Its pretty simple really, T-mac can be the next Clutch Bear and Les can pay him $20 million a year to harrass the fans without losing the game for us.
When he gets the ball the offense grinds to a halt. This just isn't debatable anymore. Go back and look at the last four or five games and compare the ball movement with and without Yao and T-Mac. It's night and day. Bottom line--the Rockets would be better off with a lesser talent who actually plays the offense.
In the case of TSlack, the Rockets are better off with a lesser talent who actually plays some defense too.
Artest is just as bad. Go back and look at the first loss to Indy where he jacked up the last four or five shots of the game, on absolutely atrocious shot selection. That loss was all on him. He wanders off the reservation, but like T-Mac he can sometimes be persuaded into playing the system. Best case scenario is that both he and T-Mac can be forced into moving the ball and that no trades are necessary. Barring that getting rid of one them may get the other more into line with the offense. One guy may be a lot easier to persuade than two. My solution: let them play, but if they start stopping the ball bench them. If they can't learn then at least one of them's got to go. If that doesn't fix the problem then the other one should be traded as well.
You simply can not have Tracy and Ron on the floor at the same time...that is a disaster. One of them has to go.......Artest is the easiest to trade...he has to go...HAS TO !! DD
artest has played worse in regards to the system than tracy. both stop the ball at times. but tracy is willing to pass to the open man. artest doesn't.
As pissed off as I am right now I have to admit that it's not black and white. Artest plays the offense--sometimes. McGrady plays the offense--sometimes. The trick is keeping both on the straight and narrow.
I found it funny when the talking heads of the NBA were amazed at how well the Rockets were playing without TMac and Artest. For anyone who has watched the Rockets this year, they played well precisely because we did not have TMac and Artest.
when has artest played the offense this yr? it's not even sometimes. even yesterday when we were blazing hot v. the pistons, artest was the one SHOOTING open shots by standing still at the 3pt line. he wasn't moving around. he wasn't facilitating plays at the high post. he didnt play off the ball. artest's great games this yr is due primarily to his spot up 3s. if he makes them, he'll have good stats. if he doesn't, he just plains up is bad. tracy CAN play this offense and has shown that he can. right now he just can't beat anybody off the dribble so it looks like he's stopping the ball. if he can drive and penetrate (or make a better effort of it), he'll draw the defense and kick out. artest just cannot do anything outside of shooting spot up 3s.
Well you could counter that with one of them actually passes the ball and gets teammates open shots. Both of them at this point live and die by the jumpshot.
The problem with T-Mac is that when he gets the ball he hangs onto it. He goes back into iso mode. The other Rockets stop cutting because they know he's not going to move the ball unless he drives and dishes. That's got nothing to do with injuries and everything to do with his refusal to play the offense. Artest has had good games and bad games in terms of the offense. I wouldn't rate McGrady higher and lower. The only reason to talk about trading Artest first is because his contract is a lot lower and more movable. Right now I'd bench them both and play them limited minutes.
i can't defend tracy on that. he simply has to fight through whatever and exert a much better defensive performance night in and night out.
i'm sorry, artest holds the ball as much as tracy, but the problem is, he never looks to pass. artest can AT LEAST try to look to pass. but overall, yes, both don't look that great right now. barry and wafer should play more.
I actually expected more from him, that his trainer would have gotten him more confident, I am extremely dissappointed that he is still playing like a cowardly lion. DD
i agree. i thought he would test his knee out more but apparently not. we'll see as he plays more games. the good thing is that he said he felt good after playing tonight also and didn't complain about the knee. maybe he does feel good, but like you said, he still plays scared. we cannot have that from tracy.
Yeah the hate for McGrady on this board is ******* ridiculous. Everybody's so much in Artest's ass that they don't frickin realize he shot 4-19 from the floor today and took us more out of the offense than McGrady did. It's a joke, but "oh Artest plays ****** defense" Who the hell was he guarding in the game, Chandler murdered us, where was Artest? Oh but he plays hard, bull****, playing hard is something that gets respected, but results>>playing hard, Artest set the tone by dribbling the air out of the ball and taking ******* horrible shots. Did I expect more out of McGrady? YES, we all do, he's plying like a p***y, but the hatred towards McGrady saying he lost us the game when giving Artest excuses for his **** performance and also missing BUNCH of games is just showing the dumb bias that goes around this board. /end rant
Who is giving Artest a pass? Seriously who? That guy is a square peg in a round hole... Ship him to Chi-town for Hinrich. DD
