People complained about Rockets being a soft team and were elated because Artest would bring an "edge" and "attitude" that would make the Rockets hard. Has it worked?
Not really. For some reason the media thought just because the Rockets/Suns incident that the team got harder, which isn't true considering we have players that have gotten into confrontations before Artest got here. We still can't get key rebounds when we need them, nothing has really changed other than getting a very good defender to go with Battier.
People love to use the words soft and hard but I'd challenge them to define it in any objective way. It seems like more of a style thing more than anything. And who actually gives a crap about style? That's right... sissies. "Oh his face doesn't match the street! We'll neeeever sell those shoes wody!"
I dunno-- I guess I get a little baby wood when he gets steals and brings the D... but... when he starts hopping around like a drunk pirate with a peg leg, or backing his man down like a bulldozer with one malfunctioning track, and dribbling down the shot clock instead of passing the ball... then I am as impotent as our offense.
soft: laying the ball up near the rim. There's still a chance you can get blocked or simply blow the layup. not soft: dunking the ball. Despite popular belief dunking is not just a flashy way to score, it gives you very little chance of missing and even less of a chance of getting blocked. soft: shooting fadeway jumpers in the paint, higher chance of missing or getting blocked. not soft: backing down the opponent, leaning into the D and either laying the ball in or doing a hook shot. much less of chance of getting blocked or missing and much higher of a chance of getting a foul call. It may be hard to define soft but you know it when you see it.
I'm tired of the soft and hard subjective perceptions. I just want someone to make a shot. Lay-up or dunk, Fade-away or powering up. We had one of the best players in the NBA in Hakeem Olajuwon who didn't dunk or power up everything. He just made shots. I trade anyone's perceived toughness (e.g. Rafer Alston, Ron Artest, etc...) for someone who can make a shot consistently at a reasonable percentage.
The correct answer is: Yes. Ron Artest has made us harder to score on and harder to defend (despite his own FG% being low). http://www.82games.com/0809/08HOU8.HTM#onoff The team, however, is not fully integrated-- particularly with all the injuries and guys going in and out of lineups. The Rockets will be much harder to stop once there is a more consistent rotation going.
