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

Keep him
we have the best defenders in the league: Battier and Ron, so that we can stop or slow players like KB24 or Lebron James.
With this roster,even without tmac we can get the champ'.
Keep Ron.
Trade Tmac for 2 or 3 players that can add dynamic offense and defense to the team

 

Artest has never really guarded shooting guards that were faster than well Think Dwayne Wade Eastern Conference semifinals 2004. Right now in his career he is more suited guarding true small forwards and some Power Forwards. I think Artest as the third option next year he should be fine that way he can concentrate more on defending and get be relegated to spotup shooting with Yao and Tracy Back

 

As long as it is a short term(2-3 year) deal in the 8-10 mil range, absolutely. We need his toughness regardless of his other flaws.

 

Yes, only no more than 8m per year, 3 year with last year of team option.

 

That is my opinion also. And I would trade Battier first while he still has some value. They don't all fit together because they all have to start for what you pay them. It is funny how we started out as one of the deepest teams in the league on paper and it ended up being short on the court in the end.

First priority is a C with a chip on his shoulder and some offensive skills.

 

Agreed. Shane can score, but for whatever reason refuses to be aggressive. Artest may not be the defender Shane is, but he's giving you 15-20 points offensively most nights as well.

 

More like get rid of Ron and watch the team implode. There's more to basketball than scoring and creating a little. Ron was our vocal and emotional leader and he brought toughness and tenacity night in and night out and it definitely rubbed off on his teammates.

Furthermore, Ron was not brought here to be a scoring machine or to create for that matter yet he did just that 17/5/3. He had the burden of taking on the #1 option role (which he clearly is NOT) with Mcgrady and Yao out and he still pushed us to the brink of the WCF. What Ron is is a physical beast who can consistently get you 16 ppg to go with 5 boards while helping shut down the opposing teams best wing and play the ultimate enforcer.

If he's asking for the world obviously we have to let him walk but you simply can't get rid of him for someone just because they shoot say 5% better and average 4 more points. Not with everything else Ron brings.

 

letting Artest go would be a big mistake

 

Daryl?

 

AMEN. The Rockets don't end the first round curse without the transformation to a tough team. Artest is the one who led the transformation, and it would be foolish to get rid of that guy.

 

How do people watch the games and miss Ron's terrible shooting, turnovers, getting blown by on D, and the way he clops up the offense and think we need to resign him?

Just because he's known as a thug????

 

I guess since he has focused solely on defense the last several years he just isn't agressive enough on offense for this team, anyway. I am all for considering the give and take you get with holding a guy down on offensive production( keeping points off the board) but there is also the boost it gives a team when you can throw down more than a couple of 3's in a game. I mean, he is fast enough to get back on a defensively on a fast break but can get a step to get some separation to shoot a shot? He is too good mechanically not to get this done.

 

Nobody here said Artest is perfect. If he was, he'd get a max deal. His decision making and shot selection is definitely questionable. But you are describing his game as if he is some scrub. The truth is he is a volume shooter/scorer that can play inside/outside, works hard on defense and his toughness is infectious. He also took on a leadership role this year.

Plus, this notion he isn't a good defender is laughable. News flash, even your best defenders in the league can look terrible at times against great offensive players. He makes opposing players work hard for their points and that is all you ask.

Also, sure he strays from the offense at times, but he also led the team in assists numerous times when mcgrady was done for the year. He also knows how to feed Yao the ball, and can play inside/outside offensively. And yes, discount it all you want, but he is most responsible for the change in attitude on this team. They went from being a soft team, led by two finesse stars to one of the toughest, workmanlike teams overnight. Artest was a big reason for that.

 

I look at this way. A great player is still going to get 20-30 points regardless of how good Shane is defensively. Problem is if Shane only gives you one or two buckets a game, you are losing the position battles by 15-20 points a night. I could live with Shane if he just would consistently score 10-12 ppg. But for whatever reason this season, he wasn't willing to do that way too often, passing up open looks.

 

Maybe give him a 3 year deal. But a 5 or 6 year deal is pushing it.

 

Many of the postings on this thread are incredible. There is still so much mention of McGrady can do this and McGrady can do that as if they never saw him play this past season and seasons past. The excuses for him never end despite all the concrete evidence to the contrary. The fact is that he never made it to the first round throughout his career and that very very much speaks for itself.

There were times in his career that the lack of talent on his team made him lose but that cannot always be an excuse for the overall failure that he is. It is his self centeredness and his obvious lack of commitment to the game that is his downfall. No amount of chances will change that, it is just too late in his life and career. He had far too many chances for his fans to still make ridiculous excuses for him.

The fact is that the Rockets went the farthest in the playoffs in 12 years without him. Period. The play of everyone on the team picked up, the ball moved better, and the team became more determined and strong willed. Again all these happened when McGrady quit on his team for good this season. The obvious bottom line is that the Rockets became a joy to watch, and started winning consistently when he left. We can watch all the games again in our dvd or tivo and the results will be the same- no ifs, ands or buts. Let us all look forward to another enjoyable season without the prima donna and his high drama to dampen our joy. This much the Rockets organization owes its fans. NO MORE MCGRADY!! ENOUGH ALREADY!

 

I don't want yao, tmac or ron. we need to not resign ron cause he never makes a shot and shoots 7 threes a game at 25 percent. Also tmac is a cripple who will never be good again. I want to get rid of all 3 of these wastes of space and get some decent superstars to come play with this team. we made this run with 47 percent of our salary cap and in spite of ron. we either need to trade tmac next year or wait until 2009-2010 for him to come off the books. We will never get rid of Yao but I know so we are stuck with him forever. Anyone who doesn't think he will continue to get hurt is totally dillusional. He is 7 ft 6 320 and breaks his feet running up and down without ever breaking it on a particular play. He is just too big. I mean come on guys, Im tired of everyone pretending like we are unlucky when yao gets hurt. This is the 3rd time in the last 4 years that he was done 1 week into may. what kind of championship value does he have? about the same championship value grant hill had in 2001

 

artest is a loser and a huge scrub. no team will ever win as long as he jacks up 7 threes a game at under 30 percent. look up his career playoff stats over his last 40 games. He is a sub 30 percent 3 point shooter who insists on shooting over 6 a game. It is unbelievable when you realize that dirk shoots 2 a game and bird shot 2 a game. those guys are twice the shooters of ron and yet shot 4 less threes. i have never seen a player ,outside of bobby jackson in last years playoffs, have a worse shot selection than artest. he has the worst shot selection of any nba player i have ever seen

 

one other thing, his d isnt that great. he is slow as molassis laterally and yet still thinks he can guard kobe. every time he guarded kobe, kobe instantly went straight to the hole for a layup. it was like kobe was driving on my little sister. just cause a guy takes chances and gets a couple of steals doesn't mean he is a great defender. he clearly is no where near where he was defensively in 2004 or 05. the guy really is very slow laterally. so we have an overrated defender, who shoots awful shots, and cant pass. oh yeah he also makes rap cds. sounds like a winner to me

 

He's frenetic, out of control, and makes lots of mistakes.

T-mac is by far the better player. How can people say they would want Ron over T-mac is beyond me.