Artest suspension (UPDATE: Artest out for the season)

How about someone who is routinely physical or brutish? Something not hard to connect with Artest on the court.

Ask Rip Hamilton's nose what he thinks.

Evan

 

It's what the media says. Google it.

I never said what he did was right, nor am I trying to convince yall that hes some saint. But it most definitely was a mistake. One I'm certain he regrets.

 

That's interesting.....and it goes along with what David Stern alluded to in his press conf....he mentioned that Ron has a problem and he has been dealing with it etc...apparently he is on medication etc for it. Stern went on to say that Ron is a good guy but needs to get his "problem" straightened out. I see this as his last chance in the league...and if he screws up while on suspension, he may never be back.

 

someone finally got it right with dream team's post. at least #3 thru #5.


artest did not punch the guy. in fact, the guy he went after even said artest was saying "was it you, was it you?" now he may have pummeled him to death even after he said no but at that point the fans had already stepped in. still, he didn't just haul off and punch the guy. more like held him down to keep him there and then maybe beat him.


from what i can tell, stephen jackson through all of one punch, and it was on that guy that threw a drink on artest. who cares if the guy was smaller than him? don't throw a drink on a guy if he's bigger than you and you don't want him to hit you. he got caught, jackson hit him. after that, jackson got restrained by his teammates (though he looked like he would've gone after that guy some more). he wasn't wildly throwing haymakers. since the drink got thrown just as he got there i don't know exactly what he would've done but he looked like he was going to where artest was to either beat those guys up or just help out. only once the drink was thrown did he throw his punch, and i'm pretty sure he didn't throw another one.

and the guy walked up to artest like he wanted to do something. he's on the court, a no no. and he's on there in the middle of a riot confronting the guy who was just in the middle of it. he had no reason to be walking up to artest at all. seriously, if you're artest, what else are you thinking if yet another person is going after you? hell, artest didn't even catch him that well. he got off easy.

his friend did not.


and i don't understand, is artest not bigger than wallace? 246 to 240 from grendal's own post (although it said 247 when i looked last night). if we're just going by height, then bradley is bigger shaq but weight is more important than height for a fight. hell, in GRENDAL's own post after posting the weights he says wallace is bigger then NJRocket says Chicken Boy must never watch the nba even after his ally posts the weights saying artest is bigger. strange.

 

Yes I posted the weight and the heights right off the rosters from thier respective websites.

You can't seriously say that Ben Wallace wouldn't have killed Artest if he would have gone after him, can you?

Artest wanted nothing to do with Wallace.

Wallace is a tad taller and the weight is about the same but Wallace is more muscular IMO, just like I said in previous post, than Artest. Which is way I think Artest was retreating the way he was.

 

I agree with Grendal. It's funny that Artest chose to go after a fan that threw beer at him rather than go after Wallace who basically had just shoved him in the face. Seems like the shove Wallace gave was much more violent and Artest wouldn't go near him, yet some small dude in the stands throws beer on him and he's off to the stands to fight. I would have had more respect for Artest if he went after Wallace, not that I would encourage fighting.

 

The cup thrown at Artest he deemed more injurious, imo, because it embarassed him. He got in a scuffle with an equal on the court and tried to one-up by playing cool. Laying on the scorer's table was a very Rodmanesque sort of move to taunt Wallace and the Pistons. Unfortunately, the whole effect was ruined when he got a beer thrown at him. In my pop-psych world, that's why I think he went after the guy.

 

no i cannot name the last time..
I Agree it probably wasn't wallace intention to get the crowd into a fight. But i also think that it wasn't the intention of artest to get into a fight with the crowd, he wanted to point the 1 man who threw a cup at him. (maybe he could have done it better).
Like i said i'm not saying that th epacers acted correctly. But i think that if you blame the pacers you have to blame the crowd and the pistons. Wallace was the reason the crowd started throwing stuff. So IMHO he was one of the reasons this al escaleted. If wallace just cooled down nothing would have happened, the same go's for artest, if he didn't go to the stands nothing would have happened, but both did otherwise so both are to blame.

I know Artest has a bad reputation, And i think he overreacted, but still it is the fault of the pistons the crowd got so agressive. The played in their own arena, so they are responsible for problems with the crowd.(in soccer the team who fans cause a roit are responsible, so in this case the Pistons).
Before this incident i liked the pistons, and i wasn't a fan of the Pacers(exception O'neal, i like his game) But If the NBA punish the Pacers more then the pistons, that will change. Then i hope the pacers will do wel.

Like i said, i think the pacers should be punished because of this, But the Pistons are also to blame. And they should also be punished.

 

Anyone catch Artest being interviewed with Matt Lauer this morning on the Today Show?

Lauer is sitting there asking him questions about the suspension...and what the punishment should have been in his eyes etc. Just when you thought he being rational and saying how he respects Stern's decision yada yada yada, the dope pulls out his CD and starts to plug it....smiling and saying how its a love CD etc. Just goes to show you that he doesn't have a CLUE about the magnitude of what he did...nor did he seem to care.

 

Yeah I notice how Artest was pointing him out with a cocked fist after he shoved him to the ground.

Artest's intention was clearly to go into the stands and punch someone.

CLEARLY

 

Translation: He knew he would get pounded by Wallace so he didn't try to defend himself because he was scared. Keep in mind he received a two hand shove to the face. Moments later he gets a drink thrown on him and targets one of the smallest people in the stands.

Side note: I would have totally understood if he went after Ben Wallace for the shove to the face. That's called SELF-DEFENSE. Artest is a punk bully who created this prison for himself and now he must live in it.

 

That's what I've been saying since the first time I saw the video. Just watch it, right after the foul Artest has not intention of going after Wallace. How ever a very beatable little white guy, that’s a totally different story.

Thuggish behavior.

 

Has he ever really understood?

Even with all the prior incidents he still doesn't get it.

I just read that he hopes to be back in time for the playoffs. He has total disregard for the enormity of this situation.

Personally, I hope he never sets foot on an NBA court again.

 

That's hysterical...

Yeah Ron, what we want to do is ban you from these games but once the entire global universe tunes in for the playoffs, we want you on center stage.

 

Thanks. I actually wrote it in English though, and that isn't at all what I said. I don't think he did make an evaluation of his target before he went after him. I don't think he would have even blinked if he got up there and discovered the cup thrower was George Foreman. Honestly, I'm not sure he has the intelligence and/or wisdom to make choices like that.

 

he did not punch that guy, he started punching after another fan hit him. but i agree with you that Artest went into the stand with the intention to hit the guy that threw the cup. But i do not think he wanted this to turn into such a big fight.

But like i already said i think it was stupd and wrong what artest did, and i believe he should have a huge suspension. The only thing i have a problem with is the fact that i do not think the pistons got a high enough penalty because it was as much their fault as the pacers. especially because i think they are responsible for their fans. Do you agree with me On this Codell?

 

He was clearly going to punch that guy until other fans starting restraining him.

He just wanted it to be a fight between him and the fan that threw something. And in all honestly, while I hold him accountable for what happened afterwards, since his teamates wouldn't have been in the stands if it weren't for him, I think Stern is punishing Artest for a) simply going into the stands and b) Assualting an innocent fan. The length of the suspension probably has quite a bit to do with Artest past history, and deservedly so.

I think they are responable for the fans to a certain degree.

Lets be honest, as long as they have concessions and have containers to put food and beverages in, then there is NOTHING security can do to prevent any given fan from throwing something. The only way to stop something like that, is to stop selling concessions, programs or anything else that can possibly be used as a projectile or, put a security guard in front of every single fan.

Now, as far as controlling fans, I've maintained one simple fact: Artest didn't allow security to do their job and if they had, no one of what happened after the cup throwing would have happened.

What security could have done, is to have a force present to isolate the fight in the stands and the players that were left on the court so it wouldn't escalate like it did. I think most of the security was preoccupied with getting the fans and players in the stands separated and didn't have the man power to keep fans off the court.

Stern seems to see it like this, since he mentioned security will be beefed up from now on.

 

Can't speak for Codell but I certainly don't agree. How are the Pistons players responsible for their fans? The SECURITY at the arena is responsible for the fans. It was not the Piston's fault that the Pacers went into the crowd. Notice how the Pistons knew enough to not even go in the crowd and try to break it up....especially when they knew full well that no fans were going to bother them. This is clearly the Pacer's fault....and the fans.....but not the Pistons

 

codell: had two posts on pg 21 of "the brawl" thread. Basically I think we should learn from the way soccer deals with these type situations in treating the management, players and fans as one organisation.