I'm sure Ron is in our plans. Unless he doesn't want to be. We either plan to re-sign him for good value, or we plan to sign and trade him for a good piece, or we plan to let him go if something better comes along in free agency that represents more value.
i dont think it's so much that they don't get along/dont like each other, but it seems like ron was probably whispering in tmac's ear to kepe playing, fight through the pain, warrior type stuff, and tmac probably started getting annoyed and that turned into ron rubbing tmac the wrong way. Then the comments where ron called him out sure didn't help, but i think ron wouldhave done the same thing to any other player who acted the same way.
Lots of teams have capspace this year for a very limited pool of free agents. I wouldn't be surprised if a team like Portland threw a multi-year offer at him. If he does decide to bolt, I hope we at least negotiate a SnT to get picks or prospects from the other team.
No GM is stupid enough to go out and say "Ron'll be gone this summer" while your team is still trying to make a playoffs push and wants to get something in return for Ron. With all the trade rumors and locker room rumors, I bet a S&T will be the biggest chance. It'll be a buyers market this summer. NBA is looking to lower salary cap. Ron is looking for a raise and it maybe tough for Ron to find a team which will pay him. If the route of S&T wont work, it may end up the Rockets sign Ron a for short term contract like 3 years/30-35 millions just to keep the Rockets in playoffs next season.
Before Ron's injury he was very active, getting steals seemingly whenver he wanted and was a force on offense. After his injury he has slowed a bit, not as active on defense or offense but you can tell he is getting it back. Last night was a good indicator that he is close to getting back to his old self. Ron is worth resigning, and, now I would bet, they wished they had when he first came on board. And he plays unselfish to me. Once he can start driving to the basket with some confidence should open up his offense more. when healthy he can drop 25 a night. TMac was just too injured early on and Ron gutted it up to help the team. He is intense, doesn't lose focus in the games. A lot like Scola. And we need that intensity to push past Utah if we meet them in the playoffs.
if there was ever a great time to resign ron artest it will be in 2009 offseason think about it: teams will be going into this offseason planning on dumping as much salary and gaining as much cap space as is possible. that said most teams that will want someone like ron will be bad teams or avg teams that have no real chance of winning it all. the really good teams have no cap space and will stand pat and make small changes cause they know they are right there and they know they cant afford ron cause he wont take MLE money to play on a winning team (ron wont take a paycut he is more interested in money than winning and thats obvios) i think a lot of teams will try to low ball ron artest this offseason and he will have little other competition for the money rockets offer him. i think its crucial rockets dont overpay ron and offer him a reasonable long term deal for 3 or 4 years at around 8 per i think rockets will have more bargaining power with ron artest than most people here assume
Not like Morey would have said Ron is NOT in the plans, or wait and see. He's being nice so Artest can feel an integral part of the current team. Doesnt want to distract Artest by making his status more uncertain, just have him focusing on playing
I am not sure whether Yao will resign from Rockets in this career, but I am sure Yao will re-sign with Rockets in 2010.
I agree with you 100pct. If we don't get out of the first round, Morey is not signing Artest. The NBA is not going to be immune to what's happening in the economy, the cap will be lower next year, attendence is going to be down, corporate support will be down. All this will filter down player movement and salaries.
Which other city has a great Chinese population that will lure Yao? I'm almost 100% sure Yao will resign before next year's free agent signings. I know Les Alexander likes the revenue and support he earns from the Chinese population, why not sign Yao to almost a max contract? As for Ron he plays and fits very well with our current roster with the exception of T-Mac so, I really hope we can go ahead and resign him for the next couple of years and hopefully get rid of T-Mac next year. *fingers crossed*
Kinda baffles me that the reported was obsessed with Morey's confirmation is that Yao is the most influential payer on the team. He sounded like a spy sent by Yao's agent.
