http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5220665.html The Orlando Magic are scheduled to play the Chinese national team in Macau, China, on Thursday, and Rockets center Yao Ming said that part of this season's China Games should not be played . Although he applauded the NBA portion of the China Games, with the Magic playing the Cleveland Cavaliers in Shanghai today and in Macau on Saturday, Yao said the players on the China national team should be with their China Basketball Association teams, preparing for the start of their season. "To be honest, I think they should not play that game," Yao said Tuesday. "It's only one week before their season starts. And after five months of training camp, after 35 games on the road, they should not play any game besides the season. They are too tired. That's what I think, but they are going to play. Good luck." Mixing and matching The Rockets scrimmaged for the second consecutive day, with coach Rick Adelman saying he used the simulated games to evaluate players for the upcoming roster and rotation decisions as much as to work out the rough spots in the team's play. He said he would not be dividing the players into teams to compete in games — as he has this week — if the roster were not so full, with 19 players practicing with fully or partially guaranteed contracts. "We have the big court (in Toyota Center), so we decided to do two more scrimmages in game conditions," Adelman said. "They get a good run, but we also can stop and do things. We go up to the practice floor with 19 people, there's not a lot of room to do anything." Heated practices The Rockets have gone so long between games, competing instead against one another, they have begun to develop a rivalry between the team in white and team in black. "We've got guys going at each other, a couple fights, couple arguments," Tracy McGrady said. "That was what I expected." McGrady would not elaborate on whether fights became physical or remained verbal. But players said the games have been taken as seriously as real games. "It gets very heated," Mike James said. "We're not playing out there. It's not a joke."
Nah. Only excessively deep teams where guys are competing for minutes, have big egos, genuine talent, and are looking to make a name for themselves or resurrect their careers and name.
Sounds like an all out war. For the Novaks, Snyders, Butlers, etc. I guess it really is a war. I bet MJ has gotten into the most arguments, the guy's crazy intense. Plus that beard he's rocking made him even crazier looking...he's just looking for a fight! Haha!
Personally, I think the competition is good. Each of these guys know they might be riding pine or maybe even waived. In either case they will be competing 100%. With this team's talent level good things are likely to happen...
this is def. good. this is the competitive fire that we lacked last year and we just depended on tmac and yao. now we have guys who WANT to play and who want to play well. and playing simulated games will help their main problem--turnovers and knowing where their teammates want the ball. but i wonder who is picking fights imagine if someone broke tmac's or yao's jaw like mayo did to hackett at USC haha
sounds like good news to me. a huge positive in the acquisition of both francis and james was their intensity, so i can only imagine both have been heavily involved.
Bring in brenden haywood and etan thomas (maybe i shouldn't mention anything about thomas..poor him and his heart surgery)
Welcome to the board. I don't know why, but I guess I'm the only one that cringes a little when things like these happen. First it was Francis then this 'fight' during team practice. I know it's intense trying to earn minutes for the season, but for some reason I'm worried about the chemistry. I worried when MJ and SF3 came and now this is happening. Oh well, it's prolly just me. I'm gonna brush it off and think positively like the rest.
If we start losing guys to injury because of these damn crazy ass intense practices, I am going to be pissed.
It makes me uneasy to hear stuff like this actually. It's one thing to be intense and focused....but it's quite another to have fights and be heated....it's not a bareknuckle ring. I want one cohesive unit where guys know their role and can execute it with an icy cold preciision yet play loose and relaxed. You don't want guys to have personal animosity towards each other. I wonder who the fights were between?
The bad thing is I can see this continuing after the roster cuts because you will have guys fighting for minutes - trying to take minutes from another by showcasing in practice. This is something we haven't seen because I don't think we've ever had a team this deep.
Morey needs to make some roster moves. This isn't playstation - you CAN have too many good players on the roster. Guys that expect to see 30+ minutes a game act out and become disruptive when they can't get on the court. Look at the Maxwell incident when Clyde came over. I don't want another season dealing with crap like that (last season Bonzi, V-Span). Even with smallball (McGrady at the 3) mixed in, we don't have room in the backcourt for Head, Bonzi, James, Francis, and Alston as well as Brooks and Snyder. We just don't. I hope this gets worked out. Evan
Things will work out. Adelman's worked with egos before. He's not the type to break spirit like JVG then build up his soldier's from the foundation. He's a player's coach. Let this wave crash then there will be calmer seas
The competition is good, chemistry issues will work themselves out when the final cuts/decisions are made. As long as no one gets hurt, lighting a fire under these guys is a good thing. And now you know why Stevie got a "T" at practice.
