Lv06|ROCKETS-2| Officially Closed.

[Valor]

i dont like this trade either....Deron will own in a couple of seasons, if not now.

good luck with Battier though, he's still a nice defender and can shoot at times

[Chaser7]

I also really don't like the trade.. You realize with all the trades you made you ended up trading away 2 bright talents, Deron Williams and JC... I say DBF it out.. but whatever interesting player developments..

[Lamrock]

On the bright side, he didn't rip off the CPU.

[Clutch]

Sept 1st, 2008 -- 815am

Emerging from the shower, Heidi wrapped a soft white towel around her dripping body, taking another from the stack of clean towels which she used to wrap around her wet, long blond hair.

She exited the small but clean hotel bathroom to see him still sitting there, eyes glued to his laptop screen on the table near a slightly ajar window.

"Are you still looking at that?" she asked him without so much as a hint of acknowledgement. "SHANE!"

Her sharp rise in tone snapped him from his trance-like state, "Whu..? uh.. oh, sorry babe. I was just…"

"I know what you 'was just'. You were reading those forums again; I told you not to."

"Yeah, I know but…" he began, but she cut him off.

"Look, you've been up for hours - it's enough already! You've got to get ready now; we've an appointment with the realtor in 45 minutes, unless you want to live out hotels for the rest of the season!"

"No babe, I…" again he was interrupted but this time by his cell phone. He motioned he would take it and she rolled her eyes, threw up her hands then grabbed her make-up kit and went back in the bathroom.

"Hello?" he said.

"Shaaaane," a low but friendly voice said back and he smiled in recognition.

"YAO! What's up, my man!? Been meaning to give you a ring but given the circumstances, I knew I'd be seeing you eventually."

"No worries, man. How're thing going so far?" Yao asked.

"Well, there's been a whirlwind of things to take care of since I found out about the trade what with packing, finding a new home, a new school for the kid, you know. Stuff."

"Yeah, but once you're settled in again, things will lighten up," said Yao with encouragement.

"I hope you're right man, but… I'm a little worried," Battier said lowering his voice a bit and checking to see that his wife was still preoccupied in the bathroom.

"Worried? about what?" Yao said.

"Well… I'm just not sure I'm wanted back in Houston. I mean, here, listen to some of these comments that are posted on the ESPN message boards -


"Bleh. I hate the trade, You get older, and less talented."

"i also dont like the trade...D-will is one of the greatest point guards today...and you will just trade it to your former player who will be aging"

"i dont like this trade either....Deron will own in a couple of seasons, if not now"

"I also really don't like the trade.. F#CK-U BATTIER! D-Will RULEZ!"

Yao can't help but laugh on the other end.

"Man I'm serious, they fuckin' hate me now! That Deron cat must've really left a good impression," Battier says with slight uncertainty in his voice.

"Nah, don't worry about that stuff; you help us win a title and they won't even remember Deron. Although for the record, the guy's got skills. He's gonna take Atlanta to new heights; actually, I hate the trade too now that I think about it."

"Geeez… thanks for the vote of confidence," Battier says as the two break out laughing.

"Seriously though," says Yao, taking a moment to catch his breath, "what are you up to later this afternoon?"

"Well Heidi and I are gonna check out a couple houses with a realtor in… shoot! 20 mins or so; I've gotta get ready. After that, nothing really. Why? What's going on?"

"Well, I'm getting together with Tracy later. We're gonna catch the tail end of the press conference then all go grab a bite to eat," says Yao.

"Press conference? What press conference?"

"The 'official' trade announcement," says Yao.

"I didn't have a press conference, just some radio interviews; there's nothing on my schedule about a press conference..."

"Not you man; you're yesterday's news," says Yao again with a laugh. "Didn't you hear?"

"Hear... about what?"

"The news broke late last night… we just got Artest."

___

Appreciate all the feedback guys and all I can really say is, I know.

I intentionally got rid of Deron simply for the fact that he IS (or 'will be' anyways) all that you've mentioned and given that I knew about the impending Artest trade, I didn't want a "Big Four"; just too stacked for my taste.

Now, for this dynasty's sake, you must also remember that D-Will isn't rated as uber as he is in more recent versions of Live; here he's "evolving" steadily and is a 78 ovrl so far; at this rate he'll probably hit the lower/mid eighties in 1-2 seasons; mid to upper eighties probably longer than that (for comparison, Nash is 81, Arenas 93, CP3 85, Telfair 77, Nelson 74, Felton 80, TJ Ford 81 i believe)

But I think one of the main reasons I wanted to trade him was because of the 'real life' rivalry between the Jazz and Rockets; I just can't see them all playing together anymore and it was starting to bug me. Moving D-Will while he's still a pup for Battier in his prime gets my team closer to it's 'real world' counterpart but also gives me a cool new adversary to watch out for in the Atlanta Hawks (For story purposes? Les Alexander and Darrel Morey are hell bent on the 'Win NOW' attitude and too near-sighted to see Deron's full potential, just like J.C. and now Marvin Williams)


Lamrock kinda sums it up best,

On the bright side, he didn't rip off the CPU.

Nothing kills a dynasty quicker, imho

[Valor]

nice behind the scenes
hey yao's english is not THAT bad
gd luck with the real life ATM combo

[kaiser_kobe]

Great way of getting the real life Houston trio...i understand ur point on trading Dwill...so, when will the next season starts?!?

[OrlMagic]

Nice Behind the Screenes story ,

Nice comment in ESPN message Board
:"I also really don't like the trade.. F#CK-U BATTIER! D-Will RULEZ!"

[Clutch]

thx guys; 'Season 2' is just about to officially kick off after one final 'off-season' Prologue wrap up

but before it does, check out the new contest that will be running during the regular season (details on pg 1, post 1) and get your entries in before the season opener!

2 names, 1 number is all it takes

[Valor]

woah interesting contest i like it
the names would be easy though, for player of the game and stuff, yao and tracy are the best choices, the Number is quite hard though

[Cartar]

Nice idea on the contest and the prize is quite cool also
I´ll start with it then:
Tracy McGrady and Sean May(trying to get FG%), 7

[Martti.]

Wow, can't wait for this! Don't like the Williams trade, but do like the Artest trade!

So here are my predictions :

Rockets players :

Ron-Ron, McGrady.

'Jumbo' number : 6

Is this acceptable? I did read the rules, but just to clarify..

[Valor]

my prediction...
McGrady, Yao
Number: 9

[Clutch]

ratrac, martti, valor - all perfectly acceptable good luck guys!

[Lamrock]

Damn it. Your contest pwns mine.

McGrady, Battier
Number: 5

[Valor]

you guys are making me want to add a similar feature to mine

[kaiser_kobe]

Whoa, nice idea...can i join too?

Heres mine,

Artest, Mcgrady
No: 8

[Clutch]

valor - if you mean by 'similar feature' you'd like to run a contest, i see no prob w/it; as you can see Lamrock's and mine are very different but both interesting and fun; point is, be original and keep it fun; be curious to see what you come up with if you do

kaiser kobe - perfect entry and yeah anybody can participate any time during the regular season really; you just need to post an entry like you did and it will count for the next game recap - good luck!

[Valor]

yeah i mean as in running a contest but an original one

[Clutch]

I came into the office this morning to find a large manila envelope on my desk with the words,

BOBCATS (CHA)- K. BENTLEY, SCOUTING REPORT

Hand-written in bold letters and inside I found tons of useful information. Scout Kareem Bentley is new this season, replacing last year's, Willie Chow; as Scouts go, Bentley's average; but he has a lot of North American contacts and a nose for tracking down tough, defensive-minded players which is where we'd like to begin with our players. So far Bentley's off to a good start

Also new to the coaching staff is Trainer, Jamey Armatta. At age 64, Armatta is a veteran of the game and was contemplating retirement; but when Lee Workman opted not to re-sign after last season, Armatta, who is a friend of Darrel Morey's father, decided to join for one final year. We'll miss Workman's leg-training expertise but with all the back ailments that plague both Yao and Tracy during the season, a torso specialist like Armatta will be a huge plus

There are a lot of new faces this season; but probably the one familiar face I'm most happy to see is that of assistant coach, Marty Bettman. Marty's the best in the business but his 3-year contract expired last season and several teams hotly pursued him; ultimately and luckily for us, he chose to re-sign with the Rockets for an additional 3-years. His specialty in training 'Bigs' I think had something to do with it; he's got a great rapport with Yao, who is arguably the best big man in the game today. I think Bettman enjoys being the man behind-the-scenes responsible for Yao striving towards his full potential

Opening night is just a few days away and training camp has been terrific. For the most part everyone has improved except perhaps Dikembe, but not due to lack of effort:



At age 42, Dikembe's spirit is willing but the body is not. The ol' timer just isn't physically what he used to be. Still, he's a solid post-defender when it counts; the key will be utilizing his talents to give Yao enough of a break during games so he's rested enough to carry us down the stretch

But if anyone impressed during training camp, it was McGrady. He's shown up more fit than I've ever seen him in his career and is as ready to go as anyone. Tracy's bulked up a few pounds and has been showing the tough defense I remember him having back in Orlando; maybe it's his new teammates that have brought that out

We wanted him mostly to focus on being a 'facilitator' more this season and he's responded. He's seeing the court well and getting teammates involved instead of forcing shots; exactly as we had talked about

Running plays through Tracy will be an important factor in our success this season as we've no dominate point guard with the loss of Williams to Atlanta; still the acquisition of a tough defender in Shane Battier is huge for our second unit, which had a tendency toward defensive lapses while the starting unit rested

Then there's Ron

By far the most controversial move made by this organization was the trade to acquire Artest from the Kings, especially when giving up a blossoming talent like Marvin Williams and solid backup point in Brevin Knight

But last year in the playoffs against Denver, Carmelo played a huge role in taking control of the series; it's no question Artest has been brought in to remedy our defensive woes and allow both Tracy and Yao much more offensive freedoms

I'm just not sure we've done enough to address the issue of controlling the glass; Yao can only do so much especially when he's being asked to carry more of the offensive load; Sean May will step in at Power Forward and is decent but slow-footed; he might have trouble keeping up against quicker big men but for now, we'll see how it goes

I'm not sure either how Les and Darrel wants to handle the point guard position; I imagine for now Tracy is filling in as a Point-Foward, similiar to Scottie Pippen's role back during the Chicago championships; Speedy Claxton also joined us from Atlanta but he's best when used as an 'energy guy' off the bench. For now I guess it's an experiment Alexander is willing to test while still early in the season

We open this week at home against the Charlotte Bobcats - Okafor, Maggette, Felton; time to get the staff together and start coming up with a game plan

___

ETA for gm1 Season Opener... approx. tomorrow, maybe later tonight - cast your entry while you can!

[-PeeBo]

great as always, good luck against Charlotte. Really strong team I think it's going to be hard battle and hope you win

[Ipsofire]

Artest, Yao
No: 7

[Oli]

Great storyline

My predictions:

Artest, McGrady
number: 4

[weechees]

My prediction:

Battier, TMac

Number: 12

[-PeeBo]

I'll try this thing too. Although it's totally luck if you can get one of them it's still really cool
T-Mac, T-Mac
Jumbo Mutombo number will be 10

[Clutch]

ipsofire, oli, weechees - acceptable entries

peebo... interesting. not sure if you meant to 'double up' on T-Mac as you posted him for both; i didn't exactly specify two 'different' players but you also take the risk of limiting your chances

I'll count the entry as 'valid' and see how it works out and make an addendum to the rules if it's problematic

If you didn't mean to post T-Mac twice, just change it before I post

Season Opener will be up shortly... last call for your game 1 entry!