We HAVE to re-sign this guy in the off-season!!!! He's on Tony Parker's level and his defense is as good as Lowry's! He's a true closer too!
Ron Artest always showed love to Houston. To answer your question, we drafted him in the first round, which guaranteed him a contract. We also gave him an opportunity to start very early in his career. All a moot point bc not that many people miss him here. Good riddance.
He might be bitter but then again this is in the middle of a game and he might just be focused on the game. He doesn't really feel like talking to fans so he says something off the cuff because he is annoyed.
I've said it before. When was the last time a starter for an NBA team lost his job due to injury? Nobody in the organization really acknowledged that. I think most people would be pretty bitter, too. Especially when everyone, even commentators, avoided telling the simple truth.
dude he is playing for another team in the middle of a game yeah if he really missed us he would express it in the middle of a game in front of his coworkers(err team) ,and the whole stadium area around you. maybe if you hung out with him he might say otherwise. What was he supposed to do? toss you his red rockets bowtie ,a wink ?? not so cleverly disguised thread ..why no name dropping?Where was laverne? or is it shirley? 3/10
This. Let's just all stop for a moment with the lynching and put ourselves in AB's shoes. You were a Rocket, you had an MIP season and asked for contract extension, with no success. You hurt yourself in the beginning of the year and the starting job went to Lowry. You came back and now sit on the bench. THEN, you get traded to the Suns. You struggle mightily to fit into the new team, and when you glance over, Rockets show no signs of missing a beat, go on a tear, and close in on the playoffs in your absence. And a random fan rubs it in during a game by saying "we miss you in Houston!" when the fan clearly doesn't mean it and the team clearly doesn't miss him. Now, the OP's statement was genuine. But if you're AB, you're thinking about the ulterior motives behind those words. You can rag on AB's attitude as you like. When he was wearing red, he was our de facto go to player in crunch time. Sure, his temper flared a few times too, but it's part of who he is, and you take the good with the bad. Last but not least: <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Sa8DJdF0sXk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
To clarify, I was being sincere. I genuinely enjoyed watching AB play, he had some great moments with the Rockets (so much so that he was lustily booed by the Lakers crowd when he shot some free throws). I guess you could say I got what was coming to me, but I didn't expect him to say "Yeah man, I miss Houston too, can you call DMorey up and get me back??" A simple "Thanks," or a head nod would have been cool. It was before the game even started, it wasn't during the second overtime or something. Bottom line, it was a little curt and I don't begrudge his bitterness, but I wasn't being sarcastic or intending to taunt him at all. At least the Suns lost.
Taken from another post: Didn't know where else to put this, but for some reason I got interested to see how AB did pre-injury this year. I know we started 0-5 (with the 5th game being AB's unfortunate ankle sprain), but I was just curious how he stacked up against himself from his MIP season the year before: Per Game: 18.4 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 5.4 APG, .8 SPG, 2.4 TOPG, 2.25 A/TO on 43.3 FG%, 39.3 3PT%, and 92.9 FT% in 29.7 MPG. Comparing this per game to his MIP year: 19.6 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 5.3 APG, .8 SPG, 2.8 TOPG, 1.89 A/TO on 43.2 FG%, 39.8 3PT%, and 82.2 FT% in 35.6 MPG. He was actually playing at about the same level in 5 less minutes per game as his MIP season. It's too bad we didn't get to see him at that level all season, and it was definitely time to move on, but he was a special player and I think Rockets fans should acknowledge that Manu incident as a definite turning point in his Houston career. So to marginalize the beginning of the season and say he was playing terrible pre-ankle sprain is just foolishness.
obvious he doesn't like the way things went as he wasn't paid via an extension. Team was honest with him and his agent. They wanted to be paid based on last year. The guy even admitted he let this effect his game. Yes there is a human element to being rejected but at some point you need to be motivated to prove them wrong for not paying you. He just was counting down the months/days/hours until he was no longer a Rocket. Good bye. I'm happy with the starting PG we have now and the team morale/chemistry has increased as well since the trade deadline.
