Reply With Quote
Contract year. Ron will be on his best behavior, revitalized and ready to play.
i just dont see Artest being an answer to the problem. hes a big name and everyone gets excited. all the Rockets had to do was be healthy.
i dont see this working out too great for some reason. looks good on paper but just like yao said, lets see if they can Mesh. i dont see that happening
Contract year. Ron will be on his best behavior, revitalized and ready to play.
Check these polls out: http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sport...at=46&sCat=103
Guess who is the only state that doesn't believe TMAC will make it out of the first round?
Artest says, "WTF?!"
Ofcourse spurs fans will find every reason for this trade not to work. In other threads they were pushing for the spurs fo to go after artest. If its not benifitting spurs in anyway they will try their hardest to deminish a player or trade. While they laugh at the rockets and downplay every free agent signing and trade, they are getting older and older every yr not realizing Rockets are on the brink of being that texas team representing the Western Conf
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8394830
Rockets take a good risk on bad boy Artest
by Charley Rosen
How much will the pending trade of Ron Artest alter the balance of power in the Western Conference? Not quite as much as might be expected.
Here are the particulars:
Sacramento will get Bobby Jackson, a 35-year-old warhorse whose career is in marked decline. Since he's also increasingly susceptible to injuries, Jackson figures to be more of a sparsely used backup and a positive force in the locker room than a vital cog in the Kings game plan.
Also coming to the Kings will be Donte' Greene, a 6-11, 226-pound small forward who was the 28th selection in the most recent draft -- a shooter and a finesse guy. At best, the rookie might turn out to be Kevin Durant-lite. At worst, he could be the second coming of Brad Sellers.
Sacramento will also receive the Rockets' first-round pick in next spring's draft, which will most likely be a late selection. In other words, another crapshoot.
Net gain for the Kings: Not much right now, but grounds for at least a modi of hope in the future.
Artest will likewise bring plenty of uncertainty to Houston.
The bet here is that Elston Turner, the Rockets chief assistant, will have the task of trying to control Do-Ron-Ron. And given Turner's NBA experience (505 games from 1981-89 with Dallas, Denver, and Chicago), as well as ET's inherent toughness, savvy, and dignity, the odds are that Artest will behave himself -- at least for a while.
If Artest can indeed toe the line, what exactly will the Rockets be getting?
An accomplished, and extremely physical, defender who can hound small forwards, many power forwards, as well as an occasional center and shooting guard.
In other words, someone who can battle on even terms with many of the high-powered scorers in the West. For example, expect Artest to give Dirk Nowitzki a recurring headache and to also intimidate Lamar Odom. Artest won't yield much ground to Tim Duncan either.
Artest is also an effective post-up scorer, a powerful driver, an adequate passer, and an erratic, but dangerous, 3-point shooter.
To close out games, Rick Adelman will probably have Artest on the floor along with Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, Shane Battier, and Rafer Alston. This would be a formidable lineup at both ends of the court.
However, even if Artest can learn to mind his manners, the Rockets will still face some problems. Since Yao and McGrady are volume scorers, and Alston tends to be shot-happy, how will Artest get sufficient ball-time to scratch his itchy hands?
Moreover, Battier is the ultimate team player who will stay out of the spotlight and do more than his share of off-the-ball dirty work. Yao is a mite tougher than he used to be yet is still a gentle giant. Alston, who only shot 39 percent last year, is Houston's Mister Bad Shot. And T-Mac is not-so-secretly plagued by self-doubts -- rightly so since there's not enough starch in his game.
All of which indicates that Artest could easily impose his fractious, impulsive, and confrontational personality on the team.
Also, who might be the Rockets go-to scorer with a game on the line?
Historically, Artest has been unreliable in the clutch, T-Mac tends toward invisibility, and Alston can be shaky. That leaves Yao, a wonderful gut-time point-maker with an unfortunate penchant for committing turnovers.
Net gain for the Rockets: Potentially a very high upside, but plenty of important concerns that will not be so easily resolved. Still, bringing in the NBA's resident Bad Boy is a risk well worth taking.
It's almost like they have a mole on their payroll working for another team . . .
You do realize Jerry West was NOT the GM of the Grizzlies when the trade went down right? In fact he was no longer associated with the franchise in any way whatsoever.It's almost like they have a mole on their payroll working for another team . . .
And MEM got what they wanted out of the trade, they cleared a ton of caproom to rebuild for the future. Looks like they are started on the right path with Mayo, Gay, Warrick, Gasol (Marc), etc.
Scola was basically hand wrapped to the Rockets for reasons I still don't understand. It's about as idiotic a move as you could possibly make as a franchise to let a player like that go to a direct rival. Absolute stupidity.
same division Ron Artest could be a factor to Houston
I was hoping he'd sign up with an East team.
The Rockets look like an All-Star team now.
with Manu opting to play in the Olympics, (he's the MVP of Argentina team, maybe he's set to get battered there before the next season begins), hey guys aside from the name Tim Duncan, and Tony Parker, I don't want to sound pessimistic for you people, but I'd like to ask , is there a REASON for us international fans TO BELIEVE that the 2008-09 Spurs is ready to win another championship next year?
are you re ed
It's almost like they have a mole on their payroll working for another team . . .
Yao Played at least 80 games in his first 3 years. The next year his foot was smashed by another player. Do you think Tim Duncan's foot would have withstood that blow? Does he have indestructible feet? No, it was a freak accident that could happen to anyone.
The next year, Yao was under the basket while a Clipper player slammed directly into Yao's knee while falling down. Could Tim Duncan Teleport out of that impending contact? could he see the player coming at his knee while looking up for the rebound? No. Another freak accident that could happen to anyone.
This past year is the only exception, sort of. Mother F***ing Yi Jianlian' s alien-looking ass had to step directly where Yao stepped a split second later. This caused a stress fracture that got continually worse especially since Yao weighs so much.
These injuries could happen to anyone and are not the same re-occurring injury. Adrian Peterson seemed to get hurt every year in college from a different injury. No one's talking about him "probably" getting injured nowadays.
T-Mac had Back problems for a couple of years, but a year and a half ago, he started a new treatment method that he said completely cured him. He suggested the treatment to other players such as Bonzi and they agreed that the treatment does wonders. He hasn't had any pain in his back since.
He DID NOT have back problems this year, it was a knee sprain that was only supposed to keep him out a few games, but he came back early and re-injured it.
Don't forget the shoulder injury, admit it tmac is injury prone
where did this revelation come from? t-mac is not injury prone!
this is even more lopsided than the gasol kawme deal.
Wow an Artest Thread turned into an argument over Yao and T-Mac's injuries. Good Job
Surprise surprise, until we win the nextWow an Artest Thread turned into an argument over Yao and T-Mac's injuries. Good Job, it will always be. Haters will be haters.
Give me a damn break, just because y'all let NOLA punk y'all doesn't mean they are one player away.
When Yao and Tmac were healthy, they didn't have Scola or Landry and were going into playoff games where only 4 players scored points (that's just two besides Tmac and Yao) So please get off that crap.This team is much more stacked and talented than those previous teams.
Last edited by Tmac&Luther; 07-31-2008 at 01:19 PM.
If Ming, McGrady, and the crazy guy are healthy in the Spring, Houston can go far (or at least past the first round).
The Rockets have not won a playoff series in forever and they want to win now. Six one and dones in a row can get tiresome.
I find it impressive that the only time in the last 11 years the Spurs have not won at least one playoff series was in 2000 when Duncan had his knee problem.
Its win in the PLAYOFFS this year or that roster gets blown up in Houston.
Did we not beat NO and go to the WC finals? How is that punking us?Give me a damn break, just because y'all let NOLA punk y'all doesn't mean they are one player away.
When Yao and Tmac were healthy, they didn't have Scola or Landry and were going into playoff games where only 4 players scored points (that's just two besides Tmac and Yao) So please get off that crap.
I know y'all beat them, but before Horry lowered his shoulder into West's back....he was killing y'all, for most of that series NOLA was punking y'all, but SA the grizzly team that they are, pulled it out in the end. It seems SA has a weak spot against big athletic players like West or Bonzi......hopefully Artest can do the same.
Last edited by Tmac&Luther; 07-31-2008 at 01:43 PM.
No kidding. In the 7 games:
SAS NOH West
Game 1 82 101 30
Game 2 84 102 10
Game 3 110 99 23
Game 4 100 80 10
Game 5 79 101 38
Game 6* 99 80 10
Game 7 91 82 20
* West had his back injury aggravated.
Two 10 point games before the back acts up, blowing the Spurs out in two games, then got blown out in two games, strong evidence to some killing.
And since when did Horry lower his shoulder into West’s back? Fact check much?
Last edited by ambchang; 07-31-2008 at 03:26 PM.
It's crazy not to admit that Houston's trade just gave them a trio of first rate players that compare with any in the league.
Discussions of past injuries ignore Duncan's foot and Manu's reputation as El Contusion. ANY team's chances can be degraded by an injury.
Rockets have added a great lock-down defender to a club that already had great defensive stats. In addition all of their Big 3 are capable of scoring 20 ppg.
Homers here are simply whistling past the graveyard if you don't think this was a great addition to the Rockets AND another serious contender for the WC Championship.
Gonna be tougher this year than last and last year was tougher than the year before.
Non Spurs fans will say he lowered his shoulder into the back......Spurs fans will say he didn't, let's leave it at that and avoid a couple of pages of arguments.
Last edited by Tmac&Luther; 07-31-2008 at 03:37 PM.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/bal...?urn=nba,82847
It would be mighty difficult to argue that Horry lowered his shoulders.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
