[NBA.com] Landry still laying it all on the line

EbolaScola · Mar 4, 2010

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/fran_blinebury/03/04/landry/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt1

Posted Mar 4 2010 10:51AM

A lot of players say they leave everything on the court for their teams. Not many have left as much of themselves as Carl Landry did for the Houston Rockets.

There was the tooth that was knocked out by one of the famous flying elbows from the legendary Dikembe Mutombo during a particularly spirited practice.

There was the tooth that was knocked out in a rumble under the basket for a rebound with Carlos Boozer during Game 3 of the 2008 playoff series against the Utah Jazz.

Then there were the five teeth either broken or knocked out that required a root canal and two dental bridges following a violent collision with Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas earlier this season.

So it was that Landry hardly expected to feel the bite of the NBA trade deadline.

But the wheels of the Rockets' charter flight had barely hit the ground in Houston following a blowout win on Feb. 17 when the cellphones in the pockets of all the players began to buzz and vibrate and send out text messages with the news. Landry was part of the deal the Rockets used to secure long-coveted wingman Kevin Martin from Sacramento. Just like that, a burgeoning local icon and the often jack-o-lantern-smiling ambassador for an overachieving team was gone.

"I didn't think my name was in any type of [trade] rumors at all," Landry said on Wednesday night when he made his first trip back to his old stomping grounds and racked up 22 points and 10 rebounds in the Kings' 84-81 win in Houston. "But Daryl Morey is a great GM. Since I've been here he's made great decisions on trying to make the team better. This is a decision he made and he's about 10-0 so far."

One of those Morey decisions was a little-noted Draft night deal in 2007 that sent a second-round choice to the Seattle SuperSonics for the rights to their 31st pick, a hustling power forward out of Purdue.

Landry didn't complain when he spent 33 of the first 36 games in his rookie season on the bench. He simply kept at it every day in practice until he forced his way onto the floor and, well, sunk those teeth in and wouldn't let go of his spot in the rotation. On the night when Landry lost that tooth to Boozer, he stayed in the game and made a last-second, game-saving block on a Deron Williams layup to seal the win.

"I just like playing too much to let anything stop me," Landry said.

Which is why the 6-foot-9, 26-year-old forward didn't spend any time complaining about being traded or moping about his fate.

"I'm not mad," Landry said. "Everything happens for a reason. I understand it's a business. Actually, I was excited, because I knew that there were going to be great things for me in the near future.

"I was grateful for the opportunity the Rockets had given me to play. Sacramento wanted me, so I had some type of value due to the opportunity that the Rockets had given me. I'm just excited to have a new beginning and get a chance to change this Sacramento program back in the direction they used to be a couple of years ago."

He's one of those perennially sunny, take-lemons-and-make-lemonade types that who never looks back. In March of 2009, he was the victim of a street shooting late one night in downtown Houston. The bullet caught only the muscle in his calf and a month later, he was back in the lineup.

So how was a mere trade going to pierce that armor of optimism?

"No, it always can be worse," Landry said. "You can lose your mom tomorrow. I'd rather be traded any day than lose my mom or my father. It always can be worse. You can get your arms and legs chopped off or not be able to walk or to smell anything again. This is not that bad. I just look at it like, hey, it's a great opportunity for me and for great things in the near future."

The Kings were in need of a low-post, high-energy presence and that's exactly what Landry delivers to a lineup that is often over-reliant on rookie point guard Tyreke Evans. With the hair shirt that is Shane Battier forcing Evans into an uncomfortable 4-for-22 shooting night on Wednesday, Landry was steady, aggressive and even hit the two clinching free throws in the final four seconds.

"You can see why they loved him here," said Kings coach Paul Westphal. "He's easy to root for because he's got a lot of heart. He wants that ball. He wants it both on the boards in loose-ball situations and he wants it in his hands with the game on the line. He's another one of those players that you can count on down the stretch."

Now Landry is taking a long view of the future.

"It felt weird," he said. "I've never been traded before. I didn't know how to act. But everything happens for a reason. The opportunity here with the Kings is good. So I'm just gonna go and make the best of it and leave everything on the floor in Sacramento."

That is, at least the pieces that Landry didn't leave behind in Houston.
Click to expand...

durvasa · Mar 4, 2010

Landry rocks. Awesome attitude.

EbolaScola · Mar 4, 2010

Here's an interview he did with the Kings regarding his career so far, the trade, his teeth...

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crzyxballer03 · Mar 4, 2010

Damn, I love Landry, wish he was here . I had no idea he started playing ball in his sophomore year of high school, and he wasn't even good until his senior year!

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[NBA.com] Landry still laying it all on the line

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