I don't understand that. You blather on about heart, passion, and clutch, but in the process miss the technical things which ultimately really matter. Martin fits this team better, as Landry took minutes from Scola and we had major problems without a scoring wing. Martin is a better player. We aren't losing because of bs intangibles like we're not trying hard enough (I would argue everyone on this team is putting in effort, if not good effort, with the possible exception of Lowry), we're losing because our defensive rotations suck, and we are highly inconsistent in the rotations due to too many guys. That is the problem. I mean, is Scola playing with heart for 36 minutes and Martin playing good for 36 minutes worse then Scola playing with heart for 18, Landry playing with heart for 30, and all of us watching the TV groaning as Ariza does his iso.....thing? Heck no. And that's what matters. The fact is Martin is a better fit for the Rockets, so the trade worked. God it's obvious. Ariza turned down more money from Cleveland and Toronto so he could come here for a bigger role. Why would he have ever wanted to come here if we retained Artest?
I'm gonna be captain Hindsight and say: Pay Artest to keep him here. Sign Ariza with the full MLE. Keep Landry, and trade Scola for Martin. This way the Rockets keep Artest, retain Landry, and shed some salary from Scola's contract. Would the Kings have done the trade if it were Scola instead? I think so. it's not like they don't have the space. Then trade Ariza for Lee. Yao / Miller / Hayes Landry / Hill Artest / Battier Martin / Lee / Budinger Brooks / Smith Let Lowry walk. The Lakers would have been screwed if Morey was more shrewd.
Stop putting this on the players. If the coach put in a halfway decent lineup, Kev had opportunities in the 4th last night to make points too. But the whole point of his game, and Morey has said this multiple times, is that the bigs inside should draw some defense and then kick it out to him for his fast-release 3. Now, tell me, how in hell can we do that, when our "big" center is 6'5" Chuck Hayes, who has no offense and could pretty much be guarded by whoever's guarding Scola at the same time? Then obviously our perimeter guys are going to be getting crowded and doubled. Our coach is making our players look bad.
Morey got a bargain for Martin, its the finest trade Morey has ever done. Kudos to Morey. I love Morey, and one of the reasons is he pulled off this Martin trade. Morey is perfect other than the Ariza trade. (Which I HATE)
I know we miss Landry and all but I remember him always being derailed because he was very VERY inconsistent. Scola would always get his numbers which was an argueing point. Defender? off ball blocks and that is it. Period. your reasoning fails OP. Do you know why Landry was big in the 4th. Because thats where he gets his minutes. Landry had his faults and the fact that 2 years made you forget them is...is....oh goodness.
Well, depends on your criteria for "a bad team". But you could say the same for T-Mac, Baron Davis, etc. I think it only goes to show that Kevin Martin is a great player.
I find this quite funny. Martin has been in the playoffs once and he wasnt the reason they were there. Davis led all his teams to the playoffs and tracy had to take the magic and the rockets minus yao in the playoffs. Martin is a good player, just not a impactful one.
He is impactful, just not in a "main guy" way. He is a perfect 2nd or 3rd option..... The problem is this team was built for AB and Yao to be first options, and both of them were out. DD
Landry could be a 4th qrtr scorer AND still be effective in limited minutes. It doesnt counter what i said. All that means is most of those minutes came in crunch time....if you look at his production, it doesnt increase much with extended minutes, that's why he's better off being played 25-27 mins, rather than almost 40. That's what made him so efficient. Look at his stats last season, playing 10 mins more a game with Sac, he managed to get one more rebound and score one more bucket. And so what if they won a playoff series? so did chuck, and now he's part of a 1-6 ballclub. Landry is stuck in a lesser role. Ron got lucky and was put in a very good situation in LA. Let's not act like they have a career resume full of significant wins, that's what a winner should have, not one playoff series.
