Artest isn't better than a fully healthy Tracy McGrady. But he is tougher. Artest will rough up the guy he's defending and he'll force his way to the basket - something Tracy would not really do. Artest doesn't have the playmaking ability of McGrady, and he actually will take worse shots than McGrady, which I didn't think was possible. And though I hope so, I don't think Artest will keep up his insane shooting streak all the way through the end of the year. But what Artest brings to the table - and make no mistake, Ron is a really good player when firing on all cylinders - is exactly what this team needed right now.
now this is a great post. and DD, kobe just became a superstar in these last 2 years? that's a ridiculous statement.
Sure it does, talent is huge....I would not agrue that, but there is a reason that this team is better now without Tmac dominating the ball, and it is not talent. It is teamwork.....If Tmac could learn to play within the team concept and not dominate the ball, he would be a much better player. Maybe when he gets back from his rehab, he will be that player...who knows? It took Hakeem 11 years and a 15 game winning streak while he was injured to realize his teamates could play too..... Perhaps this is Tmac's wake up call.
Please don't tell me your riding the Rafer bandwagon after he had like two good games. You of all people know that Rafer is the streakiest player in the world. Even if he gets more assists he still shoots the ball like 12 times a game. Look up his Orlando stats. I wonder how happy they are with him.
See it is comments like this that make me want to ignore you..... It is a different barometer of Superstar.....nothing more. DD
For the Record, I think Tmac did exactly what JVG told him to do, it was one of the reasons I wanted JVG gone....team ball over me-ball. I am going to bed I have to get up in 6 hours.....thanks for some interesting BBall conversation, once we got past the name calling. DD
Oh I thought for a moment you were saying Rafer might become a great player. I've already said that McGrady isn't a good fit with THIS team. Adelmlan's style of play is completely different and doesn't fit well with big time superstars who take lots of shots. However what I am saying is that just because Tmac hasn't been a good fit with Adelman's coaching style doesn't mean he couldn't have been effective somewhere else with a decent team. You can't say he's not good with this team therefore he's not good with any team. That's ignoring a lot of variables.
I don't think that the Lakers would have been able to get past Portland if McGrady was in place of Kobe on that team. I think a Shaq/T-Mac led combo would have probably won 1 championship(ie the 3rd one). Shaq obviously would have been the star and dominator.
T-Mac was on his way to superstar status during those years, in 03 he was better than Kobe. I disagree with your statement.
no doubt Tmac has been and will be far more talented than Ron, but now iit seems that he is not a good teammate, a good teamplayer or a true worrior on the court.
T-Mac's got zero maturity, he's got zero drive, and he does not make his team better. Go back and look at the Weisbrod interview. T-Mac's attitude was "I got my points, what do you want me to do?" He's always lost because he's a loser.
LOL! Just when I thought it really wasn't possible for you to be any more arbitrary with your selective analysis. Perhaps you can also cite the exact date from the Gasol trade for an exact designation of Kobe's duration as a superstar? lol
I'm pretty sure DD's point is that Shaq leaves and Kobe and the Lakers turn into losers. Now the Lakers have no Shaq but they're widely considered favorites to win it all. Why? A big part of it has to be that Kobe has finally learned to trust his teammates. A real superstar not only scores a ton but he also makes his teammates better and part of that is being able to pass them the ball. That's why Kobe's a superstar and T-Mac never has been. Probably never will be either.
I've asked you this numerous times in the other thread, but you haven't responded. What was this 'team ball' you wanted with our other teams? You just keep shifting the blame from Tracy onto JVG and avoiding the fact that we had one of the most pathetic supporting casts in the league. So what were they to do? Whether it was Tracy or JVG, I don't care. What more were they to do with David Wesley, Juwan Howard, etc than they already did? IIRC, they had the best or second best record in the league in the second half of 05. what more did you want? i'm pretty sure you're going to give your standard response that "i don't think his style of play is conducive to winning in the playoffs." Okay, so what were they to do in the playoffs with that roster?
Could you really be any more discretionary? This is getting silly. This is pretty simple. 'A big part of it' is that his team actually got some talent. Bynum actually improved. They brought back Fisher. They added Ariza. Oh yeah, let's not forget about...Pau Gasol. I seriously can't believe you guys are trying to pass this off as some evolution on the part of Kobe when he conveniently just happened to start trusting his teammates the same year he actually got some teammates and the same year they actually became good.
Cabbage, But he also trusts Sasha, Farmer, Walton etc. I do find it funny that you are saying arbitrary, What do you think any of this is? I mean...it is all arbitrary, your opinions, mine, badgers.....that is funny, seriously. I think our baseline for Superstar is different, and thus we are not going to agree. You ask me what he could have done with Wesley and Howard? Lead them.....trust them......just like Hakeem when he led his rag tag bunch. I guess that is another thing Tmac sucks at....leadership....but hey that is only my arbitrary opionion. DD
