John Amaechi's comments about his stint with the Rockets

I thought this deserved its own thread for the fact that it's specific Rockets "info".

I'm not sure if it's been posted or not, but in case you guys haven't read the book "Man in the Middle" yet, my copy just came in. I probably won't be able to read it until this weekend, but of course I had to look for some Rockets info. So I bring you, Rockets info :

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New [Rockets] teammates were fantastic.

Made friends with Eddie Griffin quickly. Though EG was injured most of the time he was there, he had enormous potential. He goes on to add "... I hung out with him, admiring his ability to gain perspective even when he was languishing on the injured list".

"Truly admired" JVG. He described him as a "fiery head coach who nonetheless treated his players with enormous respect." He goes on to add "I'd never met a man who took the play of his team more personally, and expected the absolute best in effort, yet never for a second doubted your good intentions."

He says the Rockets were a bad fit for him basketball-wise, however. He said he knew he wouldn't get much PT and it would take the entire front court getting hit by lightning for him to get time. He said he knew the trade was a salary dump for the Rockets and a way for Sloan and Miller to get rid of him.

Compliments JVG again by saying "To his credit, Jeff made it clear I would play sparingly".

Says that even though he was no longer getting much PT, he took advantage of the situation. It was the first time he wasn't a regular part of a rotation since his rookie year. Though he wasn't playing much, he worked his tail off in practice and the training room. He tried to keep everybody else's spirits up.

I like this quote : "I strove to keep up the spirits of everyone around me -- a critical and often overlooked responsibility of bench players, who often spend far too much time playing the victim rather than acting the loyal teammate".

Halfway through the season he was put on the injured list with a "fictitious shoulder injury".

Goes on to say Texas has a history of gaybashing and hostility toward "queers", but it also boasted pockets of tolerance and diversity. He goes on to talk about how when new players arrive, people are assigned to them to make the transition easier, find housing, etc. He was assigned a mother-daughter team he said were "lovely people", but they went out of their way to let him know they were Southern Baptists, and that "perhaps unfairly" worried him - he didn't think religion is something you should talk about when you first meet someone.

He wanted to live in the Montrose area to which the mother-daughter combo objected. I love this part :

"It's no secret gay people long have carved out the best neighborhoods of any city. The proof of this is that they are generally the safest, most culturally vibrant, and community-oriented places in any metropolitan area. Need urban regeneration? Call the gay team". lol. He goes on to praise the Montrose area. The mother-daughter team advised him against it saying that it was "not a good area". He disagreed and bought a place there anyway. The duo was disappointed in his decision, but took him out to lunch... a lunch where they talked "incessantly about the Bible".

He adds that the Bible is an "interesting piece of literature; I've been known to dip into it myself from time to time". He asked them if they had read anything else because they were acting like this was the only book ever written. They responded with "Why would we?" To which he responded "Well, for perspective, of course. How can you have an opinion if you know only one side? You have to look out more than one window to know where you stand." Amaechi said they stared at him like he was crazy. lol.

He comments on Barkley in the book and how he admires him. He adds that Barkley's a role model whether he likes it or not.

That's all I've read so far... not sure there's much else about the Rockets in there. Just from reading what I've read, he really comes off as such a nice guy, and not the typical/stereotypical "dumb jock".