I'm not that optimistic about Yao ask me 4 years ago. I think as long as he wears Rockets red this team will always be in limbo. Counting on his health the last 4 seasons and failed everyone of them.
He did very well against the Thunder,but it's going to take a lot more than his leadership to win. This team isn't going to go far without a healthy Yao Ming.
Wow you act like great 4th quarter scorers in the nba are a dime a dozen or something. They're rare, and apparently every team (not just the rockets) would want great 4th quarter scorers. And on another perspective, ariza's antics shows how much he wants to win and you act like that's all that ariza did his entire rockets career. He was a greeat defender and led the team in steals..wow the rockets don't really neeed that right now right?? lol , you're wrong. IF they had him they'd look up to him for his passion and defense and determination just like artest was. They are apparently missing this sort of player right now.
And how the mighty daryl morey to unsign Erick dampier without any credible reason. Is morey for real?? The rockets totally don't need him right? They alraedy got Shane Battier leading the team in blocks (1.47 bpg). Wow..
By how much you see teams clamoring for Landry, this is clearly evident. Landry was a nice "4th quarter scorer", whatever that means. That is, until teams actually adjusted to him which they were not doing at the beginning of the season. Here is the thing that amazes me about those arguing Carl over Martin - I want to see if Carl really was this amazing 4th quarter scorer that people claim he was AFTER January, when teams began to adjust to him and he looked human. We all saw that he was having trouble dealing with the increased defenses and double teams, and combined with the fact that he is not a good defender, a good rebounder, and he was taking minutes from another PF whom is even better than Landry, and I do not have a problem with trading for Martin, whom frankly is nowhere near as bad in the 4th as people think he is, IF THEY LOOKED AT THE STATS AND DID NOT JUST PARROT EVERYONE ELSE. Ariza? Passion? Throwing a cheap shot is passion? Chucking up shot after shot is passion? Gambling for steals and being beat off the dribble is passion? Please. As for Dampier, remind how he's getting minutes. He is not better then Hill, Hayes, or Yao. And this is for this one season, Yao's team. We're going to live or die with him for this one final year, and there is no way that's going to change short of telling him to go take a hike, which would never happen in a thousand years.
A team without enough leadership may or may not win. A team without enough star talent will never win. I'd stop worrying about getting another Artest and more about getting another Kobe. The latter will win(see him winning with Ariza and Artest). The former may help at times and may not help at other times.
Absolutely agree. This board has some sort of weird rear-view mirror mindset that things were always better in the "good ol' days". They weren't. Artest-type hired guns are roster spots you fill after you've got your Tim Duncan or Kobe Bryant or Paul Pierce or Dwight Howard or Derrick Rose or Dirk or Derron, etc. As for Landry, the only time he was a FA, the best offer to match was $3M, he can't start for the Lottery-bound Kings and he has the Kings 3rd worst +/-. Getting role players is a slam dunk once you've got the star. Not sure why so many here keeping looking thru the wrong end of the telescope.
The problem we have right now is that 2 of our worst players (Shane and Chuck) are our team leaders. Those guys are professionals in how they go about their business and how they play, but they are so limited in their ability it completely hampers the team. Since they are getting big minutes right now, it shows.
I don't know about "leadership," but the current group on the floor has no "snap, crackle, and pop." They are so bland. If they were winning it would be better, but they are just not fun to watch. It is like they are going through the motions, no electricity. A role player like Landry seems like a highlight reel compared to what's on the floor now.
