[ABC]Artest moves to clear air with Yao, diffuse tension

I have bolded today's latest comments. The rest of the quotes are old.

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/sports/pro/basketball&sa=NBA&eid=3513504

Artest moves to clear air with Yao, diffuse tension
07/31 3:01 PM
Ron Artest tried to diffuse his first Rockets controversy Thursday, insisting that there will be no tension with Yao Ming. Some two weeks before he can actually join his new team, Ron Artest tried to diffuse his first Houston Rockets controversy Thursday, insisting that there will be no tension with Yao Ming once a trade sending Artest from Sacramento to Houston goes through as expected Aug. 14.

Artest told ESPN.com in a phone interview that he and Yao have been in contact to clear up any confusion after Yao voiced concerns about team chemistry to the Houston Chronicle in response to the deal hatched Tuesday by the Rockets and Kings.

The trade calls for Houston to receive Artest in exchange for Rockets draftee Donte Greene, a 2009 first-round pick and Kings alumnus Bobby Jackson, who's entering the final year of his contract at $6.1 million. The deal can't be completed until Aug. 14, according to league rules, because Greene signed with Houston on July 14 and is not eligible to be traded sooner.
But suggestions that Yao's reservations or Artest's outspoken nature could convince the Rockets to walk away from the trade between now and Aug. 14 were strongly dismissed by one source close to the process.

"The deal is done," said the source.

Artest also denied suggestions that he would demand a contract extension from the Rockets before reporting to his new team, reiterating his initial giddy reaction to news of the trade by saying: "This is a big opportunity for me."
"I don't think Yao meant to say that," Artest offered Thursday, referring to Yao's comments to the Chronicle which referenced Artest's involvement in the infamous Indiana-Detroit brawl that spilled into the stands in 2004.
"I spoke to Yao and I told him I can't wait to play with him," Artest continued. "I spoke to Tracy [McGrady] and I told him I can't wait to play with him. I was a little bit down [upon hearing Yao's initial statements], because I'm so far beyond [the brawl]. But everything is going to be good."
Entering the final year of his contract at $7.4 million, Artest has clearly been unsettled by his lack of long-term security. His increasing desire to leave Sacramento stems largely from the Kings' refusal to extend his contract.
But Artest denied that he needs his future in Houston to be clarified before joining the Rockets.

"I'm not demanding anything," Artest said. "I will play in Houston [this season] and I will have a great year and they will have the first option to re-sign me. This is a big opportunity because I'm going to be playing with the best center in the game."

Questions about Artest's willingness to fit in with a team that already has two franchise players were inevitable. But they were raised in this case perhaps even faster than the biggest Artest skeptics might have expected, after Yao declined in his interview Wednesday to give the trade his unconditional endorsement.

"For some reason, I like [Artest]," Yao told the Chronicle. "Because in the games we play against him, I hate him.

"When I text messaged with [teammate] Luis [Scola], we talked about team chemistry. That's only what worries us. We worry about the new attitude to the team. We are adding talent to the team and we need that, but building team chemistry is important. This is not bad. I don't mean he is not welcome to Houston. But a new player always needs some time.

"There's worry. Obviously, yes. We will think about it, of course. Hopefully, he's not fighting anymore and going after a guy in the stands. I haven't talked to Ron yet, so it's hard to say. I have to find a way to talk to him and see what we can do as a basketball team. He has a history. But we know he is a physical player. He is a good player. He really can help us. And Ron is on a contract year, too."

Artest was admittedly stung by the remarks, specifically the comment about "going after a guy in the stands," saying that Yao's words "hit me in the soft spot when I read that."

Artest told the Sacramento Bee that Yao had bought into "all the propaganda" about him. In a Wednesday interview with the newspaper, Artest added: "I understand what Yao said, but I'm still ghetto. That's not going to change. I'm never going to change my culture. Yao has played with a lot of black players, but I don't think he's ever played with a black player that really represents his culture as much as I represent my culture. Once Yao Ming gets to know me, he'll understand what I'm about."

By Wednesday night, Artest was already downplaying the controversy in an appearance on a Sacramento radio show he frequents -- KHTK-AM's Carmichael Dave show -- describing himself as "a Yao Ming soldier" after the two spoke and throwing out the possibility of traveling to China to show support for Yao during the Olympics.

Much of the Rockets' confidence in dealing with such episodes -- since surely this was only the first, judging by Artest's history -- stems from the relationship Artest had with Houston coach Rick Adelman in Sacramento. It was a brief marriage, lasting just 40 games in the 2005-06 season before Adelman's ouster from the Kings, but Artest has repeatedly described Adelman as his favorite pro coach.

The Rockets, furthermore, have ample motivation to take this gamble, entering Year 5 of the McGrady-and-Yao partnership and still waiting for that tag team to lead them out of the first round of the playoffs.
"I just think so highly of Mr. Adelman that I can't really speak on it," Artest told ESPN.com after learning of the trade. "When I first got to Sacramento, he believed in me. I said, 'Coach, we're going to the playoffs,' and everybody laughed at me. He said, 'Ron, we're going to go as far as you take us.' I've never had a coach do that before.

"How can you say no to Rick Adelman? How can anyone not be happy playing for Rick Adelman?"

 

Damn lock it up.