Say what you may about him, Artest is a difference-maker

he's the Vernon Maxwell we needed on this team! plus I might lose my bet to Kelly Dwer because of him
and the fact Adelmann realized that SAR sucks and started Kenny Thomas.

didnt take a rocket scientist to realize that you shouldnt start someone who hasnt made it the playoffs in 700 games.

that's like let someone fly an airplane who hasn't flown an airplane before.

 

People said Sheed was psycho, but it was obviously an exxageration. He was just a hothead. Artest is a cat of a different breed. Obviously, he's got a lot to do with the Kings' roll right now, but I still wouldn't want to put the keys to my franchise in his hands. He had the Pacers doing well too, before doing some dumb stuff to screw it all up.

 

I don't see how Artest would destry T-mac and Yao. Both T-mac and Yao are passive players. They need a nutcase around them.

The Pacers case is different as J O'neal has been injuried a lot.

 

Nope. Psychos need an alpha dog that will keep them in line. Look at Rodman, the only comparable player to Artest:
Detroit - kept in line by Isiah and Chuck Daley
Spurs - ran roughshod over penultimate nice guy David Robinson and ruined what was otherwise a championship caliber team.
Bulls - couldn't mess around with Mike and picked up more rings

 

Artest and Indiana was winning. Artest's problem was not because he was with a losing team. And as JuanValdez said, saying Rasheed being a psycho is exaggeration. Rasheed is hot tempered. Artest is abnormal.

 

I don't think we could've made an offer greater or equal to Peja outside of TMAC and Yao. I'm sure the best we could've done is like Head, Swift + First or something like that but that would've been a huge risk.

 

you are comparing rasheed and artest?? seriously man how can you not see that artest is closer to ricky williams than rasheed. rasheed is a loud mouth and doesn't shut up but he has never talked about just walking away from the game. also, rasheed has always been loved by his teammates. ron's teammates hated him when he left. lets also not forget artest said he wants to retire in a couple years.

and you don't have to take insane risks to win either. last time i checked the spurs, mavs, and, suns didn't take any huge risks on guys like artest. granted their are hardly any guys like artest, but my point is they made solid picks and solid trades and thats how they got their teams.

 

I was just point out people were saying the similar sort of things in the time of Rasheed trade. There were more problems regarding Sheed than "loud mouth", such as drug, and this.
I don't image Ron's teammate liked him when he basicly quitted on the team. But with a change of scene, you never know.

Kings are not Spurs, Mavs, and Suns. Kings doesn't have superstar and doesn't have enough to win. Are you saying you are smarter than Maloof brothers who by all account are smart businessmen? I wouldn't say Artest is an insane risk. It's actually a managable risk. Sac starts to win again, gets their building filled every single night. Even if Artest flares up in the future, his contract is managable (see Pacers), or they can cut him. It won't be a huge blow to Sac team as you would like to be (in fact, it's a less blow comparing to if Tmac has his back goes out for good).

 

Two years ago the Pacers had the best record in the league with 61 wins, and he was missing planes, fighting in practice, skipping meetings, and was a general pain in the ass despite his talent, and he was especially flaky in the ECF loss to Detroit.

Now:

Tick...tick...tick... goes Ron Artest.

As a Pacer fan, I'm glad he won't go "Ron Artest" yet again while wearing a Pacer uniform.

I'm comfortable in the knowledge that as a Pacer he was given a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance.... a ninty-fifth chance, and yet failed each one.

He's in his honeymoon as a King. Good for him and good for them. A year from now things might be more normal and he will be his genuine disruptive, moody, selfish, angry self once again.

 

thats your opinion then fine but i hate the "do you really think you are smarter than them?" argument. its pretty weak. there have been a lot of great businessmen and very rich people who have made a lot of mistakes.

also, i'm not saying the trade wasn't good. the trade was a great trade since they got rid of peja who was worth close to nothing since he was hurt and had an expiring contract. what i am saying is not to go overboard with artest as a savoir right now and that he is thru with his blow ups. he can be good when he isn't a headcase but he will always become a headcase. thats the bottom line with him. and he and rasheed are completely different.

 

cool.

 

vernon maxwell went into the stands, was traded to sacremento, and he has two rings..............

errrr but not really in that order.

 

maxwell and sheed are passionate about the game, artest wants to rap??

 

artest isn't the only guy you read about causing trouble. there's just too much talent off the bench in indiana and not enough playing time.

another thing could've been artest's relationship with o'neal. even s. jackson allegedly has a strained relationship with jermaine. the only guy who seems to be o'neal's side is the coach.

it just seems like the starters are arguing for bigger roles while the bench are smashing up lockerooms over more playing time.

 

honestly we needed Artest. We needed to toughen up as a team. When your toughest player is Bob Sura..yeah you're in trouble.

 

The difference between Rasheed and Artest is games missed.

Artest hasn't played more than 50 games this year or last year. He may not be able to do it next year. Rasheed would at least make it back within a month. Artest would rather promote his album.

Whether you miss half the season because of a bad back(T-mac) or because you keep getting suspended(Artest). The result is the same.

 

One thing to remember...the more important the situation, the more likely Artest will flake out.

When the Pacers made the ECF in 2004, the Pistons were tough and the Pacers needed all they could get from him.

He reverted back to cutting practices, as he's done many times over the years, and also to faking an injury (that time, migraines) for sympathy. And then in game #6, he reverted back to an ill-advised retaliation against Rip Hamilton that resulted in a flagrant foul, and he reverted back to selfish play at the offensive end of the court ("conduct detrimental to winning" was what Rick Carlisle called it in the New Jersey game earlier that same season.)

Seven games into 2005 came the brawl. Now the 2006 :"trade me" meltdown, which by the way was all precipitated by events that were never reported by any writer in the league.

Ron wanted to be traded because he was angered and upset that the Pacers and the NBA were INSISTING that he get mental health counciling to deal with his anger and behavioral issues. He flatly refused to comply, skipped the sessions, and felt disrespected that the league and the Pacers demanded this. Noone reported this as the reason for his dissatisfaction because to disclose anything about persons seeking mental health treatment is a violation of their privacy. Ron of course wouldn't give that reason either, and so he made up crap about needing a fresh start and being bored by the offense. The rift with Jermaine O'Neal was accelerated by the fact that JO wanted Ron to just suck it up, see the doc every month for a year, and just play.

We can only assume that the Kings are not demanding that he get any counciling, and somehow it has the NBA's blessing or the backing of the players association.

so tick, tick, tick goes the Artest timebomb.

 

The Rockets made a great blunder in not getting Artest! Artest is a difference maker and contibutes on so many levels. Everyone except Yao Ming should have been available to make this trade , I even think that having Artest would be more important to a team than having McGrady on it.

 

I wonder if Yao could have wrapped him in his arms and held him everday until Keith Jones was able to give him the injection? I wonder if that would have been feasible?

 

Accroding to peter V , Artest already started to make trouble ! he demanded to be the focal point of the offence in Sac just like Kobe in LA and Duncun is SAS !! which caused a loss to the Gilbert'sless Wizards and the game before!!