I don't know what it is about Charles Oakley that just makes me sick. He HAMMERS guys in a way they could get hurt and no one says anything to him. He slammed Hawkins on the drive and grabbed his face and then later hit Taylor a little hard. He always pushes on guys and I never see anyone talk back to him. He fouled Cato hard on two occasions as well and no one uttered a word from the Rockets. Is this guy that intimidating or is he a thug who'll send his 'boys' after you if you mess with him?? All I remember is Oakley, Ewing and Mason all drying to defend the Dream and eating his shorts. But I think the Rockets should talk some smack to anyone who is fouling players hard like he was yesterday.
if anyone feels this way don't b*tch about How Posey acted at the end of the Dallas game Rocket River
River, I thought he was out of control, but I like seeing that kind of fire, if we had more of it we would be in the playoffs not out. DD
Exactly. Why wasn't he given a flagrant foul when he slammed Hawkins on the ground? Why didn't RudyT jump up and get a T for that? Before Hawkins shot his 2 FT's one of the commentators from TNT was saying something like "he must be seeing 2 balls now..." and not surprisingly he missed them both.
I DON'T like him at all. He is a thug. I was dissapointed that nobody confronted that gorilla last night after his hard fouls. Personally I wouldn't stand for that as a player/coach. I dealt with this the other night when I was hooping, a guy fouled one of my teammates pretty hard and it wasn't the first time he has done it when we played. So I threw a shoulder into his chest and let him know that $hit don't fly around here. I wish someone on the Rockets would do that...
If Oakley were a Rocket, he'd be protecting Yao right now. And ya'll would absolutely love him, thug and all.
I don't think the NBA is the place for THUGS. I didn't like Oakley in NY, I wouldn't like him now. He has no shot and is OLD. Let him try the WWF... But if we got someone like him, that protected Yao, maybe you would be right.
What we needed last night was one player who was willing to stand up to Oakley. After his hard fouls, our players just shrugged their shoulders and walked to the line. Nobody got in Oakley's face and nobody knocked down Jordan or Stackhouse to let the Wizards know we were fighting back. The closest we came to retaliating was when Glen Rice committed a moderately hard foul on Oakley, and when Glen Rice is your enforcer, you know you have problems. The first three quarters really exposed the Rockets' lack of physical toughness. They were getting beaten badly on the scoreboard and pushed around physically, and no one did anything about it. The Rockets need more of an ice hockey mentality, where you don't let anyone beat up your star players. I like Mo Taylor and I like Eddie Griffin as power forwards, but Yao is eventually going to need a protector. It's a physical league, and if you aren't willing to play a physical game you'll get pushed around by teams that do.
Who do we have to stand up against him??? 210 pound Eddie G. Eddie was probably too far away from the play prancing around at the 3 point line waiting to chuck up some more 3s.
Standing up is about attitude not size....Barkley took down Shaq remember? You have to have a swagger. Currently this team is full of panzies. DD
Oakley is a cheap shot artist, plain and simple. Damn unprofessional. The guy starts fights with players and coaches during shootarounds. We need less people like him, and more no-nonsense guys like Ben Wallace and Jerome Williams. I've been lobbying all year for James Thomas. JT is probably the toughest rebounder in Division I basketball, and he could easily see PT on the Rockets this year. This is exactly the kind of guy we need. He's not afraid to do the dirty work on the glass, and push people off the block.
I understand the benefits a guy like Oakley can bring to a team, but what he should simply have no place in the NBA. I mean, this sort of stuff takes all the fun out of watching basketball. It's better to get some guy like Calvin Murphy in his prime. One who plays basketball well, but can also do some enforcing if the situation calls for one.
I was really disppointed... got have someone in the team to kick Oakley's ass. I didn't think Rox is a soft team but last night they hurt themselves because of the lack of toughness. Not mention the rebounding and post-defence, Francis's last second turnover could have something to do with the whole-night soft play. There was no HERO in his heart, at that moment.
What about Arthur Johnson, the center from Missouri? Big, strong body (mini Eddy-Curry), great touch. And unlike Curry, he is something of a tough guy.
You said it perfectly. Yes Oakley is a cheap shot artist and dirty. But the NBA is full of dirty players. To combat them, we need someone to stand up against them for the sake of our best players...Stevie, Yao, Mobley. Who's going to stand up to the Ron Artests, Brad Millers, Charles Oakleys, and even Raja Bells (often forgotten as a dirty player)? Yao is getting hacked constantly in the post and not getting the calls, if we had an enforcer teams would think twice about roughing the guy up so often.
