Does the Batum/Arthur/Greene/Artest/Dorsey trade haunt your dreams to this day?

Good grief, people ... we essentially got Ron Artest, a perfect fit to fill our needs, and a third star, for 2 draft choices. That's amazing!

And regarding the Battier trade, I was never disappointed in not getting Gay. The mistake there was getting flim-flammed by Portland, and not ending up with Roy. Whether that was winning the unnecessary game, not getting it done with Atlanta or MN, Roy was the prize. I felt we paid Memphis too much for Battier, and should at least have gotten another draft pick out of it. But, Battier has been our quarterback, and set the standard for this team.

The only thing that bothers me on this one, was that we didn't trade up to get Fernandez. It seems Portland not only knows who we want, but are just as good a talent evaluators, and beats us to the better talent the last couple years. We have to take that into consideration in the future, and outwit them.

I'd rather have Roy and Fernandez for the long term. But, for the short term, Artest and Battier will probably get us a championship, if TMac and Yao hold up.

 

D.Wade G 37:05 7-23 1-6 8-9 -2 1 2 3 4 3 2 5 0 0 23

When one of those rookies can do that to Wade, then you may have an argument. 1 star thread otherwise.

 

Tonight against the Blazers, Wade was 5-14 for 12 points, guarded mostly by Batum (and Outlaw). Meanwhile, Batum posted 13/6 (including 3-4 from long range) in just 18 minutes.

What are Pritchard and McMillan going to do when they activate Martell Webster? Probably push Batum out of the 10-man rotation into the 11th spot.

 

What are Pritchard and McMillan going to do when they activate Martell Webster? Probably push Batum out of the 10-man rotation into the 11th spot.[/QUOTE]

You don't go from starter to out of the rotation altogether.

On another note, from a french behind the scene video report on the draft(BasketNews), it's clear that Batum was really elated to be a Rockets
and to play with TMac.
He was maaad when he learnt of the trade. He keeps saying "why did they take me then?" slamming his Rockets hat on the table while Ajinca is mocking him.

 

i hope the OP was being sarcastic.


no damn way do i regret it.

 

To clarify, Artest was traded for the 35 yr old SG, the 23 draft pick and also next years first rounder.

Battier was traded for #8, but dont even pretend the "young big" was somehow a bad thing for us. Stro was a disaster and has proven that even more during his time in NJ. So it was Battier for the #8 and the right to make Stro join there team.

 

I think you guys are failing to sense that the OP is mocking the people who bash the "Battier for Gay" trade and make a big deal out of it even though its been over two years.

Basically those guys argue that Battier doesnt put up big stats but Gay does. Well the OP is saying the same thing. Artest's stats have been mediocre while Batum, Greene, and Arthur are putting up good stats on their teams.

Then you jump in and say they only put those stats up because they get to play on bad teams. Thats the same argument made about Gay and Memphis.

Then you jump in and say but Artest is solid on defense. Thats the same thing said about Battier.

So basically, the trades at this point have similar results yet some people cry and moan about the Battier trade and then defend the Artest trade.

Everyone would rather have Artest then Jackson and Greene. I think he is making a point to the Battier trade haters.

 

nice post! Btw I think getting Fernandez was out of the question at the time. Portland did not just get pay cash for his draft rights, they also absorbed an underperfoming player at the time (forgot his name) as well. Our owner is not Paul Allen, we can't afford to throw that much money for a player that we were not even sure was going to play for us (see the Spurs and Tiago Splitter for a worst-case scenario). The irony for me was that the player the Blazers got turned out to be one of the most accurate 3 pt shooters in the their and was at one point hitting 50% of his 3 pt shots. So the blazers not only got the lottery level talent they wanted, they also acquired a pretty good role player lol

 

OK, so tell me what happens then. The Blazers have a 10 player rotation now. Who gets pushed to the bench when Martell is activated or do they go to an 11 player rotation (which is ridiculous)?

 

Frankly, I don't know. But it will be surprising to see a starter ousted from the rotation completely, just by virtue of one addition.
Maybe you're right, Webster being the veteran, Batum is certainly more eager to wait even though McMilan really like his defensive abilities.
What do intrigue me about what they think of him in Portland is that they even make him start in front of Outlaw, who's a proven good all around player.
They do have an excess of wings though, so we'll see, maybe a trade will be orchestrated.

 

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Blogging-Through-Europe-2008-Part-Two-France--3053/

 

Toughness

Artest: 180%

Batum: <70%

Arthur: <60%

Greene: <50%

Who is best fit for Rockets?

So the answer is still " NO, not at all "

 

Remember Kenny Smith in our second championship run? It wasn't just one addition, but when he stop starting, he stopped playing.