About AK: Les said he'd pay luxury tax for the right player... I'm not sure he's the right player, given his huge salary, injury history, and last year's performance... Morey and Adelman will have to do a helluva selling job to convince Les of that. Given his salary and luxury tax rules... I know I'd hesitate if this is my money. Artest, on the other hand, while a head case, has a small salary for a short duration. He was also DPOY with a pretty decent array of offensive moves. He is no doubt a real star, talent-wise. So, if you give a way some minor assets for him, you go for it. You don't give away Shane Battier for a short-term rental, though. The actual perfect PF to play next to Yao would actually be Kevin Garnett and Shawn Marion, but they are pipe dreams anyhow.
He is frickin psycho, but the is so good. Do that deal in an absolute second. Artest was actually pretty quiet in Sacramento when Adelman was there, he was behaving and was productive, he and Bonzi lead them to the playoffs. Do that deal, do Juwan for Mike James, and then we may be able to get something decent with Battier + 26th pick for Wilcox. And sign Bonzi also. Those are feasible. C- Yao, Deke PF - Wilcox / Bonzi SF - Artest, Bonzi SG - T-Mac, Bonzi PG - James, Rafer, JL3
This existing rockets rosters are made up of career playoffs losers, except Mutombo, from what i see, the rockets desperate need a player who have the fierce competitive mental and winner experience. Artest maybe a fierce competitor who will help teams to win some games but his stupid attitude will definitely cause his team to lose some games too. When is the last time Artest's teams really win some big games or a playoff series. I m afraid it was 3-4 years ago!
If we can lay hands on Marion, forget Artest, Lewis, James. Anything maybe even Tmac if Suns is willing to throw in more piceces like Diaw in the mix.
I would do this trade in a heartbeat, as long as Battier is traded for the right 1 or 4 (or quality fills for both).
you would trade tmac for matrix? you're nuts. if phoenix could get tmac for shawn, they'd be calling us all night and delivering chocolates.
Holy cow I would do that deal in a hearbeat but common there is about a dozen teams out there than can put together a better crap package.
This would be a great trade for the rockets. We get rid of players that didn't even play last year to get a star player in return. If this trade is to materialise, we can deal battier for an athletic PF. Since Artest would be playing at the SF position, that makes Battier expendable.
Without giving up battier or head?. thats downright daylight robbery. we get Artest for a group of bench players and a guy who is retiering?. how can you say no to that?.
Seattle would be on that trade like skank on Britney, 'cause Battier is MUCH better all-around and a more valuable player than Wilcox will ever be. If Morey pulled the trigger on a deal like that, I'd lose faith in him immediately. And you'd throw a first-round pick in as well?!?
I agree. There are people on this board that became enamored with Wilcox overnight for seemingly no reason. Maybe he is a great player on their Playstation? He can't block shots, he is overpaid, he can't shoot, he isn't an outstanding rebounder. He is solid, big, and somewhat athletic. But it takes too much to get his motor going. And thats all he is. Nothing more.
That would creat a mega log jam the 2 to 3 spot, if we were to go after lewis as well. say tracy start at the 2 and lewis at the 3, where does that leave Artest. he wont be coming off the bench?.tracy or lewis sure wont be coming. if we get artest, that would probaly rule us out of the lewis sweep stakes.
Hey! Give DD a break. He has been silent for a while. I did see him on the Rocket CHat in the chron the other day.
If Artest then Battier's maturity and complementaryism (look that one up ) balances the line-up better than adding RL.
But a Mac/Yao/Batt/Artest team seems like a worse version of pistons' strategy made team, and I don't think that type of team will work in the playoffs when I really dont' know if any of those players will really lead the team on teh court in the playoffs and take over games. Can Y/A/M do it? Yes. Will they I don't know.
