Now that the season's over, do we re-sign Ron Artest?

2 wrongs do not make a right.

DD

 

BTW . . .we was as much a part of the D . . .as he is the O

Rocket River

 

That's basically you.

 

The difference is that McGrady is double teamed and still makes those 'bad' shots. McGrady is a much better shooter than Artest, but I agree with your assessment. Ron knows he's not the first option behind T-Mac, Yao and maybe Brooks, so his shot selection is bearable. Without the two superstars, Artest tries to take more shots, and we clearly see the result of that. With Yao and T-Mac (or some other good offensive threat), Artest will be fine.

 

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Ron made no difference, and against the Lakers he might have hurt us. He helped us in the regular season, but as brooks emerged, Ron became a liability.

Ron is a ball-stopper.

 

And T-mac can actually pass the ball and is a decent rebounder.

 

People can look at individual stats all day, but stats tell one story, not the whole story. The one stat that matters is win-loss. The Rockets gave Yao and T-Mac max contracts and never got out of the first round. In one season with Yao and Artest, the Rockets delivered one of the greatest seasons in franchise history. And now some of you want Artest, the guy who played the most minutes during this "magical" playoff run, gone? Geez.

Artest was NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE the star on the team. He signed with the intention of being the third option. He is obviously not great if put in the superstar role which is what he had to do when T-Mac and Yao got injured. He would not be in that role next season, he'd be in his more natural role of being the third (or fourth) option on offense. As the third best player on a team, Artest is an absolute bargain at $7-$8 million. You can't bash him for not being a superstar because he was never supposed to be. He's supposed to be an above average player who gets you 10-15 points, plays great defense, and most importantly, toughens up a team that was labeled as "soft" before he got here.

 

Really hard to answer without knowing $s and years. A more interesting question would be, do you sign Artest if it cost $12+ million per year at 4+ years to do it (which I am guessing is the absolute least he would even look at if not more). That's the real question and a pretty hard one ot answer. I think if you can sign him for what the average salary of the third best player on all 16 playoff teams is, I'd do it. I would NOT give him #2 money. While I love his fire and his courage, he has too many liabilities.

 

If you beleive that
no need to further discuss it with you

Rocket River

 

We would have been knocked out by Portland if Ron didn't have a big game 6 IMO.Beating them on the road in a Game 7 would have been very difficult,despite Portland's inexperience. Is Ron perfect? By no means.He makes a lot of mistakes,quite a few of those are unacceptable. Nevertheless, he is a fighter who wants to win.If we can get someone better trade him,otherwise keep him without busting the bank or giving him too many years.

 

I wouldn't give him more than 8M plus bonuses for 3 yrs.

 

You've got to re-sign him. His defense, attitude, and physicality towards the other team completely makes him worth it.

I'd be shocked though if Yao, T-mac, and Artest were all on the team next season.

 

Artest was supposed to come on from the bench anyways..
Because Tmac and him can't play together i guess..
Both of them could jack up shots all day and it could be bad for players like Wafer, Brooks, Scola, etc.

If I had to choose between Artest and Tmac (healthy) I would choose Tmac as he can pass the ball too. But i still don't know when Tmac will be healthy again

 

Wow. What a god awful post.



Just GOD AWFUL. SPEECHLESS.

 

the problem is that the Celts and Rockets aren't really comparable. the Rockets can't start T-Mac, Artest and Battier unless Artest can move to the 4 and be effective there. come playoff time, there's no way i start Artest over Battier if i'm forced to choose. the Rockets don't win a single game against the Lakers without Battier's defense on Kobe, and clutch shooting. so long as T-Mac is healthy, Yao, T-Mac, Scola and Brooks is enough offense with Battier open for threes.

 

YES, the guy has heart, he compete and he is not afraid to tell the young guys or the old guys if they are doing something wrong. He is willing to push kobe bryant, this is the type of tough guy that you need in future playoffs. A more mature aron brooks and kyle lowry will hopefully take away from of the dribble dribble away from artest. But we won't be in 2nd round game 7 without him this season. Hopefully and a big IF tracy can come back healthy, it'll take away some of the artest bad shots. And having shane and artest on defense just make this team elite.

 

I like Ron, I wouldn't mind re-signing him...better than not..he'll find his niche, and battier will keep him level headed.

 

ron artest is doing it at 1/3 the salary and that's the difference. Even if he resigns at a higher salary thats still better than the 23mil owed to a guy that missed 60 games this year and coming into next season off a microfracture knee surgery.

 

Even if Morey decides Artest isn't in the team's future, I don't see why he wouldn't try to re-sign him to a reasonable contract. Just for Artest's future trade value alone you'd do it IMO.

 

Imagine this situation:

IF the Lakers don't go as far as they want and fall short to the Nuggets or in the Finals (and I personnaly believe they will), I have talked with many Laker fans who thought that if they didn't win it all, Kobe would probably leave because he is a FA.
Now what Kobe wants and needs the most, is a team hungry for victory with a big man he can play next like Shaq. All roads point to Houston? Could be.

Would you sign Kobe for a 1 year deal? The roster would be wicked and we wouldn't loose that hunger that has driven us..

However, I doubt that Kobe is much of a teammate.