DD, you are probably not going to get your wish. What did you want more? Vspan starting or Ron leaving?
We only wanted to Artest to come off the bench. It was supposed to be T-Mac and Battier. Artest can gaurd anybody in the league and shut them down look at how many points Odom scored this series. If Artest is going to lead the 2nd unit were going to wreck people. We don't get this far this year without Artest. He has spotty shot selection but when you have Battier and Chuck starting there isn't much offensive production and somebody has to try and make something happen. Artest has won us some games this year and you can see how tough of a team we are with him. I will be dissapointed in Morey if he doesn't resign him. Only guy I can think that I would rather have and is a free agent is Shawn Marion but I think he is going to want more than what Ron is going to get.
maybe with a healthy squad,tmac in particular,there wont be as many bad shots. i saw give then a chance to gel,i think they can co-exist,i dont think they hate each other..
I never wanted VSpan starting so much, just for him to get some playing time to see if he could replace Rafer..... I think Ron could stay, if it was for a reasonable contract, but honestly, he is not nearly as good as he THINKS he is....and his efficiency is in serious decline. Within a year or two we are looking at Bonzi Wells 2 here.......give me a younger Wafer who can improve at a very reasonable contract over an aging player who is in decline and whose contract is hamstringing the franchise. DD
Fortunately, I don't think Morey uses the Scottie Pippen deal as his baseline for whether or not to offer a contract.
Kracka, True all of that, but Artest also lost us some games, when he just tried to do his thing...Chicago comes to mind right away.... I don't hate Ron, I just think his contract demands are going to be too high for his declining skillset. He can NOT guard anyone in the league, Roy and Kobe blew by him like he was standing in cement shoes....he is a good defender against softies like Odom.....and Ariza but not players that can actually dribble and have a decent first step. Do you think Ron will get faster as he ages? I don't.... I would take him back at 6 mill a year for 2 or 3 years, anything more than that is just overpaying. And I HATE his offensive production.....people rag on Corey Maggette, but the dude gets nearly 20PPG on only 11ish shots....he is SOOOO much more efficient and with Battier and he on the floor we have defense covered in Shane and offense with Corey. The team would be better off, with Maggette starting instead of Ron.....IMO. You do not compound one mistake by adding another. DD
All of you guys in here that are doing the “take the MLE or leave it crap” for Ron really need to think where the hell we would be without him. It is not often you find players who are as tough as Ron is. For all he has done for this team AND will continue to do is worth more than Swift money. Really, I wish you all would form a line so I could slap you all in the face at the same time. Is he worth max money…no few players are. Is he worth more then MLE? Hell yes. Let DM do the dirty work and lock him up for the next few years. Seriously, some of you guys posting in here are idiots. If we don’t’ resign him, he walks, we get nothing in return. We are going to be over the cap again and they speculate a reduction in the cap so all we can get is some scrub for MLE money. All I ask of you is think before you post dumb crap.
If he comes off the bench then he would have limited minutes to put up some poor shots. Sometimes you need a guy to take over and Ron isn't that guy true. There are only so many superstars that are pretty much unstopable I mean are you really going to say his defense isn't that good because Kobe Bryant and Brandon Roy can beat him. If thats the case nobody in the league can play defense then. Obviously you get slower when you age. It's called getting old. As for speed ever being any part of Ron's skillset............... DD you know Morey isn't going to agree to a bad contract. So whatever Morey resigns him for I am sure it is worth it. Now I see your true colors (Corey Maggete). He looks like a beast with the Warriors. I bet he is having a good time being the main scorer and not playing defense and losing games with the warriors right now. Don't forget that Ron is supposed to come off the bench eventually when we figure out our SG spot. Will Corey Maggete come off the bench and accept that he is now a role player on a deep Rockets squad? The team would have been better offensively with Battier and Mcgrady starting! Plus Ron is crazy and people respect his craziness. The best thing he brought to this team was toughness and he will always be that no matter how old he gets. As for Maggete's 4 more years at 10 million. Im sure it wont be as hamsrtinging as whatever Rons gets.
Ron is worth 8M a yr. He works hard and actually made it through the season Ron brings toughness and an identity to our team. I would like the Rockets to re-sign Wafer also. Unless Morey can get something legitimate back for TMac, I'm ok with the same roster going into next season. Maybe we can finally put it all together and have everyone out there for our postseason run.
Damn, everyone forgets that Ron was the primary defender on Lebron that time we blew them out. Artest has played good defense against a lot of top players, yeah Roy and Kobe are quicker than him but whose stronger than him? If we meet the Nuggets in the playoffs and play against Melo, whose going to stop him? Battier? He's not strong enough, he's quick enough but it wont matter because he'll get moved out of the way.
Let's assume T-Mac can come back healthy and we resign Ron. We would most likely bring one of them off the bench. Let's say T-Mac off the bench since Ron off the bench wasn't too effective. This way, we could both limit their inefficient shooting.
Just let him walk. His D is overrated and his offense is some of the worst in the league. Hes a good spot up 3 point shooter but thats about it. Most of the time hes just hurting the team in the offensive end. I much rather keep battier.
I'm with you here DD, I just don't see the value of Artest on this team, besides his toughness and swagger of course. He was brought in to compliment T-mac and Yao, not be our first option, I'd rather Wafer be our first option if that was the case. He's one of the most inefficient players I've ever seen, I think Luther Head had a better playoff shooting %... And yes, his defense is suspect, his size bothers a lot of people, but anyone with a quick first step will blow right past past him. Although this has been our best "3rd scorer" experiment, I'd offer him MLE money or slightly above for 3 years, and I want him coming off the bench.
DD, As much as I like Maggette's game I think he's a liabilty in the health department. He has never played a full season and the last few years he has missed a ton of games. I do love the fact that he takes it to the hole a lot and draws a lot of fouls. If we got him on the cheap then I'm all for it but his health is always an issue for me.
Ron is worth at least $10 million to 11 million per for four years and will command that on the market IMO. The deal can have incentive clauses about his weight, behaviour (so far it's not an issue), and Ron has said and is on record that he doesn't care if he starts, about his stats, or playing time at the beginning of this season before T-Mac got hurt. The man is a true Rocket and wants to continue to be an asset on the court and in the community, and as many have mentioned, he brings toughness, craziness which brings respect and improves the teams identity just by his unpredictable nature. This and his intangibles like being a great teammate and loving the Rockets is invaluable and with Yao healthy his shot selection is much better because he has time to set his feet on his elevation due to the Yao double team kick out to himand and he gets better looks and doesn't have to put the rock on the floor. Ron will adjust his game and his shot selection or whatever it takes to help the team because he's a true professional who is happy with his team and simply wants security financially for his family. For those saying pay him the mid level or no more than 8 million don't understand that would be a paycut and that's simply not going to happen. Morey should trade T-Mac for two bigs (at least one 7 footer who plays down low on the block) to backup Yao and play the 4 and a pure shooter like Stephan Jackson IMO and the team could also use a veteran PG with handles and a pass first mentality who can penetrate with speed to compensate for Lowry and Brook's lack of experience in the passing game.
