I'm sure Morey is took that stat line with him to every GM meeting this weekend. I feel like trading Artest is just business. He has as high a trade value as any other Rocket(with the exception of Yao) and there is no guarantee that he will want to stay in Houston after this especially tumultuous season where Tmac is fading fast with 2 more years left on his contract. If Ron Ron finishes the year off and bolts because he doesn't want to play with Tmac - where does that leave us? Morey is wise to shop him and see what value he can get out of him - hopefully some team is willing to give up more value on the floor in exchange for some cap relief. It's really the smartest thing Houston can do. I don't think they want to trade Artest but I think the situation kind of forces them to pursue all options. Regardless, Morey won't let him go for nothing - he's looking for something good in return....I just hope we find whatever that missing piece is.
The sad truth is if the Rockets trade Artest the team will not get anywhere near equal value for Artest in the toughness, postup, competitiveness, and three point shooting range all in any one player or players IMO. We lose by trading Artest who I think WILL resign with the Rockets unless McGrady has disillutioned him about the Rockets. But.........we also are assuming that the issue Artest has is with McGrady but there could be another very serious personal issue Artest has that hasn't been reported and IF that's the case then that's the only way I trade Artest and I would trade T-Mac before the deadline next week if I could get an extension signed by Artest. Artest and whatever the team would get by trading T-Mac would get the Rockets deep into the playoffs this year but Artest would HAVE to be resigned without question and he's indicated that he wanted to stay in Houston beyond one year so let's do this! It's time for McGrady to go if it means losing Artest and I like McGrady's game but his injuries have brought it to this point. Take Artest resigned long term over McGrady and get a really good deal for McGrady now or at the end of the season when his knee is better. We need a warrior alongside of Yao and Artest is all HEART and FIGHT. The Rockets need that so if we trade Artest the team is weaker and still has an injured McGrady....sad...
Keep Ron...Obviously. But It's clear that These guys (T-Mac and Artest) just hurt each other, there really is no doubt in my mind I would take Artest over T-Mac and I would do that in a heartbeat, I think most members here would too. Artest really doesn't need the ball as much as T-Mac does. If T-Mac doesn't have the ball in his hands he is worthless, he can't do anything else if he doesn't have the ball. As for Ron....He can play defense, do all the dirty work that we see guys like Luis Scola, Carl Landry and Chuck Hayes do. T-Mac is incapable of doing that simply because he is the only player on this team that does not hustle or do the intangibles. Artest is much more valuable than T-Mac..And It's quite obvious.
Ron & Yao is the Rockets front line! Sorry Tmac but your time to shine have just expired! I will have to trade you if you don't recover from the slumped!
Don't trade Ron! Till now we are not the team we expected at the beginning of this season,but that was Mcgrady who was responsible for it,not Ron,all of you want Ron to be the scapegoat? I was sick of the "trade Artest" rumors.
Nothing could be more disturbing than signing Artest to a long term guaranteed contract. I'm glad the Rockets are shipping him out, and I hope they get a point guard in return.
I love Ron. I would rather get rid of Tmac. But if he is truly a locker room cancer, let's get rid of him. I love my rockets more.
Apparently he didn't according to nba.com. http://www.nba.com/games/20081227/UTAHOU/boxscore.html Keep in mind Utah has always been awful at wing these years.
We should not think about trading Ron at all. Everyone knows tha team geled and played a lot better when T-mac wasnt on the floor. Its not a coincidence. With Ron we at least have a fighting chance to get to the Finals, even it is slim right now. Our defense is bad as it is, I cant imagine how bad it could get with Vince.
So I guess this shows that Ron can be productive, with this team and in this system. I think those numbers represent exactly what we where hoping for when he sighned with us. I think when Tmac is not on the floor this team plays with alot more intensity because our two stars set the tone. Artest has already commented on Tmac lack of defensive intensity, and as we see w/ celtics, cavs, heat, and the lakers the intensity level is set with the stars and everyone else falls in line. Would you bust ur a$$ if the guy next to you on the court was getting paid 4x as much as you were and he was barely breaking a sweat. Offensivly I think we are more effective when tmac is not on the floor because our players are only worried about playing within our offensive skeem and not worried about if Tmac is getting enough touches or spacing the floor for him (remember Tmac's b****ing after the raptor game) I think Tmac would be the most effective for us if we had him coming of the bench with our second string and ration his mins. We all have seen that Mac can be effective on offense in spurts, putting him with the 2nd string he will be able to have the ball in his hands as much as he wanted to create or score mostly against 2nd string players he would add size to our small 2nd string backcourt, and he would be surronded by "hustle guys" to hide his lack of defense. I think if we had him coming off the bench limiting his mins to 20 to 30 mins it could help him save his knee til playoff time, but still alow him to build up his stamina and get us ready for the the Playoffs. Dont Give up on Artest yet he has a great contract, he's been hurt the majority of the season, and at least we see him giving 100% everytime he's on the floor
