Artest is a guy who lets his emotions get the best of him. Basketball is an emotional game to be sure, and player feed off of that, and it's what makes Artest great. But this guy has done it before. He'll do it again. Sprewell isn't a head case, he made one mistake. Rodman head-butted a ref, kicked people, and got in all sorts of trouble with the Bulls. He was more a head case with them then before....it wasn't Jackson who managed him, it was Jordon, the only guy Rodman could respect in the NBA. Are people here so naive to think that there won't be an instant of Artest being goaded into violence? Every where he goes, he will be ridiculed. Players will make fun of him. He won't be respected. He will be BOO'd. If throwing a cup at him causes him to jump into the stands, then imagine how he will react in 41 Hostile environments where he will be the focus of ridicule. Artest can not work for anyone. He will not"reform" not now, not for many years. He needs to go to a really crappy team and get used to losing, but that's the only thing that will motivate him to control his emotions once he gets tired of losing.
I say we should get him! If we could get him to play on our team then I'm all for it! Of course the problem is getting him here.
Obviously, some of you guys are more insane that Ron Artest. The bottom line is Artrest can play, whether or not he can stay in the line-up is another question. But, as Steve Windwood sang "While You See a Chance Take It"... and this may be one of those moments in life where you might be able to get someone great for 1/2 price or "pennies on the dollar". Do you really thing the Bulls are kicking themselves for getting Rodman, or the Pistons are disappointed with the trade for Rasheed Wallace? HELL NO! They're taking it all the way to the World Championship Bank. Get Real, Artest in a Rox jersey looks better than any other alternatives.
That man is DEKE !!! Sit down, boy! Papa Mutumbo has an elbow for you! Even without that, Deke just has that gravitas, naturally. Everyone respects him. He earned it. And...he can bring the wood.
Houston has such established hip hop cred Artest would be down! My lineup: Sura/Ward/Moochie Artest/Barry T-Mac/Hakim Warrick (#24 pick SF-PF) Howard/(Croshere or Pollard-who has connect to Barry back in SAC) Yao/Deke Works for me!
New Yorker, you mean ruin the season for the Suns, Utah, Knicks in 1994. Let me drop some Maxwell on you: (May 13, 1994) Down by 12 points at halftime in Game 3 of the 1994 Western Conference Semifinals, Vernon Maxwell turned the Rockets into road warriors. After losing the first two games of the series to the Suns at home, Maxwell made sure Houston wouldn't go down 0-3 in Phoenix by scoring 31 second-half points to lead the Rockets to a 118-102 win. "We are back," Rockets Head Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "Phoenix still has home-court advantage, but the pressure is on them now. And it's a lot different playing when you're under pressure." REAL ROCKETS FANS LOVE VERNON MAXWELL, A TRUE ROCKET LEGEND!
IMO choking your coach is more severe than going after a fan after being publically humiliated. If someone throws a cup of beer on your head in front of 20000 people and thousands of TV viewers, would you just walk away like nothing happened? It's very understandable to confront the attacker although it's not right from the business point of view, or maybe from a legal point, depending on how things are interpretated. To be gotten the better of temper isn't exactly going insane. It is better than what Sprewell did, choke his coach because he's being obnoxcious. I think Ron Ron's anger control problem is exaggerated. Jason Kidd beat his wife, Ruben Patterson raped a woman, and Charles Barkley threw a guy out of a bar. They did things a hundred times wronger than Artest but Artest is the one getting chastized. I ain't no professional in the field but I get the feeling that Ron Ron is not stupid nor insane, just very immature in mental stage. Wanting to take a break to promote rapping is typical kid thoughts for fun, without consideration to one's responsibility. To go off after public humiliation is childish tendancy, a kid doesn't know how to handle such situation but to be controlled by instinct. For a guy with the character of Artest, a father figure like JVG and brotherhood from Yao, T-Mac, Barry and Mutombo could do wonders. All looks fine and dandy except one thing, getting Ron Artest takes the same or more magnitude of luck of getting Yao and T-Mac, pretty much a pipe dream.
I think we've got to at least persue this, because if Indy trades the guy, they're going to trade him to our conference. And I don't see a team not gunning for a championship taking the risk. If teams like San Antonio or Dallas end up with Artest, we'd be seriously screwed.
People that don't want this guy because of his "craziness" are nuts themselves. I would of taken Rodman at his peak in a heartbeat. Whats wrong with being crazy? Its not like Gundy isn't a little nuts himself. The man would talk basketball to his wife during sex! Listen, I know the guy is out there. But I think about how the Bulls handled Rodman. The man was a pain in the ass. The man wore wedding gowns off the court. He dated Madonna! I mean HELLO? Artest provides what the Rockets lack. Just imagine the team with a player like Artest. Rodman is the perfect comparison. And still, the Bulls won 3 rings with him. If it means that the Rockets become a Rock and Roll show on the road, I am all for that. God knows that the city needs SOME kind of electricity. I was just there. Clubs closed at 2am! : )
Just answer this question... How would you feel if 4 weeks into the season Artest goes to the media with: "Yes... I am thinking maybe I will go to management and ask for a month or so off so that I can promote... umm... my second album. It' s no big deal. Just a few weeks away so that I can devote my time and effort to my music buisness. It's not like I am skipping the playoffs. Cmon man it's just the regular season." I know how I would feel.
It's fun to dreamcast this guy in a lineup with T-Mac and Yao. If the Rockets could make that happen somehow, I wouldn't flinch on pulling the trigger.
Ah ha, FINALLY, I see someone talking sense. I also think it would be intriguing to have Artest on our team, but I don't think it's a good idea considering who we have right now, and for the EXACT reason as stated above. We have no haus, no bully, no true tough guy on our team to keep Artest in check. What I mean is, if we still had a guy like Charles Oakly (even though only for a few months) we would be ok. But need some gruff-tough guy like him to keep Artest in check. As the Rox are now, we have no on to do this, and Yao and TMac can't handle this guy. So without someone as tough as Artest to control him, we're just asking for something bad to happen.
Guys just finally hit the boards after a long weekend and found this out>>> I say Heck yeah... My god he is everything we need in a tenacious defender and I dont think his problems in the past will come up again. Hes getting older now and he knows what he has done. The man has what it takes to make us a contender.
Like bejezuz said, if Artest is traded he's going to the western conference. Bird would not be crazy in trading him because he is a professional liability and can probably get something good for him. If we don't try, then the spurs or mavs might get him and that means we're screwed. The mavs have much more to offer too. They can offer Devin Harris, Josh Howard, and Marquis Daniels. Three promising players that together get paid as much as Artest. We've got expiring contracts. Why NOT try?
My God if the Mavs or SA got Artest that would totally piss me off and I would be more inclined to watch there games Please if we are not going to get Artest better make sure SA or Dallas doesnt.
No thanks, crazy guys like this eventually hurt team chemistry....especially if they are the star player. We can win without this looser. DD
