Consider me emotionally attached to winning. That's why I'm against losing Martin for Melo. I also have the right to be a fan of Martin's game in general and how it would fit next to Yao and, in the broader sense, within Adelman's scheme. And I have a right to be a little leery of acquiring another superdiva with infinite talent and questionable willpower that would be receiving an extension at 20M per were he to come over. If anyone should be accused of getting too attached to their players, it should be fans who name as their favorites those gritty hearty team leaders who the stats have little justification for backing. Right now these players are Aaron Brooks, Shane Battier, and to a lesser extent Luis Scola. I know Scola has just as many intangibles as Battier, but sometimes we tend to forget that he's basically an above average ~18PER offensive-minded PF with defensive limitations, who gets an added bonus for playing 82 games a year. Kevin Martin is basically an all-star level ~20PER offensive-minded SG with defensive limitations, but he plays within a system and doesn't need the ball in his hands most of the shot clock. His durability has been poor in the past but there is nothing to indicate that it has to remain that way. Carmelo Anthony is basically a perennial all-star level ~22PER offensive-minded SF with defensive limitations, who needs the ball in his hands a majority of the time to run his game. He plays 60-70 games a year, and he's probably not 80% of the player Tracy McGrady was when T-Mac first came to Houston. Of course he doesn't have the back issues either, but it remains to be seen if he has the heart issues.
I don't see why fans who put the team above players are casual fans. For me personally, the team is like family, and players are like friends. Friends will come and go, either because they want to leave, or because you don't want to associate with them anymore. Whereas a team never leaves you. Good or bad, it's always your team. That's why I would never forgive Bud Adams for leaving town, whereas I never feel anywhere near the emotions for any player leaving a Houston team. So while I agree with you that it's normal to be attached to players. In the end, I feel nothing overrides the team. If Morey feels that trading a player makes the team better, even if he trades away player(s) I love, I would still continue to root for the team over the player traded away.
I actually didn't say that at all. Obviously the team is who you root for. But you should be "attached" to both the team and the players. I didn't claim that's what led to being a casual fan. I stated that I had issues with we (the casual fans) who try too hard nowadays (since morey took over) to play armchair gm and act growingly detached from the players on this team and ridicule those who are "attached" to one player or another. At the end of the day Im still rooting for the rockets baby. That being said though, I was pretty sad when hakeem was traded. See what I mean?
I see what you mean....I was sad when the Hakeem era ended, as well. I don't equate the Kevin Martin era to Hakeem's though. There is very little connection for me with a guy who has played about 20 games in Red.
<br> No doubt. I was just addressing the viewpoint of the op and a few subsequent posts in this thread. I'm not attached to Martin either.
Ditto on the "he needs the ball in his hands too much" characterization. I think this trade would be a big mistake. Let the people that want this trade pull up some statistics and make the case using some data that more ball-stopping won't happen with Anthony vs. Martin. I'm willing to be convinced. But since I don't favor it from the get-go, I'm not surfing the web looking to prove the case for trading for Anthony. I'm always ready to consider a good case. Just make a good one and probably some of the nay-sayers (like me) will have to consider it. Just by virtue of "name" and "fame" he'll "need" the ball more.
