[Si] Rare photos of Ron

That team with Ron/Tracy/Yao/Battier/Scola had a legit shot at winning it all. Rockets were that close. That's why I never just hate on Morey because he put that team together, some unfortunate events threw a wrench in his plan.

- Tracy McGrady hit rock bottom. Never really played much that season, injuries finally caught up to him.

-Yao Ming got hurt again.

Other than that, that was the best Rockets team assembled in a while. Pretty deep and had Star talent and Rick Adelman got the best out of Artest.

 

idk if this picture is rare, ive seen it here before may have it on my hard drive since 09.. but on a side note do tracys legs seem really skinny compared to his upper body..

 

I think its cuz he is behind everyone

 

If that team would have been healthy, we would have won the championship in the 2008-09 season. Easily the deepest and best team during the McGrady-Yao era. Sad.

 

A healthy Mutombo alone could have gotten us past the Lakers. We liked size in that series.

 

That was a championship team. Tracy and Yao sold out again. Tracy moreso then Yao tho.

 

yeah, t-mac totally wanted to get injured hahahaha :grin:

 

man i hope we get artest back in the future if we can somehow land mello. yeah they play the same position, but artest can move to sg, especially since hes not getting any younger.

 

Ron's popularity obviously hasn't waned in China at all since he left the team. Those pictures in China are hilarious. It's the Yao effect. I think the fact Artest was on the one team of Yao's that made it to the second round probably cemented his legend in China (plus the hilarious press conference).

I was on a business trip in Wuhan, China (10th largest city in China) last year. A young guy from our client's team was showing me around the city, and said he watches NBA basketball, which surprised me. I told him that I am a big NBA fan too, and then the first player he mentions is Ron Artest. Said Ron is really famous over there and he still makes trips to China, even after leaving the Rockets.

 

we lost Deke and Yao got hurt again. that was it. t-mac was poison. yao was virtually unstoppable during that time (when he was playing without any major injuries).

 

imagine that starting lineup minus rafer...sexy

 

Now add Brooks, Landry, Deke and Wafer to that picture.... We could have done it that year if we'd been healthy..

 

Every time when I look at this picture I almost cry, thinking what would have happened if they were injury free, definitely would have won a championship

 

the nba is not about what ifs.

definitely is only written by history.

 

Look at yao's legs theyre double the size of tmacs!

 

That's my dream Rockets team right there minus Tmac and Rafer plus AB v1 ( not v2 )

 

Minus Tmac that year but plus Martin&Lee this season...Championship!

 

that would work too but i had to make sure we got a quality PG.