Maybe you meant the royal "We" because I never liked him in Houston....it was worth the chance we took trading scrubs for him....but honestly, I am VERY glad he is gone. DD
With a healthy Yao and T-mac, Artest might make sense. Without one or both, he makes no sense. This is one of the rare occasions I will agree with Dada.
How will Ron Artest be expected to do well in the triangle offense when everyone knows Ron Ron alone IS the triangle offense. And if anyone has watched the Lakers game this season, they usually have a nice flowing offense until the ball gets in Artest's hands, who immediately puts his head down and charges towards the basket which either results in a charge or a shot that narrowly grazes the rim
It's true. I knew this little swap would help us. Artest is ridiculously overrated right now. He used to be a beast, but his game has deteriorated QUICKLY.
Artest, once TMac exiled himself, was more of a positive than a distraction in the locker room. Plenty of praise coming from the roster about his leadership. He wasn't helping things last fall, though. Artest and the Triangle is going to be a mess. Artest has allowed his game to devolve into TMac's prance-prance-no-penetration-contested-outside-jumper offense. No way that cuts mustard under Phil and Kobe. If Artest embraced his physical bulldog strengths and cleaned up around the basket, he'd be a perfect compliment to that team. As a 25% spot up shooter from the outside? Yikes. We'll see. Evan
Everyone contributes to team chemistry, but I can't agree that the problems we were having mid-season were Ron-Ron's fault. You shouldn't single him out for that one. The guy was a lot of problems (poor ball movement, for example), but the cause of the mid-season dissension involving McGrady was not it.
Artest will do fine against most teams because the Lakers are deep and talented. It's against the few elite teams that we will see if the switch from Ariza to Artest is for the better or worst.
Whether Ron succeeds with the Lakers is irrelevant. He would have been a major risk with a long term contract. There is no place for him without Yao and/or McGrady.
Except Artest wants to do so much more. You think he's going to be ok with "dirty work"? Artest wants to do everything. It's only a matter of time before he starts waving off Kobe and breaking away from the triangle offense.
Who cares. We got outta the first round and almost beat the Lakers. Give the man credit DD. The most successful we have been in years is with Ron on the roster. There is absolutely no basis for such a dumb statement. He's not looking to be the man. Ron wants to win more than anything. If T-Mac had as much heart as Ron he'd be MVP.
I'll miss Ron Artest's entertaining quotes and his accessibility to fans and that he wanted a clutchfans account. He was here for only 1 year, but I won't forget that he contributed to the first team since Barkley that made it past the 1st round. Now who's gonna be the entertaining player this year?
I think we get there in spite of him.....I do not like his game at all, but I grudgingly admit he was a factor....if I have to....lol. DD
Look, Artest and the Rockets made a business decision. Artest took the champion contenders offer.....it was good for him..... He is getting older and can't come back to the NBA year after year... SS
That's a good question, but you need to ask Phil Jackson and Laker's fans that question. This is why I was happy with the Ariza - Artest swap. I think Artest is way over-rated.
Artest is so inconsistent, he could be worse at any time. He wants to be a hero whole the time according to B. Barry on NBA TV, so he could be bad for Lakers as time is going on.
Agreed, agreed. "Expert analysts" still talk about how Ron Artest carried Houston to 7 games with the Lakers last season when his last few post-season games were absolutely horrible. They talk about how he shut down guys like Kobe when it really was Battier doing it (Kobe blew right past Artest every single time). The guy is getting more accolades than he deserves at this point. Fortunately, I have solace in that I think it will all come crashing down upon him this year when the Lakers don't repeat.
