[Chron] Buckle up for great Artest experiment

batkins · Aug 28, 2008

Ron Artest is putting his best foot — the one he doesn’t put in his mouth on occasion — forward.

Artest enlisted himself as a loyal soldier to Yao Ming. Artest insists he’ll happily defer to Yao and Tracy McGrady, that whatever they say goes. Artest pledges to do whatever Rockets coach Rick Adelman asks, and to do it willingly.

About the only thing Artest isn’t volunteering to do is serve as Rafer Alston’s designated driver. Maybe all the Rockets have to do is ask.

Start or come off the bench? It doesn’t matter. First option, second option, third option, fourth option on offense? It doesn’t matter.

“You want to send them a little subliminal message that you’re willing to sacrifice for the team,” Artest said. “When they get here (for training camp), they’ll see what I’m talking about.”

Here’s the deal: About 95 percent of the time, the Rockets are going to love that they acquired Artest from the Sacramento Kings. The fans will love him, too, showering him with the kind of affection he received at a Monday Toyota Center rally celebrating his arrival.

Artest plays with pride and passion. He’s personable. He even gave the team a head start on a slogan for this season: “Houston is a problem.” He has a star’s skill set and a scrub’s ethic for dirty work. On both ends of the court, he can make life easier for Yao, T-Mac, Luis Scola, Shane Battier, Brent Barry, and the rest.

“If Brent Barry is playing for a team, you know he’s playing to win a ring,” Artest said. “He’s got one already, and I’m sure he’s not trying to take any steps backward. I’m playing with Tracy, who’s desperate to win. I’m desperate to win. It’s just a win-win situation.”
The fine print

Of course, there’s a catch. There’s a catch, or Rockets general manager Daryl Morey couldn’t have acquired Artest without breaking up the core of the team.

There’s the other 5 percent of the time.

How everybody involved — Artest, the Rockets players, the coaches, the management, the fans — handles the other 5 percent will determine whether the trade flies or flops.

For the uninitiated, Artest did not become a Rocket by way of divinity school. He has a past. Everybody has a past, but Artest’s includes the indelible image of him going into the stands during a 2004 brawl and receiving a 73-game suspension. There was a domestic-violence charge that Artest chalked up to a misunderstanding, an animal cruelty case in which an investigation cleared him.

To Artest’s detractors, his name on the back of the jersey will always be a warning label. Rockets owner Leslie Alexander suggests that Artest is ready, at 28, to change his erratic ways for the better. Morey, for his part, isn’t sure Artest has to change in any meaningful way to fit in with the Rockets. Adelman, after all, coached Artest for the final 40 games of the 2005-06 season and signed off on the trade.

“The Ron that Rick had in Sacramento … we’d do the trade just for that Ron,” Morey said.

Artest has a rough edge the Rockets need. He’s also opinionated and outspoken. He enjoys being a radio personality, doesn’t cringe at the sight of a television camera. He’s going to say things that raise eyebrows, such as his post-trade comment that he’s “ghetto” and his defense of his part in the brawl because he’d been disrespected.
Action and reaction

When that kind of thing happens, how will people react? Will the public go in a tizzy? Will teammates laugh it off, or simmer in resentment at the resulting side show?

Artest will have the occasional game where he looks lost in the space between his ears. It happens. It happens to Yao. It happens to T-Mac. When it happens to Artest, will it drive a wedge between him and his teammates?

There undoubtedly will be false sightings of Artest carrying on at clubs he’s never seen, doing things he didn’t do. What happens then? Will Artest shrug it off and go about his business? Will his teammates do the same, or will they start wondering when the next sneaker will drop?

“We’ve thought about that,” Morey said. “If we didn’t have such a solid locker room, it would be harder to add someone like Ron. But we’ve got solid, solid veterans.”

It’s so unfair and fair at the same time. One of the consequences of a tumultuous past is not always getting the benefit of the doubt in present. Artest is trying to reach out to his teammates, but it’s a long season.

“With Yao, they probably win the championship (last year),” Artest said. “I don’t want it to be the story that Ron Artest is going to get them over the hump. They were already over the hump. If we stay healthy, we should be OK.”

Yes, the Rockets are going to love having Artest as a teammate.

Most of the time.

Almost all of the time.<

If they’re mature enough to handle the other times, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Click to expand...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5971086.html

aussie rocket · Aug 28, 2008

Sad that all we have to look forward to is these Chronicle articles. I just hope the season, when it finally does come, is fully worth the wait.

i3artow i3aller · Aug 28, 2008

I posted this already, but the lack of member status is severely crippling me. I'd prefer Landry news over people restating what we already know. Positive Landry news at that.

Hook it up with some member status Clutch!

aussie rocket · Aug 28, 2008

i3artow i3aller said:

I posted this already, but the lack of member status is severely crippling me. I'd prefer Landry news over people restating what we already know. Positive Landry news at that.

Hook it up with some member status Clutch!
Click to expand...

Have a look under your name buddy.....

aussie rocket · Aug 28, 2008

i3artow i3aller said:

I posted this already, but the lack of member status is severely crippling me. I'd prefer Landry news over people restating what we already know. Positive Landry news at that.

Hook it up with some member status Clutch!
Click to expand...

And always remember - Great power comes with great responsibility.

droxford · Aug 28, 2008

Hmmm... It's a pretty article. But it's really a whole lot of nothing.

I guess with the Rockets in the post-season, the Texans in pre-season, and the Astros perpetually in the suck season, I guess this is the best they can come up with. Oh, well.

eckostylez · Aug 28, 2008

Hopefully Artest isn't too focused on his music career:

You just landed in Houston as one of the newest members of the Houston Rockets. How do you like your new surroundings so far?

Houston is cool. I’m out here for the first time as a Rocket. The city has the potential to be one of the biggest cities in America and one of the best cities in the world. There’s a lot of nice houses and a lot of good living if people can afford it. Hopefully the economy is changing so everybody’s able to have it nice. I’m looking forward to that. The good thing about being in Houston is that I’m coming in as a Houston Rocket, which I’m definitely happy about.

On the Rockets website they already got you wearing No. 96. Is that going to be your new number?

Yeah. 96 means “QB.” The “9” is the “q” and the “6” is the “b.”

Do all of your previous numbers hold significance for you?

The 93 was “QB” also but it was a lowercase “q” and an uppercase “B.” But now it’s better because it’s two lowercase letters. Lowercase and uppercase don’t really make sense. I always tell my son to begin with the uppercase and end with the lowercase. 15 is my real number. It’s my father’s high school number backwards. 23 I wear for Michael Jordan. 91 I wore for Dennis Rodman and 93 is “qB” and 96 is “qb.”

Have you spoken to Yao Ming since he apologized for making comments about your fight in Detroit?

I knew Yao Ming. I’ve talked to him a couple of times from playing and I made jokes to him and he made jokes. I was making fun of Yao Ming when I tell him I’m from the ghetto and he’s making jokes about how he hopes I don’t run into the stands. It got blown out of proportion and it’s all good. Everybody on the team says that Yao Ming is a clown and that he likes to make a lot of jokes.

You’ve got Yao, Shane Battier, Dikembe Mutombo and Luis Scola down low. You have to be happy with how deep the talent is on the Rockets.

Yeah. They want to win a ring and I want to help them win a ring.

When you were with Sacramento you said you wanted to win a ring but from looking at the team last year, it was obvious there wasn’t enough talent there to seriously contend. Do you feel like you have a legitimate chance to reach the Finals this year?

If we have Yao Ming there’s definitely a good chance. We have Tracy McGrady and everybody else and when you throw Ron Artest in the mix with that you have a hell of a team.

You’ve proven you can score in the league but scoring isn’t really a need in Houston. What do you see your role being in Houston?

I’ll probably come off the bench and come in for Tracy and keep the lead up. I’m playing with some of the best players in the lead.

Would coming off the bench bother you?

I don’t care. Whatever the team wants. As a team, you have to win together and lose together. We have to stay together so we can win as a unit. It don’t even matter. That’s why my position is to sacrifice.

Have you had a chance to speak with Tracy McGrady and other guys on the team yet?

I got a chance to speak to Tracy a couple of times and Tracy’s real cool peoples. He reached out and I’m just so happy to be a part of this team. Playing with a player like Tracy McGrady is like playing with a Kobe Bryant or a Lebron James. He’s one of the best scorers in the league. I’m happy I get to play with a Michael Jordan-type player.

Are you happy to be reunited with former Kings coach Rick Adelman?

Yeah. He’s a good coach. When I came to Sacramento from Indiana, we reached the playoffs and everybody doubted us. Everybody thought we couldn’t handle that combination and to put that duo back together and to throw it in the mix with Scola and Shane Battier and everybody else, it’s going to be tough for these other teams to try to handle us.

There’s some raw talent on the Rockets like Patrick Ewing, Jr. and Joey Dorsey. Do you think you can help them progress with your experience and defensive skills?

Definitely. I’m always looking to help people stop who they’re guarding and everything. I think I can help out.

What are you going to miss most about being a King?

I’ll miss the players and the city. You know, the city has been really good to me. The fans were great to me. They loved me and they wanted me there. So I’m definitely going to miss them and that friendship that I made in Sacramento with the city and the organization and with being a King.

What have you been working on musically?

I’ve actually been grinding. I’ve actually been grinding. It’s hard to release music all of the time. It’s hard to make noise all of the time so I’ve been behind the scenes. I’m about to drop a mixtape with DJ Drama and I got the World Wide Wariers. We’re about to do a mixtape with DJ Drama as a part 2 and then you got my man Clue who’s about to help us out a little bit. And then we got my man Kay Slay about to help us out. Everybody look out for the mixtape and go download it. It’s definitely an album but we want the people to listen to the music. All my artists are featured on the project and we’re called The World Wide Wariers. We’re the best group in Queens.

When are you going to be dropping your Gangsta Grillz mixtape?

It’s going to be coming out ASAP. We’re going to be putting out new music and we definitely want to come in the game with the music. We want to have fun but we want to make it real competitive and I know that in the rap game, there’s good times and there’s bad times and my team is pretty much ready to take over all aspects of the game.

Do you feel like hip-hop fans are accepting you more as a rapper?

I feel that people really respecting me as a person goes way further than them liking me as a basketball player. I got people who respect me and what I’m about and who have a genuine care for me. I like that and I listen to that and not “Ron shouldn’t rap.” Some people can’t rap and they sell records so if Ron Artest can rap, why can’t he? If I could sell a million records then why not do it?

And I’m getting better though. You can’t start something and not have room to improve. That’s with anything somebody’s doing. When Jay-Z started Rocawear clothing line, it was always getting better. 50 Cent is always marketing himself and he’s gotten better with marketing himself. He’s a marketing monster now and it took him years and years. I’m only 28 years-old so I got a lot of room for improving and I got a lot of room and I got a lot of room to help my artists and help the people who really need it. I got a lot of people that I can help because my artists are starving. My artists aren’t shining like everybody thinks they’re shining. My artists have to do what they do to get to where they want to be.

It seems like you’ve gotten a lot more strategic with the moves you’re making in the hip-hop game where before you were just throwing money around and not necessarily getting results.

Yeah. You know, when I first started I wanted to be on top so bad and I was spending money and all my artists wanted to get it popping so bad that every idea we thought was a good idea and in reality not every idea was a good idea. I got a much more professional and strategic team around me and they’re not going to let me do anything that’s not good for me and my family. I’ve been doing a lot of good things for my artists to get them out the ‘hood. I can’t get them out the ‘hood. They have to get themselves out the ‘hood but I’m putting them in a good position to better their lives. It’s definitely strategic and at the end of the day we have to definitely make sure that we’re making the best moves with the budget.

When are you dropping your Gangsta Grillz mixtape?

The Gangsta Grillz mixtape is coming out soon. It’s going to be avialble for download on HipHopGame and I’m putting out my own mixtape ASAP. Look out for the World Wide Wariers and my mixtape coming out with Drama. That’s coming out pretty soon, within the next month or so. We’re going to be dropping an album hopefully by January. We just want everybody’s support. All the fans that have been supporting us has been great. We’re still going to put this music together and we’re going to try and build on that and hopefully we’ll make new fans with the people that are reading this article.

What’s your focus going to be until the season opens in a couple of months?

I want to do an album with all of the Houston rappers. In a perfect world God could make that happen. I want to do an album just with only Houston rappers and nobody else. I want to work with artists like Big Pokey and Scarface and all the rest of them. And hopefully I can get that done. I think it’s going to be a good project. I want to get Bun-B even though he’s not from Houston.
Click to expand...

Taken from http://www.hiphopgame.com/index2.php3?page=ronartest4

Also got his umm.. Flashing Lights freesetyle from that album:

http://www.hiphopgame.com/player.php?id=6276

Marsarinian · Aug 28, 2008

eckostylez said:

Hopefully Artest isn't too focused on his music career:

Taken from http://www.hiphopgame.com/index2.php3?page=ronartest4

Also got his umm.. Flashing Lights freesetyle from that album:

http://www.hiphopgame.com/player.php?id=6276
Click to expand...

He's great when he talks basketball, but the rest of the material... Serious Mike James potential.

JuanValdez · Aug 28, 2008

1. He sounds much more excited talking about rap than talking about basketball.

2. Why do people keep saying Houston doesn't need offense? We did need offense. The defense Artest brings is just gravy; we already had one of the best defensive teams in the league. McGrady and Yao can create shots, and we have shooters, but we needed a third guy to create. I'm sure Artest realizes that, but why don't interviewers?

ClutchCityReturns · Aug 28, 2008

I wonder if any reporter will be ballsy enough to tell Ron that on the Rockets jerseys a "9" looks like a "g", not a "q".

JBIIRockets · Aug 28, 2008

If the Rockets can win a title with Maxwell, then they can do it with Artest.

Angkor Wat · Aug 28, 2008

eckostylez said:

Hopefully Artest isn't too focused on his music career:

Taken from http://www.hiphopgame.com/index2.php3?page=ronartest4

Also got his umm.. Flashing Lights freesetyle from that album:

http://www.hiphopgame.com/player.php?id=6276
Click to expand...

HAHA, Artest fits right in Houston with the larger than usual music scene.

declan32001 · Aug 28, 2008

JuanValdez said:

2. Why do people keep saying Houston doesn't need offense? We did need offense. The defense Artest brings is just gravy; we already had one of the best defensive teams in the league. McGrady and Yao can create shots, and we have shooters, but we needed a third guy to create. I'm sure Artest realizes that, but why don't interviewers?
Click to expand...

It's because of last year. Scola is a legit 3rd scorer (and Landry provides offense behind him), and Rafer had a career year and we acquired Barry before Artest. So from a national standpoint, if you're going to say a team with 2 20+ ppg guys with that team you're going to have to say that at least 20 or more teams in the NBA need offense.

As you know, it's not like the national media follows us closely anyway and frankly the last anyone saw of us with a healthy Yao we were as scary as almost anyone in the NBA from an offensive standpoint.

Still, I agree with JVG (and you I guess) that the versatility of Artest's offensive game is going to help us more than people realize. He could possibly hover around 10ppg for the season and still be that piece that allows us to grind down opposing defenses - and then we'll truly be as tough to play as anyone in the league.

EGYPT · Aug 28, 2008

“Houston is a problem.”

I like it

Rudyball · Aug 28, 2008

EGYPT said:

“Houston is a problem.”

I like it
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I thought that was good, and should be our slogan for the year, but change it up to "Houston is the problem" or something more active like that.

leebigez · Aug 28, 2008

declan32001 said:

It's because of last year. Scola is a legit 3rd scorer (and Landry provides offense behind him), and Rafer had a career year and we acquired Barry before Artest. So from a national standpoint, if you're going to say a team with 2 20+ ppg guys with that team you're going to have to say that at least 20 or more teams in the NBA need offense.

As you know, it's not like the national media follows us closely anyway and frankly the last anyone saw of us with a healthy Yao we were as scary as almost anyone in the NBA from an offensive standpoint.

Still, I agree with JVG (and you I guess) that the versatility of Artest's offensive game is going to help us more than people realize. He could possibly hover around 10ppg for the season and still be that piece that allows us to grind down opposing defenses - and then we'll truly be as tough to play as anyone in the league.
Click to expand...

Scola isn't a better player on the offensive nor defensive side than Artest. Artest will and is one of the best offensive players in this league. F you think he's going to avg 10 ppg, I don't know what to say. Artest is one of the biggest matchup problems in the league. You can't play him with a small guy because he's too strong and you can't play him with a big guy because he's too quick. I think Artest will avg about 17 ppg and will be the 2nd or 3rd scorer on this team.

rocketanalyist · Aug 28, 2008

i3artow i3aller said:

I posted this already, but the lack of member status is severely crippling me. I'd prefer Landry news over people restating what we already know. Positive Landry news at that.

Hook it up with some member status Clutch!
Click to expand...

Congrats on your new member status! Put in a plug for a bro.

rocketanalyist · Aug 28, 2008

leebigez said:

Scola isn't a better player on the offensive nor defensive side than Artest. Artest will and is one of the best offensive players in this league. F you think he's going to avg 10 ppg, I don't know what to say. Artest is one of the biggest matchup problems in the league. You can't play him with a small guy because he's too strong and you can't play him with a big guy because he's too quick. I think Artest will avg about 17 ppg and will be the 2nd or 3rd scorer on this team.
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Seems we think alike on this issue!

rocketanalyist · Aug 28, 2008

i3artow i3aller said:

I posted this already, but the lack of member status is severely crippling me. I'd prefer Landry news over people restating what we already know. Positive Landry news at that.

Hook it up with some member status Clutch!
Click to expand...

rocketanalyist said:

Congrats on your new member status! Put in a plug for a bro.
Click to expand...

Wow! You da man bro. Either I didn't notice it before, or you work fast!....Thanks all! I will do my best to handle the tool wisely.

joesr · Aug 28, 2008

leebigez said:

Scola isn't a better player on the offensive nor defensive side than Artest. Artest will and is one of the best offensive players in this league. F you think he's going to avg 10 ppg, I don't know what to say. Artest is one of the biggest matchup problems in the league. You can't play him with a small guy because he's too strong and you can't play him with a big guy because he's too quick. I think Artest will avg about 17 ppg and will be the 2nd or 3rd scorer on this team.
Click to expand...

I dont care how much he scores as long as it ends with us getting the W.

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