To Clutch: Let The Cat Out The Bag On Rons Behavior

Exactly. Amazing how people bash on a guy that came here and led this team further than it had been in 12 seasons and did everything he could, but go out of their way to stick up for a big time quitter (Mcgrady) and a 7'6 guy who is on the bench every year due to injury that has never had a tough bone in his body.

Ron brought a leadership and a form of toughness that hadn't been here in 12 years. Maybe he was crazy with the ball at times, maybe he was weird, but he still was more successful as a team leader and top player over any of these other guys that Rockets fans have worshiped like Tmac, Yao, Francis, and Mobely. Ron brought more in one season than any of those guys ever has.

 

I enjoyed him while he was here however i dont like that he acted like he wanted to stay here and then left. thats messed up.

 

I really don't mind if people don't like Yao's game or how things have gone for him and the Rockets - but statements like this are ludicrous.

You act like he has been sitting out of games and seasons with blisters on his toe or a splinter or a sprained ankle. Every time he has been out its been a major injury - broken bones or similar that he often has tried to play multiple games through.

Maybe he is brittle or injury prone or whatever - but to say he isn't tough is a load of crap.

 

exactly how i feel...

 

I get the point you're making, but the fact remains that Ron was a significant part of our success last year. I think its a mistake to ignore the profound positive impact he had on our team, perhaps more so than any individual player other than Yao. Therefore, one can fairly deduce that he had a large amount to do with us bucking the 1st round curse. Of course it's a team sport. And everyone contributed. But some contribute in more ways than others. Ron is a well-rounded basketball player, and he did a lot of the little and big things that were crucial to our success. The playoffs was not his best perfomance, but we wouldn't have had close to the same success without him.

 

Houston didnt want Artest in their future. I think when the Rockets offered him the one year deal he got the message that it was time to go. If the Rockets wanted him then they would have made a better offer. He does not owe the team anything.

You guys need to remember that he waited for the Rockets to make an offer before leaving.

 

Artest played harder last season more than T-Mac has in his 5 seasons as a Rocket combined.

Artest plays harder no matter what.

 

What happened when Yao went down and Artest had to be the man against LA? I just remember him playing horribly. Tracy always rose to the challenge when Yao went down and he had to be the man. Just sayin.

 

Artest is better at being the second option.

Obviously Tmac was better at being the first option.

 

He's never been tough. He's always been a timid player afraid to use his body as a weapon and afraid to be physical. That's not being tough. Sorry, but he's always been a soft player since he came into the NBA and that's always been a big reason why his game hasn't evolved in the last 2 or 3 seasons. His peak was a few years ago.

 

This is so laughable.

Tmac always made it happen when Yao was out. Yeah, he did in the season, but once playoff time came even with home court advantage he turned into the tin man, and was afraid to attack the basket.

I guess you forgot about those two 4th quarters where Tmac combined for 1 point in both games against Utah. Tmac and the playoffs just don't mix. It's like oil and water.

 

He cant play tough with the way they call the games these days. This isnt the 90's. You touch a player and its a foul.

If he was was not 7'6 and was more mobile maybe he would get away with being more aggressive but that is not the case.

 

The Rockets did offer him a contract during the season I believe(though yes I know, many players dont like to do that stuff during season) and then reportedly offered or were going to offer a one year deal. But as others have said, why would he and his agent say "Yeah I want to be here in Houston no matter what, no matter if Yao is inured or not and that will not be a deciding factor" and then not even the next day says he wants to go to LA and admits that Yao being out had to do with it? But thats alright, I cant blame him. He did what was best for him. It looks like we didnt want him or need him too bad, which is good, IMO. His time was due and it was time to move on. Unfortunately, he went to be Kobe's sidekick and defensive *****. Sad but its a business. I'll cheer for him and wish him luck but it will only be a matter of time before a clash, IMO.

 

Have you not watched Shaq in this entire decade? Shaq has thrown people around, gotten away with elbows, and all sorts of stuff. Granted the refs have always had a love affair for that fat basterd, and sort of hated on Yao, but Yao still has always played very timid and with a soft nature. Every now and then it's okay to throw some elbows around to send a message to the other team if they're going to hack you a lot in the paint. Yao wouldn't even dream of doing that to other teams, and hell he might as well have considering how the refs were going to call petty fouls on him any way. Might as well dish out some pain that will at least make the other team's players think twice. Yao would never do that though because he is to shy and timid.

 

I get what your saying. It was a bad choice of words for him.
I took that statement more as, I will give Houston first dips. When i thought about that statement i also thought about the other statements he made about a long term deal and more money. So i kind of figured it was not going to be a guarantee.

 

Yao has shown enough aggressiveness when he is single covered and not fronted. The problem is when they do those things. What the Rockets should worry more about is finding a way to beat those coverages. They need to spend time working on lobbing the ball to him. They need to spend time on ball movement so they can find the almost always open Yao on the other side when fronted. Him becoming more aggressive will just put more pressure on his body. Is that something any Rocket fan would want?

Yao is not as agressive as you would hope but trying to send of message that was is pointless. If teams found out you can foul out Yao by enticing him to attack you then would do it more often. Maybe if the game is out of reach or something but i this will not help.

elbows? Any thrown elbows by Yao would be at the opponents head.

 

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Come on now...
This is just getting out of hand at this point

 

had some errors

 

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I'm sorry, how often did Ron attack the basket during the playoffs? It was about as much as McGrady did...
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Sorry, but you forgot that he avg'd 27/7/7 with a couple of steals and blocks that series without Yao. What did Artest do when Yao went down?? Oh yeah....nothing.

 

he shot fade aways and turned the ball over, im glad we picked up artest last off season and he played very well for us in the second half and he helped get us out of the first round. That said, he's not good enough to be a core player for us for the future. I'm glad we didn't commit to him long term.