed to the Lakers). With Tracy McGrady sidelined by knee surgery, they were an undersized team lacking in star power and scoring. They would need more production from Landry, who averaged only 8.7 points per game over his first two years, and yet he appeared to feel no pressure.
"I started to appreciate every pass, every score, every rebound and things like that," said Landry. "You never know when it might be your last game. You always hear it, and with me it never registered. But after that day it did."
• His breakout year. The 22-17 Rockets rank among the league's most impressive surprises, and Landry is literally in the middle of it. Averaging 16.6 points, he is their second-leading scorer while playing an efficient 27.1 minutes off the bench, launching his candidacy for the sixth man and most improved awards.
"I want to be an All-Star in this league someday," he said. "I want to win awards like sixth man and most improved player and defensive player of the year. I want to be that kind of player, and it starts now. The opportunities that I have with those guys being out, it starts now and I can't waste it. It's an opportunity I may never have again."
Adelman does not hide his admiration for Landry. "He's very willing to listen, and his game has gone from last year to here, to way up," said Adelman. "He's much more confident attacking the basket now, and he's a very good 15-foot jump shooter. It says something about him that we just kind of turn the game over to him in the fourth quarter and he responds.
"I think he can be a very good defender, he plays people out on the floor well and he's learning how to guard better inside. His quickness and explosiveness catches people off guard. We've seen people try to put bigger guys on him and intimidate him, and he's too quick.
"But what I love about him this year," said Adelman, "is when we give him the ball, he is not scared. He is not scared to make a play. He challenges the other team."
He is no longer afraid.
"It's amazing how that keeps him going, for a guy I thought put tons of pressure on himself because he expected himself to be very good from the beginning," said Respert. "His role is to score points in that low post and to run the floor and help rebound. And if he defends, it's even better. He knows it's such an easy job for him to do. Guys would love to have that job, and he saw that after the shooting and not being able to play. He saw guys who were in there doing those things, and how it doesn't slow down, it doesn't stop for anybody. This thing just keeps going and going, with or without you."
So I sit next to Landry in the locker room before a recent game and build up the nerve to ask a ridiculous question: Did that shooting liberate his career? Did it turn out to be a good thing that happened to him?
He stares at me and then laughs loud and hard. "I guess so, yeah," he said. "If that's what it took for me, that's what it took. It may not take that for everybody; it may take something different. But that was the moment where I matured, and I was more grateful."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/ian_thomsen/01/15/countdown.all.star/1.html