Sorry Thomas Robinson, but you’re mad at the wrong people

Sunday night, Thomas Robinson of the Portland Trail Blazers took on the Sacramento Kings, a vastly different organization than the one who drafted him fifth overall in in the 2012 NBA Draft, who then traded him just months later.
But that didn’t stop Robinson from feeling slighted by his former team:

“It got to a point where I had to calm myself down before the game and remind myself that it’s just a game,” Thomas told CSNNW.com. “I just needed to relax and tell myself that it’s just business. It’s not personal. But at the end of the day, if I get the chance to go up against them, I’m not going to hesitate to give it to them.”

So, let me get this straight – it’s nothing personal, but he had to calm himself down before the game as he was too ramped up? Riggght.
Robinson’s ‘not personal’ thoughts continued:

“I use that trade and the negative articles that I got saved from last year where people were writing me off. I use that as motivation,” he said. “It’s all good, though. It’s not how fast you do your business, it’s how long.  And as long as I’m still here 10 years from

James Harden vows to help the Houston Rockets recruit free agents

The Houston Rockets have found the face of their franchise.

Despite not being able to take advantage of the weaker-than-usual Oklahoma City Thunder in the playoffs, the Rockets feel that they are a team on the rise.

Last off-season, the initial thought was that Jeremy Lin was imported to Texas to give the Rockets a brand to anchor their logo on.

That did not exactly work out as James Harden rode into town and took over both on and off the court.

Harden’s combo platter  of charisma and skill have rendered him a big time player.

As Houston moves on to seek new pieces to their puzzle, Harden told ESPN that he is ready to recruit free agents to help their cause.

“Hell, yeah,” Harden said when asked if he will be active in the free agent process. “There’s a lot of good options out there.”

Jeremy Lin: The Houston Rockets are building something special

Compared to the typhoon of attention that was devoted to him during the Linsanity era, Houston Rockets point guard Jeremy Lin has enjoyed a very quiet season thus far. 

He recently spoke with  KBME in Houston to clear the air on a variety on topics including the arrival of James Harden.

Lin was very optimistic on the Rocket’s chances going forward.

“I think as a team I would say that we’re happy with where we’re at, but we also know we’re capable of more, ” Lin said. “Right now we probably sit in the eighth seed of the playoffs, and prior to our seven-game slide that we had not too long ago, we were in the sixth seed. We’re happy we’re in the playoffs but we’re definitely not satisfied with that by any means. We feel like even though we are a young team, we have a lot of potential and we have a great opportunity to do something big this year, not just somewhere down the road.”

When the Rockets imported James Harden from the Oklahoma City Thunder, the expectation was that Lin would take something of an issue with sharing the spotlight.

Jeremy Lin Says He And Melo Would’ve Worked Eventually

Jeremy Lin was on the right end of things last night as his Houston  Rockets totally blew out the New York Knicks.

There still has been the topic of conversation for months now about Lin’s tenure in NY, and how things would have turned out had he stayed.

ESPN New York reports that Lin feels very confident things would have worked out well with he and Carmelo Anthony as a duo.

Jeremy Who? The Post-Linsanity New York Knicks

It’s a pretty excellent time to be a Knicks fan.  The first few weeks of the season haven’t just been marked by a dominant record, but by a culture change that has fans believing like they haven’t in more than a decade.  Much has been made of Carmelo Anthony’s new-found commitment to defense, sharing the ball and leadership, and it has been a huge factor in the Knicks’ early season dominance.  But there’s more at play than just a rejuvenated superstar finally putting all the pieces together.  Mike Woodson is in contention for Coach of the Year for the way he’s motivated his roster to buy in and the numerous veterans, the object of many a pre-season joke, have given New York a maturity and a will to win that can’t be underestimated.  One of those veterans, Jason Kidd, is half of the Knicks’ other biggest change.

Their back court, lead by Felton, who starts alongside Kidd for a two point guard set, has cultivated ball movement that is practically Popovichian and has brought out the best in a roster which is shockingly, almost unbelievably, deep.  Over the summer the Knicks caught a great deal of flack for letting Jeremy Lin, the breakout phenom from the middle of the 2011-2012 campaign, go to Houston.  The move seemed to be motivated more by James Dolan’s spite than basketball and a young player with tremendous marketing appeal and lots of upside was suddenly gone, a scant few months after taking a city over.  Well now that move is looking like the craftiest of them all as the Felton/Kidd combo hasn’t just been tremendous, but they’ve been everything Jeremy Lin isn’t.

James Harden Shocked Thunder Didn’t Give Him More Time to Make Decision

New Rocket’s franchise player James Harden was shocked the Oklahoma City front office didn’t give him more time to decide whether to accept their 4-year $54 million offer. Here’s what he told yahoo sports.

“After everything we established – everything we had done – you give me an hour?” Harden told Yahoo! Sports on Monday afternoon. “This was one of the biggest decisions of my life. I wanted to go home and pray about it. It hurt me. It hurt.”
Asked if additional time might have caused him to accept a deal several million dollars short of the $60 million maximum contract Harden had long sought, he responded: “Who knows? Another day, who knows what another day would’ve done?”

James Harden traded to Houston Rockets.

After a sloppy NBA Finals, James Harden will not have a chance to redeem himself in Oklahoma City.  The Thunder have dealt the visually flamboyant Sixth Man of the Year to the Houston Rockets for  guards Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb, two first-round picks and a second-round pick.

OKC also sent also sent center Cole Aldrich and forwards Daequan Cook and Lazar Hayward to Houston.

The Rockets clearly opened the vault to acquire Harden and though Thunder fans are upset to watch the bearded one walk out the door, this was a deal that will only make the team stronger.

The Rockets are expected to sign Harden to the max deal that he coveted that the Thunder was not prepared to pay him.

The deadline for the Thunder to extend Harden was hanging over OKC like a past due IRS notice and they certainly got more value for Harden now than they would have in the future as he became a restricted free agent.

“We wanted to sign James to an extension, but at the end of the day, these situations have to work for all those involved. Our ownership group again showed their commitment to the organization with several significant offers,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti said in a statement.

“We were unable to reach a mutual agreement, and therefore executed a trade that capitalized on the opportunity to bring in a player of Kevin’s caliber, a young talent like Jeremy and draft picks, which will be important to our organizational goal of a sustainable team.”

The Young Guns have some new pistols in their stable that may help them get over the hump and bring them championship gold.

It may take some time envisioning this group without Harden, but under the leadership of Kevin Durant and coach Scott Brooks, they will be just fine.

They remain Players View’s prediction to win the West now more than ever.

As for Houston, the chemistry between Harden and point guard Jeremy Lin will be hard to come by. Their playing styles may seemingly mesh well but they are both pop culture phenoms that would assumingly expect to be “the man” in a new location.

Adrian Glover

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