Trust me, great players who are truly focused on winning a championship are always thrilled to get great players. It makes their job easier and brings them that much closer to their ultimate goal. Players who don't care about championships, who are more concerned about Artest taking their minutes or their shots, are the ones who don't like trades like this. And neither Battier nor Scola is that type of player.
Really, he said "I creamed my pants" and "dropped my ice cream cone" in chinese. But obviously it was lost in translation. I have Ph.Ds in divinity, augury, and chinese, that's how i can read it from my crystal balls.
i think if yao misses a first round playoff series, we can win without him if we face a team like utah again and everybody else stays healthy. but we need yao if we plya teams like the lakers or spurs with good big men.
Of all of big deals made by Western conference teams over the last year, this might be the best deal of all, even better than Gasol trade.....no I take that back, because the Lakers did have to give up anything for Gasol. We are giving up a promising rookie and next year's pick, but still Artest is a much better impact player than Gasol. And what makes this better than the other deals, such for Kidd or Shaq is...Artest is still fairly young and in his prime. Artest to Rockets > Gasol to Lakers, Kidd to Mavs, and Shaq to Suns.
I love Yao, but to be honest, I am really not interested at all in what Yao or T-Mac have to say about this deal. I'm sick of their injuries. If both of them had been healthy the last few years we would probably already have a championship. And if they get injured this year like they so often do, we're still not going anywhere, even with Artest.
if yao or tmac get injured this yr, esp. missing the playoffs, trade both of them. i don't care what people say. franchise players do not get injured every year and miss the playoffs.
...here's the rest of the article... "For this trade to happen it means the Rockets have to start winning right now," Yao said in an interview with FOX 26 Sports from Nanjing, China. "This is not for the future. "We gave up Green, a number one, and Bobby Jackson." Yao said Artest will be able to help the Rockets right away. "Obviously Ron Artest is a very physical player and that's what we need right now," Yao said. "This will bring us a lot of scoring in the paint and lots of rebounding. "I learned that in a game against him." Yao is impressed with Artest's versatility. "We now have a lot of options," Yao said. "He can play the three (small forward) and the four (power forward). "Ron Artest has lots of experience in the regular season and the playoffs." Yao is hopeful the acquisition of Artest, which will not become official until Aug. 14, will be the Rockets ticket out of the first round. Houston has not advanced past the first round in the last ten years. "What we have with this team before the trade was good," Yao said. "We can play pretty well in the regular season. "Now we can play better in the playoffs." However, Yao is not allowing himself to think about the potential to win an NBA championship." "We have to take this step by step," Yao said. "We have not gotten out of the first round in a few years. "We have to break that down first and then we can think about what we are going to do after that. Ron Artest will be help us do that." With that Yao returns to his primary focus right now and that is helping the Chinese National Basketball team in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Yao's statement about not the team not being able to play fundamental basketball in the playoffs tells you what the real situation is like. If Artest can help push them in the right direction,we might get in the 2nd round. Let's hope for health,gelling and a 2nd round playoff place first.
Yao is the only wussy missing playoff games. Artest needs to slap his wimpy face. Tmac is Tmac. Yao needs to be a man.
Artest is the one who can help Yao and Tmac to pass the first round, also reduce the load for both of them, so they will have less chance to get the injures. A hope for the NBA title is increased for at least ten folds, plus that Ron is a good person who was doing some stupid things, for himself he is not a bad person. After joining a great team like rockets he should be under the control. A great job for Morey.
I have been wondering if the schedule is favorable, can we string another big time winning streak? I say we can if we stay healthy and because adding Artest makes our defense even tougher. Offense can come and go, but a great defense will consistantly be there game after game.
