"The ends justify the means" was the philosophy that Machiavelli believed was required to achieve greatness and it seems like championship teams or contending teams have the players that fit into that mold. These teams have players that would/will do everything possible in order for their team to win. Do any of our players fit that mold? Are our team leaders or any of our role players willing to do all that it takes in order for the Rockets to achieve its ultimate goal which is a championship? It seems that some of our players seem so uninspired. I would hope that our players believe that representing the Rockets organization on the court is a privelage and an honour. Where is the toughness, want and the dog in our players? Where is the willing to push, shove, and hold in order to drive the opposing players nuts and eventually wear them out. Bobby Sura seemed to be the one player that had that mentality but is sadly now out. Isn't there anyone else on our team that has that same mindset? We need to add some Machiavellians; players who aren't concered about their image as a good guy but being a good player that can help the team.
I think Deke is a guy like that. He is not concerned with his image, only with results. Unfortunately, he is not a major enough contributor behind Yao to be able to influence the rest of the team much. This also may be the reason JVG likes RyBo so much.
I think it is about time we talked of Bobby Sura in the Past tense. True he did a good job when he played- but for heaven's sake let us not paint him as the savior. I am more at a loss with Barry than Sura.
I did mention Bobby Sura in the past tense. From rumors and several threads, it seems like his career may be done. If that is the case then we do need a player that has his toughness and heart. A player with his sort of mindset is what this team needs and could possibly be our savior.
This team clearly needs more players who live to win and want to die when they lose. I don't see that characteristic in any of our current players. But like I said in Will's thread last week, I don't know if there are that many players like that left in the NBA these days. It's not like it used to be.
It's really simple. We hit our shots, we win the game. It doesn't matter if our role players are fiery or not. A firey guy isn't going to get our players more open looks than they got last night. Yao and Tmac did their jobs. We don't need fire, we just need shooting.
One player that I think fits this category perfectly and would be an awesome addition to this team would be matt harpring. He's got incredible toughness and seems like a good solid team guy. He also reminds me a lot of Bob Sura but with a better jumpshot. I think the rockets can nab him this offseason and he would be a great addition to this team.
I think a Machievillian player is one who gets inside the opponent's head to make them lose as well as do all the little thinks to help us win. Remember Barkely in one of the playoff games where he whispered into an opponent's ear, "Don't miss" and the guy consequently missed his freethrow? Or like that article on Sam Cassel where he asked Avery Johnson, "How's momma's cooking?" during the fourth quarter to make Avery lose concentration? Right now only finger wagging Deke is all we have to get in the opponent's head. We used to have Mike James last year but now he is trying to get into Juwan Howard's head when we play Toronto. I'm hoping that Yao starts hollering stuff in Chinese while he slams home dunks to intimidate our opponents. Given that our team is now composed mostly of young guys, I doubt we got any active Machievellians.
Chinese trash talk would totally throw anyone off! How often do two people speak in chinese around you and you can't help but wonder if they're talking about you? Yao's not the trash talking type though. A shame, really.
that term sounds cool but i think you're using it wrong... it suggests that our players use deceit to treachery against against our own teammates for personal glory... i.e. kobe.
