It was following the New York loss (that Grady and Artest choked away) that this overreaction slowly was taken for granted to the point that it's seemingly held as a truth on this board. Are we all watching the same games? Artest has had some horrendous shot selection, but this hasn't been after "stopping" the ball, and more importantly I see nothing but a willingness to defer to Yao and make his cuts. I've been overall pretty pleased with his performance this year, despite his poor statistics. There is a noticeable increase in tempo when he is on the court, and he gels extremely well with our second unit. He always looks to Yao first, and hasn't had a single deserved technical (the two I recall were bogus and based on prior reputation). However, most important to me is that he always has raised his level of play in the biggest games of the year. Obviously, one might counter that they would prefer that a player bring it every night, but this trend bodes well for the playoffs and might be a proper indicator of what we can expect. Against Boston and Cleveland, he had a noticeable increase in intensity and really fueled the team with his menacing defensive tenacity. The New York game was an aberration for the fact that Yao was out. Grady went ISO in the 4th, so when Artest got it, he seemingly thought it was his 'turn.' With Yao in the game, they run their traditional sets. He's also not on the floor as much with Grady. Admittedly they've looked terrible together, but this is alleviated with our preferred lineup. I can understand wanting to deal Artest for the purpose of cashing in on a trade asset if they plan to not re-sign him. However, I just don't understand the clamor on this board to deal him because he doesn't fit or is a 'ball stopper.' Based on what I have seen thus far, I think he would be huge for this team in the playoffs.
Let me first put out what I think it is they complain about. Him not moving once set at the wing, like Tmac does. Now other then that I am happy someone else wrote this because I completely agree. I am verily against the idea of trading him. Honestly would keep him over Tmac. Imo Yao plays better with Artest. I just hope all three of them can heal up without any more incidents
To me it looks like Ron and Tmac are both ball stoppers, they do not make the early pass to a teamate to get the ball hopping, they hold it and try to individually make a play. Now that is not so bad when there is only one guy doing that, but when 2 of them are on the floor at the same time, the ball stops each and every possession, and it gets ugly. It is why I said before we even acquired him, and still believe it now, that Ron and TMac on the floor together do not work. They play the same type of role, albeit within a different skill set...... I have been very pleased with Ron when Tracy is not on the floor, he meshes very well with the rest of the team. I just think that having 2 of them, doesn't work. Just my .02. And, yes, I do think he is a ball stopper, which is magnified by his poor shooting this year. Two volume shooting ball stoppers = oil and water. DD
Is he a ball stopper? Definitely at times he is. I disagree that the pace picks up when he's on the floor. When both Landry and Von Wafer are on the floor the pace seems to be the quickest as far as moving the ball. Those two guys as well as Scola do the most moving without the ball. I also want to say that it isn't necessarily Artest's fault. When he went out with the injury our offense hadn't really found its flow. It was usually good that he would catch the ball and look to score. That was his role. In the NY game he played that way, even though our offense had moved on. To his credit he was much improved in the Golden State game. He doesn't need to be traded, just to understand the offense and his role in it. I don't think he has been a ball stopper out of selfishness.
For the most part, the play of Ron Artest has been completely separate from what we've seen out of T-Mac. For starters, he's shooting 40+% from 3 and frequently spaces himself out quite nicely to get himself that open shot. His 2pt% is still low, but that's from the early season when he wasn't making anything--with time he has adjusted and that % has gone up in stride and should be just fine by the end of the year. He HAS looked downright awful in at least two games I can remember, worse than anything we've seen out of T-Mac save the Toronto game. Those two games were Indiana (his former team) and at New York (his hometown). In both cases, his brain-down-South took over for his regular one, and he decided that it was time to jack up shots non-stop down the stretch, making none of them and singlehandedly costing us whole games in the process. Aside from those emotionally charged games however, I have found no reason to doubt that Artest can be an integral and synergistic part of our championship-caliber offense by the end of the year.
I still believe there is a place/role on this team for Ron. He has shown the ability and willingness to put this team on his shoulders and do whatever is needed to get a win. He has been poised under pressure and made some big plays. His shooting is something I can't figure out. Maybe it's the ankle but the only shot he seems capable of hitting is open threes. Luckily, he forces the refs to put him at the line when he drives but I still don't like all the shots around the rim he misses. The other issue is his apparent unwillingness to run the offense. At least Tmac can make some sharp passes from the perimeter. When Ron gets the ball at the 3 point line you know he is either going to force a shot or make a team mate take a bad shot because he won't pass until the shot clock is down to almost nothing. I still think he brings too much talent and grit to the team to be given up on. It's up to Ron to trust the offense and his team mates and up to Adelman to do the job he was brought here to do. We all know Tmac/Yao combo isn't getting this team out of the first round and as good as our young guys are you cannot expect them to be the same when the playoffs roll around and the games get tougher. We need that third guy and Ron can/should be him....unless we can pull off a deal to get a real PG.
Tmac is the same thing but worse, horrible shot selection, ball stopper, but here is what makes tmac worse, no D, no effort, so why would you complain about a guy who played on a bum ankle while tmac rested and not complain about tmac, that just doesnt make sense to me.
Ron is the ball stopper sometimes, but overall he is doing his job, and this team needs this kind of player in the playoff because he keeps working hard. Plus that he acts as a team leader on the floor, and other players seem to buy it.
I disagree that t-mac is worse. When T-mac drives or has the ball, and someone else makes a backdoor cut, or dives down to the basket, t-mac will pass the ball to them. Sometimes he does this too a fault. It is true that t-mac does sometimes take bad shots, and often looks to make something happen himself rather than with the flow of the offense. He isn't innocent, but I don't think he is worse. Until very recently almost every time Artest got the ball, it didn't matter who cut to the basket, Artest wasn't going to pass. That wasn't always bad before, and there will be times in the playoffs when we needed that, but Tracy is a better generator of ball movement than Artest is.
