I think I wrote this before... both are divas and Kobe's the main man, but Artest is no one's b****. Where did you get that black eye Kobe? Kobe: "I fell..." How come you have 2 broken ribs kobe? Kobe: "... my daughter kicked me..." Kobe would avg 6 assists....5.8 would goto Artest Kobe: "I like to thank Phil Jackson for making me a better team player" Kobe...Kobe...you know the allegations that Artest slept with your wife? Kobe: "Yeah, he somehow got the keys to my car and house too..."
Dude, this isn't a middle school melodrama - this is a legal relationship. A contract is not just a promise by the team to pay - a contract is also a promise by the player to play the game under the team's rules. These rules aren't just arbitrary oppression of someone's "personality" - otherwise, they'd be thrown out in arbitration. These rules are meant to ensure that the player doesn't disrupt business or the game (which is the business, so I guess it's one and the same). And with any contract, one party is entitled to certain remedies if the other party fails to meet his obligations. I'm sure in the case of the NBA, suspension (both in terms of playing time and pay) is one such contractual remedy. Let's turn the tables - imagine a team owner did nothing but belittle his players to the press. Let's say a player was trying to get a spokesperson deal with a local company, and the owner told the company "This guy is a terrible player - we already plan to dump him at the end of the year when his contract runs out." And let's say the team owner tells the team "Hey, I want to start promoting concerts at (insert arena), so all of our games in January will be held at the local high school." Would the players accept this? No they wouldn't - it would be an outrage. Artest is doing the equivalent of the above. He's hurting the team's financial state with his talk and he's allowing lark projects to interfere with the game. No he's not the first, but his history certainly warrants him being the first to be blacklisted. Forget about the brawls - this is a guy whose mouth and "rap career" has done enormous damage to the Pacers. The sooner the league gets rid of him, the better it will be.
are u suggesting the Pacers take Ron Artest to court? wouldn't that just draw even more negative publicity? it'd be alot easier to just get rid of him, that would be a better 'financial' move than sueing your employee. To make this happen there has to be some sort of compromise, not just between the teams involved but also the players. When both sides are this stubborn, nothing will happen. You can't place the blame soley on Ron Artest.
you know, while lots of people are very pro-owership/pro-team, i'm usually as pro-player as you can get in these situations. i'm pretty sure i defended jim jackson last year. if a guy is willing to give up his paycheck, then there's no law that says you have to play basketball. however, artest's situation is starting to become so ridiculous that i wish, like others in the thread have mentioned, stern could use some "for the good of the game/league" clause and just ban artest from the nba and invalidate his contract. he probably doesn't have the power, but he seems to have an enormous amount so who knows, maybe he could do it (although maybe he already would've if he could). give the pacers some sort of trade exception for artest's contract or give them an extra MLE as compensation and get this guy out of the league and the headlines. he has consistently been a lunatic with no redeeming positives for his team or the league outside of his skills and he doesn't deserve to keep collecting a check for not playing when his ridiculous behavior is the reason he isn't playing. if they can't ban him, at least let him be suspended w/o pay for the remainder of his contract.
Ron has been ordered into the Pacers office tomorrow morning and Ron has to tell them if he will go to the Kings. If Ron says no, he'll be suspended for the season without pay.[/B/ if Ron says he will go, the pacers will call the Kings ownership and try to make the deal. All according to Jim Gray Pacers don't believe Ron's agent, they want to hear it from Ron himself. Pacers have not spoken with Ron today. Apparently he was house-hunting in LA and had been told by somebody that he would be traded to the Lakers or Clippers. New flash Ron, you don't get to pick.
tom, Unfortunately for your team, I am hoping they just suspend him for the year. Hes becoming the biggest knucklehead in the history of the NBA.
btw ...wouldn't you just love to be a fly on the wall in Bird's office these days? Id love to hear what he personally thinks of Artest.
The trouble with the idea of calling Ron in and getting to accept the trade, as pointed out by Jay at Pacers Digest, is that the Kings can just laugh when Donnie Walsh calls them tomorrow The Maloofs have been wary of Ron for years, and were going into this deal reluctantly. The damage Ron did to this deal today just cannot be undone by Ron's words tomorrow. Here's the phone call. DW: "Hey Gavin, its me, Donnie." GM: "Uh, yeah, can you hold, I've got Elgin Baylor on the phone, and he's laughing his ass off." DW: "Okay" Two minutes later. GM, laughing, "Okay, whatcha got?" DW: "Ron's here right now, he says he'd love to play for the Kings. He's even agreed to buy a ticket on Southwest and take the next flight. Stops in Kansas City and he changes planes, and it looks like he'll have to take a cab from the Oakland airport up to Sacremento. But he's really serious about this, he wants back on the court." GM: "Let me think about it uh no!" Click. Donnie redials. GM: "Barney's Bar-and-Grill, would you like reservations." DW: "Ron and a #1"? GM: "No." DW: "Pretty please??"" Click.
i feel bad for the kings they are already in a heap of a mess of a season and now peja knows that he was traded. what sort of messed up thing is that? wasnt peja upset anyway at kings management because of them not re-signing vlade and hedo? oh well it seems now that if the kings try to move peja that they wont get fair market value for him since any opposing GM knows that peja isnt happy
Personally I dont think the rockets have any chance of getting Artest even though I'd love to be proved wrong. I dont think he would have any problem playing here if the situation arrived though, he seems to spend a lot of time here in the offseason, I've seen him several times over the last few summers.
I am ok to get Artest as long as he wants to be here and we only give up scrubs. Imagine the lineup of: Yao Swift Artest McGrady Alston We will become a complete team!
Artest's stock can't go any lower unless he got injured. You have to wonder when Indiana is going to eventually give in and realize they have to trade him sooner rather than later before his trade value becomes zero. What the hell does artest even want? They need to just ask him and then get rid of him.
Just heard on NBA TV that the deal may not be dead. His agent wants to talk to the Kings. What would you expect from Ron Artest except to drive the Kings crazy.
THe Rockets have LOnnie Baxter and Chuck Hayes and they do what Artest does and they do it with a better additude and for much less cost. I hope Baxter and Hayes stay in the rotation even if SWift and Anderson come back because they have earned there time on the floor. Go Rockets!!!
I agree Artest - KT - Miller is not a HORRIBLE frontline - very offense oriented KT and Artest really try hard on defense . . I don't think effort will be lacking Throw in Bibby. They would probably be missing some long range distance shooting but .. . Rocket River
This guy has a career after the NBA with some major drug company being a test dummy for new psychotic drugs. Hopefully he will help advance the medical frontiers in these areas and make a real contribution to humanity.
