+ draft rights to D. Greene and a wad of cash. And that “future first rounder” always looks minute until you dramatically need the pick this time next year. “Building for now” doesn’t work unless you’re Boston, they’ll pay for this move….mark my words.

No worries. McGrady is Sammy L. in Unbreakable and Yao is still an overrated question mark. They’re gonna be tougher, but don’t we say that every year?! Give me one actual full year of them playing injury-free successful ball and I’ll be concerned. This doesn’t faze me and shouldn’t you either; no reason to jump from the bridge just yet.

It does however again beg the argument that we could have done better than George Mason. It seems that we’re content to stand pat (Sorry Roger. No, I didn’t forget you) while others around us improve significantly. This move only increased my hope for Air Gist, nothing more.

Artest is a good player, but I wonder how he’ll fit in. Do you play him at the three over Shane Battier? Battier provides roughly equivalent defense and superior three point shooting to space the floor for Yao and T-Mac. Do you play him at the four rather than Scola and Landry? I think Scola is a better player at that position, and Artest has never been a hustle/energy guy the way Landry is.

Artest has a history of pouting when he’s not The Man offensively. He’ll be no better than number three behind Yao and T-Mac… not a great recipe for his keeping his sanity. Plus, I don’t know that Houston has the same strong institutional culture that the Spurs do, so I worry about them keeping him in line.

I have to disagree about Skip to My Lou, though. For much of his career he’s been erratic, but he seemed to turn a corner last year. He was instrumental in their 20+ game win streak, and was a big reason they lost the first couple of playoff games. They were a different team when he came back.

I also have to disagree with the assessment of the Spurs as the “Big 3 plus the Poo Poo Platter.” Roger Mason and Kurt Thomas are effective players who would get minutes for most teams. Mahinmi would have been a lottery pick had he entered the draft this year. Matt Bonner, well, ummm…never mind. The jury’s still out on Gist and Hill, though I suspect they’ll turn out to be effective as well.

In short, I think Artest will be useful for Houston defensively against certain matchups, smallish scoring 4’s like David West or Elton Brand. He might be effective using his strength against Amare Stoudemire. Other than that, though, I don’t see him helping Houston as much as some might think.

IMO. What is it July? Championships aren’t won in July, Artest will go batshit crazy at some point and screw it up for the Rockets.

Bobby Jackson makes close to 7 million with 1 year left on his contract. The Spurs don’t have anyone like that on the roster. They would have had to trade Bowen (2 years at 4 million per year) and Bonner (2 years at 3 million per year). While that would have been a good trade for the Spurs, I really doubt Sacto would do that. Bobby Jackson is a former King who is well liked in Excremento and who will have a role as the backup PG. Bonner and Bowen would likely not fit in.

BTW, I wonder if the Kings will waive Kenny Thomas? If so, the Spurs should look into picking him up. He could provide some rebounding, post moves, and toughness off the bench.

not a bad thought on kenny thomas if he comes cheap, but that move would mean the spurs aren’t looking at yawn and air gist too much.

bumping scola to the bench is a mistake. particularly in favor of ron artest. you go from ball movement, offensive flow and crafty scoring to that “sticky hands” black hole of a post up guy.

i firmly believe that yao will win more than a title or two before his career is done. once he figures out the NBA game, he gonna be a bitch to deal with. and those guys look really really good on paper. i mean, they have all the peices – but it is just paper.

IMHO, the bigger problem with the rockets is trying to get mcgrady on the same page with everyone else. when he’s on, lookout. but when he’s not, he will flat kill you. if that guy had half of manu’s desire or kobe’s focus, the rocks might have won one already.

now they have went and added the one ingredient that could poison the whole pie.

You have this article from the wolrd wide pimper of Nascar.

Some of my favorite quotes:

“I understand what Yao said, but I’m still ghetto,” Artest said, according to the report. “That’s not going to change. I’m never going to change my culture. Yao has played with a lot of black players, but I don’t think he’s ever played with a black player that really represents his culture as much as I represent my culture. Once Yao Ming gets to know me, he’ll understand what I’m about.

“We’ve still got to make sure there’s still a commitment [from the Rockets],” Artest said, according to the Bee. “That’s the main thing, is to make sure there’s still a commitment. When I speak to the powers-that-be of the Houston Rockets’ organization, we’re going to find out how much they really want me there. We’ll find out. I’m still waiting to find out if this is just a trade or if this is like a long-term commitment-type thing. I haven’t spoken to anybody yet. I’m still waiting.”

“I guess once Yao Ming approves [the deal], I’ll be a Houston Rocket,” Artest said, according to the report. “[Yao] probably should’ve called me first. But at the same time, it’s Yao Ming’s team.”

“Whatever Yao Ming wants me to do, I’ll be there. Whatever Tracy McGrady tells me to do, that’s how it’s going to go down. Ultimately, whatever [Rockets] coach Rick Adelman tells me to do is exactly what I’m going to do.”

Well, I’d never hope for an injury. That’s not me. Besides, I like the Rockets. Or rather, I did, before they got Mr. Psycho. Shit. I can’t root for a team with Yao, T-Mac, Scola and Barry? WTF. Thanks a lot Darryl Morey or whatever their GM’s name is.

What was my point?

Oh yeah.

Since I can’t root for injuries, it seems as if I will have to root for Artest destroying the team from within because on paper they are freakin’ loaded.

That Yao and Luis Scola text each other. I wonder if they made up their own language, some kind of hybrid Mandarin-Spanish-English-OMG/LOL texting abbreviations language. The fact that they texted each other must also mean that they’re buddies. It would be awesome to tag along for a night on the town with those two.