At least the Sports Guy isn't our GM

The Sports Guy is convinced that he could be a good NBA GM. Sometimes his proposed trades and deals do make complete logical sense. Then he throws this one out there:

Houston trades Shane Battier, Kirk Snyder and its 2008 No. 1 pick to Sacramento for Ron Artest and a 2008 No. 2 pick.

Why Sacramento does it: That's a pretty good haul for Artest when he could bolt four months from now -- a valuable supporting guy at a fair price, along with a pick in the low 20s. So what if Battier went to Duke? You can't hold that against him. He didn't know any better when he signed there.

Why Houston does it: The deal knocks them under the luxury tax and makes the Rockets a little more interesting as a title contender -- they could go small with Artest at the 4 and/or run plays for him at crunch time, and he'd give them a fiestiness and an edge they don't quite have right now. The Rockets seem a little soft to me. I'm not saying it's Battier's fault, but he's the best trade chip for them because of his contract and his pedigree. You could always use Shane Battier on your team. I like this deal for both teams, actually.
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The Rockets seem a little SOFT?!?!

Granted, we just traded our one token crazy guy who might actually beat you up after the game. But contrary to popular opinion, Yao is not soft. Ask Chris Kaman, Kevin Garnett... and especially Malik Rose.

T-Mac is soft. So, I'll move on. But it's Yao's team now.

Carl Landry is soft? Yeah, ask the Cavaliers about that. And review Tuesday's Gorilla Dunk in traffic. He got the "T" just to prove a point I bet.

Luis Scola is soft? Hell no. I won't even dignify that thought with a response.

Rafer is soft? Uhhh, maybe, but he's also got gang connections, so I will recuse myself from an opinion here.

Shane Battier is by no means soft. Even if he went to Duke.

Aaron Brooks is not soft... you can't be a midget and get to the NBA if you are soft.

Hell, aside from T-Mac the only "soft" personality associated with the Rockets is our coach. But the players still have a lot of JVG left in 'em, so I'm not worried about Ricky infecting the Rockets with any leftover softness.

That said, I like Crazy Pills. Artest could be a great player. But he might scare McGrady. And T-Mac already has a big enough mental block about playing strong. Artest might have a miscommunication with T-Mac in the locker room and beat his ass. We can't risk that.

Simmons, thank you for the motivation. Yao is getting angrier and angrier. Calling him "soft" a few more times might just turn him into the NBA's Cloverfield Monster.