PrintRockets Meet The Media
Great expectations and good health dominate the day's conversation
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Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer
HOUSTON - Tracy McGrady matter-of-factly said, "There was a God that sent help," this summer. When told of that comment, T-Mac's new teammate Ron Artest quipped, "I believe in God." And while the mastermind behind the Rockets' headline-grabbing summer possesses none of the qualities of a deity, it might be worth noting that Daryl Morey's wikipedia page once declared that he is, in fact, God.
Mere coincidence? Of course. But it does nothing to diminish the fact that, no matter what your religious affiliation or beliefs may be, the Rockets had one heck of an offseason. So it's no surprise that topic dominated the conversation at the Rockets' annual media day extravaganza.
While T-Mac offered his seal of approval by saying, "This is by far the most talented and athletic team that I’ve been a part of," head coach Rick Adelman said he's itching to take advantage of the versatility that comes with adding players like Artest and Brent Barry to an already potent mix.
"We’re going to be able to play different ways," said Adelman. "What you’re hoping for as the year goes along - and when you get to the playoffs - is that it doesn’t matter who you play, because you’re going to have the ability to impose your will on that team because you’re going to be able to defend and do things offensively that maybe you weren’t last year. I just think we have a lot more valuable and versatile people on this team than we did last year."
For his part, Artest can't wait to resume working with his one-time coach at Sacramento.
"I was amazed at how easy [coach Adelman] made the game for me," said Artest. "It was like playing with a Michael Jordan or LeBron James in how the game was just so easy for them. And that’s how it is with his coaching. He knows exactly what he wants and he knows exactly what’s going to work. Every time a team threw all these different defenses at us, he put a new offense or new option in and it worked."
Of course, it's no secret that one of the biggest roadblocks standing between the Rockets and their championship aspirations is the ever present specter of injury. Coach Adelman didn't even attempt to duck the topic.
"I’d never had a team where I had four starters have surgery right when the season ended. That’s been one of my major concerns is how these guys are gonna come to camp and where they are physically… So we’ve got to get ourselves ready to go and I’ll tell my team that today. It would be really nice not to count on a 22-game winning streak."
On the injury front, let's start with the good news first: Both Yao Ming and Rafer Alston say they're fine and ready to go (Yao's birthday wish: "I wish I can play an 82 game regular season."). T-Mac's injuries have been somewhat slower to heal, however.
"My knee is about 75-80% right now," said McGrady. "My shoulder kept bothering me after surgery, so I had another MRI and it showed that I have arthritis in there so I’m going to have to have surgery again on my shoulder [next summer]. It’s not anything that’s going to keep me out of the game, but it’s going to bother me."
Then there's Shane Battier. He's slated to miss the entire preseason due to inflammation in his surgically repaired left foot. Not surprisingly though, Battier is taking a positive approach to his setback.
"I’d much rather deal with this now than in March because once you get into the meat of the season you don’t really have the perspective you have on October the first, where you have time… Right now I know I have the luxury of time and the luxury of a deep roster, so I can take the time to address the things I need to address and come back healthy."
If Shane and company do come back healthy, there seems to be little doubt that the sky's the limit for this group. To a man, everyone who stepped to the podium on media day expressed a sentiment similar to the one issued bluntly by McGrady: "I want a championship. I don’t want to just get out of the first round – that’d be selling myself short."
And lest anyone worry about this team's goals being undone by ego run amok, Adelman already has his message prepared: "Everybody has to understand: You can do less on a very good team and get more credit. Just ask the three guys in Boston."
Indeed, in Houston, as is certainly the case nearly everywhere around the league these days, the Rockets are looking east and drawing inspiration from last year's Celtics team which took the NBA by storm after a receiving a similar infusion of talent.
"It gives me hope," McGrady said. "KG is one of my good friends and I was with him this summer and it just felt good. I was happy for him because he was kind of in the same situation I was; going to the playoffs, being put out seven straight times so he knows what I’m going through and it just felt good to see him happy, and to hear from him that my time was gonna come.
God willing, and with a little luck, T-Mac's time might be only nine months away. But for now, it's time to get to work. The journey begins Tuesday with training camp.
And 1's: There's been a lot of speculation about the Rockets scaling back the minutes played by Yao Ming in an effort to reduce his risk of injury. But coach Adelman says it's just as important for Yao to ease up on his days off: "I think the biggest thing with Yao is monitoring him on off days, too. He’s such a hard worker that he just runs himself into the ground. He keeps saying he wants to rest, but he never wants to sit out." Daryl Morey was more blunt: "Someone needs to probably tell him to cool it."
Another hot topic: Who's going to be Yao's backup? Morey addressed that head on: "We feel like our best chance to win is going to be with the bigs we have on the roster now. We would like to add someone, but we need to free up some financial resources to get that done. But we’ll do that through trade or some other method as the season goes on. But we feel very comfortable that our roster is set up to win and just throughout the year we’re gonna have to tweak it in certain areas and that may be one."
Rafer Alston on his detractors: "I think some people in this town and around basketball fall in love with scoring point guards. They want Gilbert Arenas, they want Baron Davis, they want guys who are gonna score 20 points. I’ve always thought: Do we need that on this team? Because if you bring in a scoring point guard that means Tracy and Yao and Ron won’t see as much of the basketball."
Quote-machine Shane Battier on sharing the burden of defending the opponent's best player with Ron Artest: "Hey, if Ron wants to chase Kobe around for 48 minutes, I defer."
And finally, if anyone still wonders whether Yao Ming and Artest are getting along, this quote from Yao should put their mind at ease: "The first minutes I walked in this arena, I saw him and we walked by and had a hug and said hello. It feels like we know each other a long time."
Have a question for Rockets.com? Send it to Jason Friedman via email at: jasonf@rocketball.com.
