Agreed. He's not exactly the most rosy person about the Astros either. I'm not a fan (see don't like at all) of his columns, but he certainly does a good job of being a lightning rod and thus getting readers to talk about his work (see what is going on in this thread). No one's talking about the Rockets, therefore he puts out this ridiculous idea. Ron Artest seems like he can put the Rockets over the top last offseason, therefore he casts doubt upon it. Good strategy for overall number of readers, not so good if you want said readers no like you.
I normally find that the people claiming sports writers are writing to satisfy the teams they cover are the ones who have established positions that the writer's pieces don't agree with.
really? he's a good sports writer? How often do you read the crap he writes? He constantly contradicts himself from week to week and shows a lack of knowledge in almost every piece he writes
I'm just hoping for a Kahn, Kerr, or Manu injury related miracle that'd get McGrady moved right now...
no, I actually did not even read this article, I just assume he is doing the same crap he did years ago
Reputation aside, this article is good read. At least he reveals that Yao has been training like a role model. And it's a valid point that Yao and Mac can be back in the next season. Hey, there is a reason why is a columnist but I am not ... lol ...
He believes this season, but didn't believe the beginning of last season when we had (apparently) a healthy Yao, T-Mac, and Artest.
the best part of the article was when he reminded me that training camp is just a month away, the season just 2 months, mcgrady looks like he will be back, yao still being yao, holy crap i think i just went from 6 to 12.
Raven, i wish they would trade Yao and Tracy and just start over, but its not going to happen. Les loves tracy like a son and yao opens doors for him. I don't agree that should be the reason for keeping both, but thats what it is. Here's how i think its going to unfold. Tracy is playing at the start and like i said earlier this offseason, if he misses games early, it will be only the first couple. Tracy will be alot better than last year when he had 1 leg. I know what DD spews about not working in the offseason and i've said somethin about that. McGrady back and healthy isnt going to be the explosive guy, he's going to be more facillitator. Despite what Dave 78 says about ariza and what alot think about brooks, the young guys will benefit. Of course there will be teams calling for a salary dump with McGrady's huge cap number, but unless its a good cheap player and a expiring, moreys not going to do it. Now the kicker is if Battier is traded for a expiring, all bets are off. I think with this team intact and tracy healthy, they will be fighting for a 8th seed. Come offseason with Yao back,ariza and brooks a year older and lowry,landry probably will be better also. So in the offseason, if brooks makes a good showing, they might give him a contract in the 5m range. Scola will be a cap hold of 6m or so. As bima thug has stated, they wont have enough for a mx guy unless they let go of everyone but yao,battier,Andersen, and the 2 rookies. In that situation, what max level guy is going to come here? I think what will happen is Tracy resigns for a little more than what Odom signed for. 4yr 40 m, brooks signs for 5m per also. The bigger issue is scola is restricted and lowry gets a tender with a cap hold. If they're going to upgrade, it might come at the expense of scola, but if they see enough progress out of brooks,ariza and the younger players, they might just resign him at about 6m per for 4 yrs also and use the mle to add to the depth of the squad. Now if a young scorer like Martin is offered along with expirings like SAR and KT, they rox might be all ears, but i don't know if the kings would do that either.
its all speculation and at this point we cant just settle for wanting thing . the ROCKETS of this year have to go out for day one and get winning like last year when all odd were against. although i do thing this has to be the combination that gets us a championship in the next years not trying to lure joe johnson
Give me a break. Richard Justice is the Glen Beck of sport's columnist. No one takes anything he says seriously, and it is a widely held belief (and I consider it to be absolutely true) that the Chronicle has been notoriously weak on criticising local teams for years now, years! In fact, it's a widely held belief around here that the Rockets have their own personal spokesman on the Chronicle staff, because everything he writes and says sounds exactly like a public relations statement, so I'm stunned that anyone here would challenge what is pretty much an established fact, that the Chronicle sucks up to the local teams, almost to the point of embarrassment. And it has nothing to do with me disagreeing with what Justice writes, because he contradicts himself so much, it's obvious that he only says what he thinks will get him the most page hits, on any given day. Just give him a few months and he'll be writing that it's best the Rockets dump Tracy before he's able to suit up. Unbelievable!
You are correct. There were more than a few people insisting it could be possible that both Yao and T-Mac could come back before season's end. A bit optimistic, perhaps, but possible. As Garnett screamed to the rafters over a year ago, "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!" Fingers crossed.
I've been thinking just RJ since I've seen that Yao back in six months thread. I hope we get that good luck after so much bad luck for once in a while
Calm down girlfriend. The team is sorely lacking in talent. For me to expect them to do great things when Yao is gone, Ron left and Tracy is nothing but a ? would not only be unfair to the Rockets but also stupid. Hard work only takes you so far when you're in the NBA. I said I expect this team to go out and compete every night. That's all we can expect of them as realistic fans. I look forward to watching them this season but to have lofty expectations at this point is dumb.
I can't believe any Rocket fan ain't drooling at the thought of Yao and T-mac showing up during the end of the season even if we have the 7-8th playoff spot. Even if you think its not going to happen, you can't but wonder what if. I mean that is the era of T-mac and Yao "What IF", may as well ride them both till they are gone. I can see the Rockets sign T-mac back and extend Yao's contract. Both have 3-4 years left, obviously less if they continue to suffer injuries. But it is what it is. I am glad RJ wrote a positive article, I am pretty sure many Rocket fans hope for the same outcome.
