Now that the season's over, do we re-sign Ron Artest?

Look...if we let him go we'll get nothing in return and our cap space will not allow us to sign someone who can ACTUALLY replace Ron.

If we sign and trade...what are we REALLY getting back? That is the question.

I know one thing though...if the Bball gods allow it Ron+Tmac+Yao= one of our best shots at a title in a LOOONG time...so yeah...lets just skip on that for some 2010 cap space we may not even have.

 

There are no Bball gods; at least no good ones.

 

totally subjective. this cannot be proven with stats.

 

resign Artest but ideally for 3 years max or less.

 

They just have no mercy man...none at all

 

Did you just . . .used my Grandfather to try and forward a point?



You are truly one sorry peice of ***** son of b*tch

Rocket River
If Clutch has to ban me. . . so be it

 

Considering Artest's previous offers to give up his salary in Sacramento if they kept Adelman/Bonzi Wells, I don't think salary is that big of an issue to Ron, even if he was joking in those situations.

Personally, I think the Rockets will not part ways with Battier or Artest any time in the near future. They're unions that can't be replicated easily elsewhere in the NBA. Artest is loyal to Adelman and is willing to work with him. His value on the trade market is much less because coaches know that he could cause trouble for them. Therefore, he is much more valuable to the Rockets than anyone else. Since he also seems willing to take lower salary, I think efforts should be made to keep him, but at a reduced salary. This isn't because of his performance, which IMO has been satisfactory to say the least, but because we need the cap space to sign better players. Ron knows this and will hopefully cooperate.

Battier is another 'match made in heaven' IMO. Daryl Morey's number crunching statisticians give Battier as much information as he could possibly want. Although other teams are trying to replicate Morey's setup, I don't think Battier wants to go elsewhere and adjust to a new system set up by someone else.

Right now, it seems like T-Mac is the odd man out. I think what this playoffs showed is that the Rockets can work without Yao or T-Mac, so if Adelman is smart, he could play the two superstars 30 mins/game in the regular season to reduce the wear and tear. However, T-Mac is much more expendable than Yao IMO. Despite Yao's deficiencies, he is still one of the top two big men in the league. He also hasn't truly hit his peak in terms of performance IMO. It took Shaq and Hakeem several years in the league before really hitting their prime. It's just a fact with big men. We can only hope that he stays healthy the next few years.

IMO, Players on the trading block: T-Mac, Von Wafer, Brian Cook, Joey Dorsey. Of course Morey could surprise us like he did with the Rafer trade, but those are my picks on who to shop around the league.

 

Not a chance in HADES that I miss him...he is tough as nails but who is to say the next guy won't be close to as tough but a more efficient player.

You do not sign players that are declining as Ron is.....you just DON'T....

Ron's footspeed is gone, his jumping ability gone, his shooting...ugh....

And to top it off, he thinks he is better than he really is....

Would the Rockets have gotten this far without him? I don't know...maybe....but I for one think Von is WAY more important than Ron.

DD

 

You've drawn some absurdly silly conclusions over the years. Wafer more important than Artest? I like Von a lot. But what he brings to the table is still on the level of Keith Boggans or Kirk Snyder. He's closer to them than Artest.

 

I realize that, but I am talking about the team as a whole, whether Von ever becomes a starter etc is not as important.

We need long athletic players like him on the roster...

The reason I don't want Ron back is because of his inefficiency, and his contract demands, he will just be too much money for his declining skills.

So, for the organization as a whole it is more important to sign a cheap Von and see if he develops, than it is to sign an expensive Ron and watch him decline.

Does that make more sense?

DD

 

Vafer doesn't pass the ball, he's basically a Eddie House type player.
He's good if his shot is on, else he's not worth it.

 

obviously you don't watch eddie house much.

 

The Rockets suffer from a toughness deficiency, and Ron helped address that issue. Just who fills that void once Ron is gone? The problem is how will Ron react if he doesn't get the contract he expects? I don't want to resign him, if he's going to feel slighted. It's an extremely tough call, and I can see both sides of the issue. I suspect that the organization will overpay him, but I hope I'm wrong.

 

Wafer is a finisher, every team needs one of those.

The problem with the Rockets has never been defense, heck we held the Lakers to 89 points today....

It has always been...offense.....we just have had too many inefficient players....Rafer, Tmac, Artest....at least Tmac could pass the ball, but he is a volume shooter.

If you get a starting wing that is a more efficient scorer it opens up everything....we need our own Ray Allen...

We already have Ron's skillset in toughness and perimeter defense covered by Battier.....we need a complimentary scoring player.

That is how you get better by scoring more than 70 points in game 7....

DD

 

He had an interesting quote after the game:

"Obviously, the Lakers are more experienced than us, but I thought we were the better team," Artest said. "I thought it was a good learning experience for these guys. They've been through a Game 7. Most young teams get swept. That will really help the Rockets in the future."

It almost sounds like he doesn't expect to be back.

 

WHAT IS EFFICIENCY
FG%
Battier -- 40%
Brooks -- 41%
Lowry -- 43%
wafer -- 44%
Scola -- 52%
Yao -- 54%
McGrady -- 39.8
Landry -- 57%
Artest -- 40%
Barry -- 41.2

from 3
Battier -- 37%
Brooks -- 37.5
Lowry -- 26.7
wafer -- 39%
Scola -- 0
Yao -- 100
McGrady -- 37
Landry -- 20
Artest -- 37.8
Barry -- 37.4

Rocket River

 

Well, I can be just as hard-headed as you...especially since I think Jerry West still got the better of the Rudy Gay trade.

Wafer is what Wafer is. He's an average size SG with some ball handling skills and some hops. There are a lot of players in the under $2m range that do what he does. And know their defensive rotations better. He's a like-able and love-able fan favorite. If he's re-signed, great. If not...next...

I don't have time or desire to debate "efficiency" with you. Especially since I NEVER regarded Grady as very efficient.

But to my soul I believe this...if the Rockets let Artest walk this summer without a SnT, they are closer to the Lottery in 2009-10 than they are the WCF.

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6428551.html

I haven't read this yet so Idk what I'm really posting...but it's abour Artest's future.

 

Well the Rockets addressed that scoring portion by investing half the budget to two guys in suits.

I wouldn't blame Ron Artest because he was thrown into this situation by default.

 

we need ron
also,ron's summer agenda:
1,shed some weight
2,hire a jump shooting coach