Could anybody please stop using the phrase "JJ was our most consistent player last year" already? It is getting old. JJ was a solid role player with a reasonable priced contract. Nothing more. You couldn't believe how many wild open shots he is missing this season. JJ wasn't happy he was traded. Everybody understands that. But after all said and done, he is still making millions per year. He is still richer than 99.99999% of the world population. Rockets desperately needed upgrade at guards position. The mistake was made when Charlie freaking Ward was signed at that old age. Too bad it was JVG's mistake that eventually lead JJ traded. But one certainly can't blame management's effort to get the team to play better. Rockets were certainly underachieving. What's the harm of switching some role players to see if a new lineup will work better?
There really is no better feeling in the world than the day you can say that's enough of this Bull**** , I'm outta here.
JJ was a part of the puzzle but once again this team makes the wrong move. Whats next? The problem has been at the pf for 2 years nothing has changed and still a problem.
While I do feel for JJ's plight, the Rockets did nothing wrong. And players around the league aren't going to stop coming to the Rockets because they traded JJ. EVERY team in the NBA trade players like JJ all the time if they think it helps the team. Any player that signs a contract with any team in the NBA runs a fairly good risk of getting traded. Unless, of course, you have an untradable contract like Mo Taylor's. And even Mo almost got traded for P.J. Brown.
i understand that being upsetting for him...and it does happen all the time in the work place. i have no problem with him retiring...being upset...whatever. i have a hard time grasping that, frankly, because i think it would be so great to being playing pro sports and making that much money doing it. but i get that he's upset. what i really don't understand is lamenting this as some big injustice as if he got screwed around by the rockets. the rockets didn't screw him around at all. they paid him what was due under the contract...and they traded his contract away for another, which happens all the time in this business. that's business.
If you were in his shoes, going to a 2-25 team, near the end of your career - wouldn't you be pissed? Considering what we got in return from the trade, it does appear that the "JVG-get rid of Boki conspiracy" may have some merit. That would have been a pretty classless move by Rox mgt. I'm sure that poorer people from developing nations think that regular Americans who complain about their jobs are crazy and whiny too.
That trade was not to make the team better and this team is not better. Yes JJ was the most consistent player last year on this team and thats why they made the playoffs.
Class act player huh? Class act players don't quit because they got traded. No one is making him retire. He's an adult making his own decisions whether to honor a trade that he knew could happen(since it has so many times in his career) or not. It appears that he isn't going to honor it. Real classy.
Is it at all possible that his decision might have something to do with the Hornets being (when healthy) Jamal Mashburn's team? I wonder if there is bad blood from the Dallas days? Just a thought......
Actually, Rockets is the worst organization. JJ should check out the smile on SF, Cat, Cato, Moochie, Lue and Boki's face.
Getting traded or waived is to a players eyes getting fired. If you havent been around an professional player before they are human. Just because they make big bucks life is not that easy. People saying oh they get paid the money well get traded a couple of times pick up a move around the world and see how it plays in your head not a good feeling.
JJ's caught in that unfortunate position of being good but not great, with a reasonable contract. As such, he's worth trading for, but he's not so valuable that the team's afraid to lose him. He's an average 2 guard, basically a fungible commodity. If he'd lived up to the promise that got him drafted #4 overall, he probably wouldn't be on his 11th team. That 92 draft was full of those type of players - Horry, Laettner, Jackson, Weatherspoon, Peeler, Murray, Barry, etc.
More power to JJ. I don't blame him. Personally, if I was in his shoes, I would probably report to New Orleans, and give Mo Taylor -type effort. Just mail it in. Eventually, he would get traded to a contender. It worked for Randy Johnson in Seattle - he was having a bad season, then gets traded to Houston, and all of a sudden he's all world again. But it sounds like JJ has too much character to do that. So you have to respect him even more, if he just walks away from the game. It's not like he's pulling a Ricky Williams.
I have a question, if he is from Toledo, Ohio, he might have invited a lot of relatives and friends to the game vs. the Cavs - just to find out a day or so before the game that he got traded...might that have made it even worse for him? Yes, they get paid a lot of money, but I can still see how it must have hurt him and how it must really suck for him to be put in this situation. I don't understand how some seem to have such a hard time to understand that and to understand that people feel it was not right.
So why doesn't JJ just change his career to something where he doesn't have to move? Obviously, JJ felt that playing basketball in the NBA and making lots of money is more important than staying in one place. And if that's his decision, then he should accept the consequences of his actions when something like this happens.
I know I wrote this after our kiss and make up posts in the other thread. Just keep your tongue to yourself next time big boy. DD
A lot of people here keep bringing up the entire money issue into the equation.... Jim Jackson isn't about the money, his wife has plenty of chips and he doesnt' even need to work, that isn't the issue. The issue is he is an NBA Journeyman who thought that he found a role and a team and a city that he could end his career in. He didn't complain about time, contracts or anything. He was the freakin team captain. Regardless of money, moving your family every other year is not an enjoyable experience. Moving them for no good reason is even worse. It's not that this hasn't happened to him before, it was in the manner that the organization did it. Players get traded all the time by teams all the time....it's a fact of life in the NBA So let us all conclude that the Rockets organization is nothing special, and that they aren't at a level above all others...They are just as classy as Jerry Buss and the Lakers, or any other criticized ballclub. Let's all just come to the consensus that we root for a team run by sheisty cats.
The people who deride JJ for being upset with being traded so many times are being heartless and cruel in this case. I've known people who've worked for companies that asked them to transfer to another city and let me tell you it can be upseting. It's hard on families especially those with children. It's amazing to me the lack of empathy people can show to atheletes just because they make more money than we do.
