Artest's antics took the pressure off the team so they can perform, so you could call him a leader. Tmac used to be a leader as well and did the same. He was willing to take the responsibility of the team. Ariza, Landry played with passion and played by example. Yao Ming is the breadwinner of the rockets now, and he's not gonna be a leader because of his performances and injury proneness. This season, the frontrunner for leadership who leads the team in blocks is Battier..but other than that he's not setting any good example because his defense is becoming slow and his consistent offense even from spot-up jumpers has become rare. Battier is a leader in keeping the team together but when everything else is failing him performance-wise, your teammates won't be motivated having battier as their leader. The Rockets lack a leader right now. To make things worst, Rick Adelman is really lost both during games these days and even his postgame comments and doesn't have any passion for the game anymore it seems. Even Jeff Van Gundy with his (haven't slept for 3 days eye-bags) condition when rockets were under fire showed more passion and determination than him. Adelman cares, but not to the point of losing any sleep over like JVG would. JVG was known to look over tapes a thousand times over after games that they lost before catching any sleep. I'm not saying Morey made the team better with his signings or trades because he obviously didn't..but the coaching is pretty bad too.
Landry was never a leader. He was a good fourth quarter scorer, but I do not see where he led anyone in the way Battier or Chuck does, among others. I still do not understand why he is so overrated here, probably because he was a tough SOB. And Ariza? <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Nrgd5v184Xs?fs=1&hl=ja_JP"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Nrgd5v184Xs?fs=1&hl=ja_JP" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object> Some leader.
One thing about Artest, he was a weird cat but the guy was fearless. Maybe he doesn't know any better or just doesn't care but he was willing to put everything on the line without fear. We are missing that, Aaron can provide that but his limitations often make if difficult on him.
Honestly we have not gave this 2010-2011 Houston Rockets Roster a chance to play together in consecutive days for consecutive weeks. Aaron Brooks has been a key player for us over the past 2 seasons who has played a ton of minutes, now he's injured for the first time and of course it will hurt the chemistry of this team. Yao Ming is our Franchise Player, granted he hasnt played the last 2 years, but Morey built this years roster for his return. Yao is a strong and determined individual, he will bounce back and he will finish strong even if this is his last year.
Their roster doesn't even indicate a captain. Nobody is officially captain and rightfully so. No one is fit on the court in terms of play. Battier and Hayes can prevent them ripping each other apart but they not going to be inspired to play better.
I like your optimism.. but this of course if Yao stays healthy once he returns from his sprained ankle. Even then, i'm not sure if they're going raise his minutes and allow him to play in back to backs. As of right now, until AB and YAO get back, we need try to get to 2-3 games under .500... we're digging to big of a hole right now that may be to difficult to come out from.
