Artest in....Keep Battier or trade to upgrade pg position?

enough with this talk of upgrading PGs by giving up Battier. lest anyone forgets, Adelman's motion offense doesn't require a traditional or a scoring PG. everyone gets an opportunity to make plays. in that sense, Barry and Artest are perfect additions to this team. Alston (and Brooks and even to a degree Francis) will also have one more year of learning Adelman's offense.

 

I want very much to have Artest and Battier on the court at the same time. They're going to make it very tough for anybody to get any shot and with Yao inside, no chance for them to do anything inside as well. Artest have play PF for the Kings before so I wonder what Rick Adelman is going to do. I sort of like TMac playing PG to in order to have Battier and Artest and Scola on the court. I am sure they're all going to be on the court during crucial moment of the game, but as far as starting lineup...i dunno.

 

Scola, Deke, Dorsey, Hayes and Artest(!) in that order. even Landry and Battier can play an occasional minute or two at the center position. but i do agree, a backup center (must protect Yao at all costs) is much more important than an upgraded PG.

 

Skip is the best ball handler on the team. His assist/TO ratio is incredible. We MUST keep him at PG. Having Tmac, artest, scola, and yao as scoring options is MORE than enough!

 

True,

Barry, McGrady, Battier, Artest, Scola, and Yao are all very good passers.

Great set of guys for the team!!!!



Simply a great tandem. In my opinion, completely unexpected Artest would be a Rocket.

 

If we lose Battier, this Artest trade will mean nothing.

 

absolutely keep battier, rafer is decent when he is not forced to jack up shots, and theres no need to upgrade the point and lets just hope francis is able to contribute.

We all see how much rafer improved in not his spot up shooting, but rather his scoring on penetration, esp. his floaters and layups. As long as rafer is not forced to be forcing a shot, his efficiency in the offensive end is only going to improve.

Oh man our team is super strong now if francis is able to contribute and if brooks is able to improve and play spot minute. Virtually no holes!

 

If we can trade Battier for someone like AI, i would do it...otherwise...no no!! The combo of Artest/Battier is just too good to be true...1..2...punch defenders....and 1...2...punch offenders (Yao/Tmac).

 

I only will trade Bat man for a prime time PG. I hate to lose him, but the PG position is too important for us to have Alston man it. Looks like AI is on the table, we should make a push for AI. We are going to be one hell of versatile team with AI on board. We can play fast pace game with teams like Suns, NO. And we can play slow tempo game with the Spurs.

AI
Artest
Tmac
Scola
Yao

This is hell of lineup. You gotta give it try. Boston made a big gamble that paid off at the end. You gotta pull the trigger. Time is not waiting on us.

 

Don't forget how flaky Artest is. Don't get rid of Battier yet, unless it is another knockout deal. Is the Iverson deal still in the making? You never know what's up Morey's sleeves.

 

Wow just wow ... big 4!

 

I can see it now. 23!

 

The Rockets win with Alston. He's been running this offense for awhile now, and there's something to be said for continuity. Introducing Artest and Barry into the offense is enough change for now. The Rockets are loaded and ready to make a run. Let's kick back and enjoy the show.

 

Chauncey was a trade and Nash was a free agent signing. Baron Davis comes to mind too, just for recent history.

 

The more I think about it, the more I think we HAVE TO keep Battier.

The defense we can play with both Battier and Artest on opposing teams' superstars (Kobe) is just so incredible that it is more important than any upgrade we could get at point guard.

Plus, again, the more I think about it, the more I think that Alston is actually really perfect for the other players we have now.

Realistically, as someone posted, this pushes him way down as an offensive option. The idea of getting Iverson seems crazy now - you have extremely good offensive players in Yao Ming, McGrady, Artest, Scola - where are all the shots supposed to come from? Somebody would have to sacrifice.

With Alston, on the other hand, his strength really is keeping turnovers low and just starting the offense. He is also an underrated defender, in my opinion. Plus, we have Iverson lite in Aaron Brooks already. AND - most of the shots Alston took last year should go to Brent Barry this year, who is a much higher percentage shooter.

I wouldn't even do Battier and Alston for Billups now - might look good on paper, BUT what upgrade do you really get? You get a fairly expensive already 32-year old guy who shoots better than Alston. However, he would probably shoot a lot less on the Rockets than he did on Detroit's team. So that would make the upgrade less valuable.

So - no, we have to keep Battier by all means. I want Battier to retire as a Rocket in several years - and with several rings.

(Of course, if you could do something like Francis, Alston, Head and a couple of second-rounders for Billups, you do it.)

 

Well put. Couldn't agree more.

The balance in the team is there now. Any more supposed "big" moves might just end up destroying the chemistry and weaken the balance of our squad.

Sometimes too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Case in point: that Laker squad with Malone, Payton, Shaq and Kobe.

 

The Lakers team that made it to the finals? Nah, we wouldn't want that.

 

Lakers never got a ring since those two old farts came.

 

Leave the roster as is for now.....wait to see if Francis can make a comeback before tinking with the PG situation......maybe replace Novak with Leunen...

 

PG: Alston (22), Barry (18), Brooks (8), Francis (0)
SG: T-Mac (34), Battier (14), Head (0)
SF: Artest (34), Battier (14), Novak (0)
PF: Scola (30), Landry (14), Hayes (4)
C: Yao (30), Dorsey (10), Mutombo (8)

Realistically, we would have a big hole at the backup swingman position if we traded Battier for a PG, whereas we really ALREADY upgraded our PG position just by getting Barry as a backup guard. If Brooks improves a lot and/or Francis actually comes back and is able to contribute, that will just be an added bonus.

Looks to me like Harris might be gone...either him, or we trade Head for a TE or something. But having Head as the last guy on the depth chart for spot backup duty or to come in and hit a three is a nice luxury as well. The way it might play out is that we have to cut Harris first, then later trade Head for a TE at some point during the season and sign Harris back on.

If we were to trade Battier for a PG, and Billups is the only one that comes to mind that would sort of make sense, then Barry and Brooks would not see minutes.