Do we have pictures of his swollen knee? I'm not trying to be an ass but I'm starting to doubt the injury is even real or not.
No matter if Asik is there or not. You got to have surround the team with defensive PFs and good defensive backup SFs that can actually play. Don't throw everything to the defensive Center who is overwhelmed with his task. The same thing as last season. Apart from Asik nobody else in the front court was good defensively every night. Not only minimum guys who might or might not redeem themselves after bad seasons with other teams.
I am still skeptical. He hasn't been on the sideline at all. He is probably pissed we didn't trade him.
Asik is too young to have some random phantom injury that just won't heal. 12 games missed now with no foreseeable time table to return yet the injury is undiagnosed? Guy is not 48.
I don't believe it. Sure, maybe he has a bruise that keeps him from playing but I didn't even see him at the game yesterday on the bench (anyone else saw him?). Especially a home game, he should at least be on the bench like Greg Smith, Beverly. He's hurting the team with his attitude, we could really use him right now.
I sure as hell wouldn't. I can understand that, and if that is the case - that this is a mysterious injury that the doctors can't figure out - than we are going to be stuck with him. That is even worse than "fake injury / refusing to play until traded" because it eliminates ALL trade leverage. But the longer we go with no Asik on the court and no real updates on his situation (and no Asik on the sidelines during games) the more suspicious it becomes. We NEED him out on the court, or we NEED what he can bring us in a trade. Plain and simple.
Conspiracy theories. I swear you all need tin foil hats. Asik is much harder to trade if he is injured. He and the Rockets would never go that route. It would be counter productive.
Probably faking the swelling by putting some cream on his skin which causes a reaction. I don't trust that punk one bit!
Uh... what if he and the Rockets aren't on the same page? That is my concern. Of COURSE he's much harder to trade if injured, especially if it's a mysterious injury that the doctors can't figure out and that doesn't want to heal. Why does this not concern you?
Clearly the swelling is being caused by an unusual physical situation. Doc's are scratching their heads. I say get him to an acupuncturist just like parsons and any knowledgeable person would do. It produces fast results. i wonder if they tried that route ? hate to think that it's caused by Texans disease.....Taking a Knee.....................
I am concerned. But not because I think Asik is faking the injury. I wonder how long it will be until he is scoped? And Asik wants to be traded, Morey wants to trade him, so I cannot see them being on different pages as far as this is concerned.
I am honestly not sure if he is faking it, but I am NOT going to rule that out. There are a few factors here that just don't add up. Yes, he wants to be traded. Yes, Morey wants to trade him. But that didn't stop him from pulling the "I'm not playing" card in November until he switched agents. Perhaps he is not communicating fully with the Rockets FO? Something is obviously wrong with the situation beyond what we know.
Nevertheless, I am reminded of that scene from "Sideways". Jack just took a severe needed-a-hospital-visit beating from the girl he was stringing along but who found out from her friend Mia that Jack is about to get married on Saturday. It was Jack's friend Miles who had inadvertently let slip the secret to Mia. Jack is highly suspicious and keeps trying to get Miles to confess, but Miles' lies become more and more evasive. So I'll change the situation to me talking to Morey about Asik. Morey: And what are you implying, Mike? What is this 'Cubans on the grassy knoll' business? I tell you, Asik has chronic swelling of the knee. Won't go away til early February or so. Me: (eyes narrowed) I don't know....Seems awfully fishy to me.
It certainly could be that Morey views Asik as to valuable a trade chip to risk injury. In which case he might keep him on injured reserve until a trade is arranged. Whatever, the Rockets have more than enough talent to compete for home court advantage even without Asik. I do trust Morey and his evil, scheming mind.
I also trust Morey, but I find it unlikely he is keeping him stashed away to avoid injury. It seems that the longer his injury persists the more his value drops. Sure, there are other things going on that mitigate that (big men seem to be dropping like flies these days), but if you want to maximize his value it seems to me you'd want to play him. And we certainly could have used his presence on the court in several games this season. Especially against the bottom-feeders wee seem to have a knack for losing against. My worry is that Asik isn't cooperating with the team. If that is the case then that is not good - for the team or for Asik.
We just don't have enough information to accurately assess the situation. But Asik has always seemed like a warrior except for the game or two when he lost his spot on the rotation. I wouldn't read to much into the situation.
hah some more conspiracy theory What if Morey promised Asik that he'll be the only starting center for Rockets for the foreseeable future and then went and sign Howard. Because Asik agent was incompetent and didn't have it in the contract, Asik was mad and fired his agent. Morey knowing that he did Asik wrong is allowing him to ride out his injury/ covering up a phantom injury so he doesn't get in trouble with the league and continues to collect his checks until he can find a trade of value for him. *tin hat off* Because of what Asik did for us last year, getting us into the playoff, became a big reason why Dwight is here, and busted his butt off anchoring the defense for us, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. I hope he gets better very soon, and if he's not injured, I hope Morey find a trade for him soon so we can both be happy. At first I was mad at Asik, but really, I'm just mad at the situation.
