Why do you say that? This is the disconnect I have with some fans here. This Rocket team...flawed as it is won 55 games last year with Yao missing 27...... They were learning an entirely new offensive and defensive system and integrating several new players into the rotation at different points of the year.... Scola, Landry, Brooks, Bjax, Harris Having a year under Adelman and coming into camp familiar with their roles will only make the team stronger. And adding someone like Barry is HUGE...while it may seem small, his ability to play the overall floor game is SOOOOOO important...... We do not need Ron Ron and his Nutcase nature.... This team is RIGHT THERE already.....no need to gum it up with a Pippen like move. DD
We have Adelman as the coach and we shouldnt worry about the chemistry. Adelman and Artest knows each other well. Artest for Adelman and he worked well with him.
Artest isn't a "chemistry risk" with teammates, he's a chemistry risk with social norms and possibly sanity.
Uh, one year together and I believe Adelman was fired after that year....right? Artest is a flake.....let him go destroy someone else's team. He tosses coaches and organizations under the bus all the time.....I am shocked that so many people want Scottie Pippen part deaux on the Rockets.... I hope that Morey doesn't agree with them. DD
Your plan seems to consist of hope that lightining is caught in a bottle again like during the streak. Tracy & Yao miraculously staying healthy is an unlikely event. Brett Barry isn't penetrating anything at age 36 coming off a season in which 90% of his shots consisted of outside jumpers. Brooks was desperately unready to be much assistance last year. If Landry re-signs hope he can be good, he was valuable but he is apparently playing on gimpy knees also.
^ PS it is pretty funny to see you taking the "Rox are so close!" tactic this year. Last offseason, the Rockets had pretty much accomplished the exact same things in 0607 as they did in 0708 - yet you were screaming bloody murder for coaching changes and this and that. Now they do the same thing and you go all "stay the course - everything's fine, they're so close!" - not surprising but funny nonehteless
Winning it all takes a combination of all of the above, and health and luck....we have hitched our Wagon to Tmac and Yao, I don't beleive you can plan for injury, you just assume they are going to be able to stay healthy. It depends on the role he is being asked to play, if he is used exactly like San Antonio did, then fine...but I think he will be asked to move more this year....in Houston. Yep, his rookie year he was lost a good amount of times, but he has had a year in the system, and all reports are he has been working extra hard with the coaches this summer, so if you believe in his promise, and Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant did last year when he was on the USA select team, then you have to believe he becomes that change of pace backup PG....we covet. Landry's knees are fine, you don't honestly believe that Morey is telling the truth in contract negotiations do ya? The Rockets let him play late last year after many many exams, they know exactly what is up with his knees. DD
i've been saying this since i joined... Artest will catapult us into the Finals without a doubt EVEN IF Yao or Tracy go down with injuries...that's the kind of player Artest is and that's what kind of game he brings night in and night out... hopefully my dream comes true...i've been on Artest for over a month and i would fully embrace his nut bag if were to sign with the Rockets... keeping fingers crossed...
Totally different team and roster. We had Chuck Hayes starting at the PF spot 2 years ago, now we have 2 guys better than him on the Roster in Scola and Landry. We have Brooks, we have Barry.....overall.....the team is better and more versatile....... I would still take an upgrade at PG.....though. DD
Because even in the unlikely event that Yao and McGrady stay healthy all year. We lack depth at SG. Barry is a nice 37 year old role player, but he is not the SG we need coming off the bench to spell McGrady. McGrady is T-Mac until he gets tired. He gets tired, because we have no legit scoring threat when he is out of the game and thus he has to play too many minutes and shoulder too much of the load. When Mcgrady is out teams lag back on Yao and dare everybody else to beat them. When Mcgrady is in they grab and hold him as much as they can get away with (which is a lot) which tires him out and frustrates him and he starts chunking up bad shots. Artest can play 2, 3, or 4 on defense. It gives Adelman all kinds of flexibility and will allow McGrady and Yao to get more rest. Artest is also a demon on defense and can create his own shot.
back in the 90's there was another player who was known to be a nutjob they said he "ruins chemistry", "can not get along with coaches" "uncoachable" a"Attention freak" , etc. etc and all this talk that i read on this thread about artest - which BTW maybe true, but it only reflects his personal passion, which i do not see in tMac or Yao. guessed who it was, yet??? Rodman. and he proved to be an important part of three championships for the Lucky Bulls ( who were luck enough not to face the dream in the finals) The right coach can channel that passion in the right direction. and he ended up in a team of premadaonnas - remember Pippen?? (we all know how self absorbed that guy was.) i think the same can happen here with Artest.
wrong Wrong...WRONG !!! Rodman went to a team with strong leadership, and had someone that could put him in his place when he acted up....in Chicago. We do NOT have strong leadership here in Tmac and Yao...... Team building is crucial, hierchy is crucial, understanding the dynamics of the workplace and leadership is crucial. That is why Ron Artest does not fit...he would completely screw this team over chemistry wise...... The only place I could see him going would be somewhere like Boston or LA where they have established leaders that could tell him to STFU when he stepped out of line...which he does....all the danged time. Chemistry, folks....it is all about chemistry.......Ron Ron....is a chemistry destroyer, IMO. DD
Technically, we don't have Landry on the roster yet... And the team is better but also older where it matters. And they have proven yet again that they can't stay healthy, which has been far too prominent over the past 3 years regardless of who was surrounding Tracy and Yao...and not once did we have a player that could bring adequate fire power in their absence.
If we all agreed this board would be extremely boring, wouldn't it? That's why it pisses me off when people call other's idiots or haters and such. I don't often agree with you DD, but I do appreciate the way you go about your business.
But CCR, you can NOT go into a season and plan for injury, that doesn't work. You go in hoping that this year everyone stays healthy..... You don't see the Spurs over reacting to Manu's injury do ya? If the Yao and TMac era ends without a championship because of injury, so be it....but the team has chosen to hitch their wagon to them so you build around them being healthy and you work hard as an organization to try to keep them that way. Brent Barry will spell Tmac and I doubt Yao has as heavy a workload this year, especially in practice. DD
It is all a matter of respect, and we are all just voicing our opinions.....which are skewed by life experiences. Again, I would take on Artest if it was a silly Kwame Brown type of deal...BJax and Head for instance. But not if it included any of the 8 rotational players for this year.... Rafer Tmac Yao Battier Scola Landry Barry Brooks Well, maybe Rafer. DD
Why would the Spurs overreact to Manu's injury? They've won 4 championships in the last 10 years. The Rockets haven't won a damn playoff series in that same time. The Rockets also get injured as a result of having weak, unreliable backups for their stars, which results in fatigue. It's not just a luck thing. "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
The Rockets are not doing the same thing over and over....last year they brought in Scola, Landry, Brooks, Harris, Bjax, etc..... This year Greene, Dorsey.....etc.... You do not rebuild every year, a team's success comes on a foundation of failures. DD
Dakota: 1. Your repeated argument in this thread that Artest has led his team nowhere is laughable at best. He wouldn't be brought in as a franchise cornerstone and even more ironically, he's won more playoff series' in his career than Yao, McGrady, and Battier put together. 2. Your repeated citing of Brooks' eminent improvement as some assured source of improvement is even more laughable. Seriously. He's a cute little player and all, but let's get serious. I don't think I need to explain myself in this regard...
