Ron Artest's game without the media/reputation bias

i have to concur with your post.

Not only he's a overrated defender. but he's not effiencient on the offensive end. when his ill adivised shot doesn't fall, he can't concentrate on defense either. now we see the Game 7, how many times did he leave his man-Ariza for open threes? As much as we love him, he is very unstable emotionally. once something gets into his head, it will affect his game, in a bad way.

I say we don't resign Ron and let Tracy go. Let Morey work his magic to see what we can get this summer. We have Yao, Scola, Battier, Lowry, Brooks, Landry, Von. We need to get a backup C to save Yao in the regular season. We need to get a slasher who is atheletic and can get to the rim and play some defence. and we need someone like Tmac, who can create, pass and somewhat clutch. We will in the finals next year no doubt.

This summer is very ctritical

 

Bingo. The Rockets got Artest with the idea that he would be the third option on offense, a good defensive player, and toughen up a soft team. He was never supposed to be the star player on offense which is the role he was thrown into due to injuries to McGrady and Yao. That's not his fault. If a healthy Yao and McGrady were on the court, Artest wouldn't have the ball in his hands on offense except when he is in position to shoot/score. He has had to take over the role McGrady had, which is playmaker/freelancer, and obviously he isn't that.

 

If he's willing to take a pay cut.. fine.

 

I think we would all like Ron to be a little more disciplined on offense but to say he is overrated defensively or a mediocre player is wrong. His defense is not as well-rounded as it was before because the guy is pushing 30 and weighs 25lb more than he did as a rookie. He's lost some quickness but gained strength in the post.

Offensively, he is a good player. He takes poor shots at times but it isn't because he doesn't have an offensive repertoire it's that he doesn't always play to his strengths.

Again, I would like to see him more disciplined or for the Rockets to get a PG that only gives him the ball when he can succeed but to downplay the guy as a basketball player is something I don't agree with.

 

DD, I usually agree with most of your post, but I am gonna have to disagree here.

Ron is the HEART of this Rockets team. His emotion, swagger, determination, effort, toughness, etc has rubbed off on these guys. This is the first time in years that I have seen a Rockets team not take **** from ANYONE. They don't back down and that has to do with Ron's influence. For years this team was filled with "nice guys," never willing to get in the face of the opponent, but Ron has changed that.

 

shane got kneed and elbowed while down on the floor. he just dusted it off like it's nothing. instead getting into kobe's face and getting ejected, he went on and played the best defense the entire league could possibly see in the entire series. that's what i view as true toughness.

aaron giving kobe a hard foul in game 6 was impressive, too.

getting into kobe's face and getting himself ejected does not help the team, and in my mind isn't what you'd call "balls".

and what fear? you mean ron strikes fear in players like kobe or brandon roy?

 

Have you ever seen some of the contracts thrown at players in the NBA? Shawn Marion makes about 17 M a year, Jermaine O'Neal makes about 21 M, Andrei Flopilenko makes over 15 M, hell Q Rich makes more than Ron does (8.8 M). None of them would have helped us any better than Ron has and it would have cost us a hell of a whole lot more. As you can see, they're a whole lot more ridiculous than the one year deal the Rockets have with Ron now (8.45 M). And seeing how the economy is in a recession, Ron's market value will likely decrease, and the teams that have enough cap room to sign him are teams that Ron likely will not join (OKC, Detroit, Memphis, etc).

Ron lost a step from his Sac-town days, yes, but I think his ankle is still bothering him. He's playing with a couple torn ligaments for crying out loud. Like Kenny Smith said, he might be the only player in the entire league that can score 20 and stop an opposing player from scoring 20. That has to be of some value.

We gave Stromile Swift the MLE and some people are freaking out at the thought of giving Ron nothing more than the MLE. And this is at the tail end of an amazing season, the first 2nd round berth in over a decade...A FREAKING DECADE! I'm against giving Ron over 10 M a season, but for 8-9 M, I'm totally for it.

 

Defensively, he gives the team a huge advantage with his strength and ability to cover the 2, 3 and 4 positions. He may not be able to keep up with the quicker perimeter players anymore, but that's why we have Battier. Together, they make a lethal combination.

Offensively, he has been more inconsistent than I expected, but a lot of that may be with his altered role on an injury-riddled team. I'm still wondering how effective he can be if he's coming off the bench and averaging 10 or 11 shots, because that's what may be his role on a fully healthy Rockets team. Can he be a reliable sixth man/third scorer? I'm leaning toward yes.

 

LOL WOW @ this thread. Ron's supposed to be your 3rd option on this team but Yao and T-mac let him down with their yearly injuries. Otherwise this could have been a championship team. Its a miracle he led this team this far with those 2 out. To make this thread is really disrespectful and i'm not even a Rockets fan. Without his play and leadership this team is nowhere, face it he is your best leader.

 

Good point on his versatility. It should also be mentioned that he and Battier (and even Hayes) can switch defensively without creating a mismatch in the opponents favor. So much of this team's defense is it's ability to switch on screens and still have an elite defender on the ball handler and the screener.

 

The guy was shooting 20-25 points from games 1-3 of the Lakers series, and i don't need to mention his contributions during the trailblazers series. Do you see what i mean? He's not supposed to be the playmaker, the Kobe, the Lebron, the prime T-mac, he's supposed to be the guy that gets the 3 when Yao is doubled. He's supposed to be the guy that's strong enough to keep most players at bay and to push them aside when he needs to make a shot. He's done all that. With Yao gone, he simply can't function the way that he was intended to. That's all.

If his demands are reasonable bring him back, if not, then adios. It's just that simple.

 

Most of those contracts you mentioned were products of a more robust financial environment for the NBA, along with GMs giving out near-max/maximum contracts or full MLE contracts for players who's track records didn't support that level of financial commitment. With the NBA's balance sheet suffering, teams are going to be very careful about the salaries they take on. AK47 doesn't get a max contract in 2009, and peak Shawn Marion doesn't get a (average) 16M contract.

If Ron expects $10M this year, I don't think he's going to get it. Many players have seen the writing on the wall, and have lowered their financial expectations accordingly. Will Ron Artest lower his expectations? That is something that remains to be seen.

Your point about Ron still being affected by his ankle injury seems to be a fair one. I'm not sure how much it affected him in the postseason, but it hampered him for much of the regular season. The rehab of his ankle is undoubtedly worth remembering when evaluating Artest's value.

 

I agree but we would need to get someone else that has the same value or better if we didn't sign him back.
Who could that be? I don't see anyone great in the 2009 FA..

 

Don't forget that Artest wasn't supposed to be the second option when he came here. He was supposed to be the third OFF THE BENCH. So don't get all angry because he didn't perform..

 

In Morey I trust.

 

DaDa
Why do you only focus on offense?

Rocket River

 

DaDa just has a thing against Artest for some reason. It's the same as the love he had for Vspan and Boki but in the opposite direction. DaDa just loves and hates on a player and nothing that player does or doesn't do changes his mind.

 

Artest is overrated at this stage, but he is the part of the team success this year, we need give him a reward, a new deal of 8M for three or four years seems to be fine. Overall, we need a toughness from him.