Artest worth the headache?
No, really, I think this Ron Artest trade has turned the West completely around.
Well, until the season starts, anyway.
After that, everybody in Houston will be on their own, as everyone always has been everywhere Ronnie has been. Even after a relatively quiet two-plus seasons in Sacramento, Ron Artest isn’t like anyone else – not even in the NBA, which is largely comprised of eccentrics.
He’s more like the crocodile in “Peter Pan” who swallowed a clock so wherever he goes in search of Captain Hook, Hook can hear him ticking.
Of course, it’s not totally impossible that, having tried everything else, Ronnie just shows up and plays… So what then?
Are the Lakers, Spurs, Hornets and Jazz going to swoon?
How about the young Trail Blazers with Greg Oden joining Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge on a team that was good enough to go 41-41 last season?
Even if the West no longer has all the super teams it did from 2000 to 2007 when the Lakers, Spurs, Kings, Suns and Mavericks posted nine 60-win seasons, the conference still has a wide selection of The Next Best Thing.
The Lakers should be better, not to mention more than a collection of cream puffs, with Andrew Bynum rejoining the team that made the Finals without him.
The Spurs aren’t what they were but with Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in their primes and Tim Duncan close enough to his, they aren’t over, either.
The Hornets wouldn’t go away last season and may not this season either, with Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler still coming and a nice pickup in James Posey.
Utah is coming off back-to-back 50-win seasons, has won three playoff series in two years and has Deron Williams, The Chris Paul Nobody Knows, still coming, too.
Artest won’t be a patented misfit in Houston as Shaquille O’Neal was in Phoenix, turning the Suns, the team no one could guard, into a team that couldn’t guard anyone willing to involve Diesel in a pick-and-roll.
Nor will this be a cultural clash like Dallas turning over an offense built entirely on isolations to Jason Kidd and telling him to do his magic.
Unfortunately, the Suns and Mavericks got it backwards. Shaq was the Mavericks’ play but the Suns beat them to it. Kidd would have been fine in Phoenix.
The real problem for the Suns and Mavs was being in the West, where the burden of proof was so high. The Suns looked scary at the end, winning 15 of their last 20. Then they blew double-figure leads in Games 1 and 2 in San Antonio, the Spurs started running about 50 pick-and-rolls a night, Parker wound up averaging 30 points and the Suns wound up on vacation.
At the top of their game, the new Rockets with Artest, Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, Luis Scola and Shane Battier would be truly formidable. They were already a tough defensive team and Artest is a lot tougher and a better defender than anyone they had, even Battier.
Now to see how close they ever come to the top of their game.
This isn’t like putting together an all-star team in baseball, where even if you hit third and I hit ninth, I’m still getting my three at-bats. Basketball teams have to mesh. If Artest has a problem with Yao and Tracy getting more shots, this won’t work.
Artest has always been a unique talent, not only capable of scoring 20 points but of knocking the other team’s 20-point scorer down to 10 or so, whether the opponent is a two, a three or a four. With Ronnie’s big, wide body, he can post anyone up and command double-teams, freeing up others.
The problem – on the floor – has always been that he takes a lot of bad shots, then gets upset when he can’t take more and the offense goes through someone else, like Jermaine O’Neal. The overriding problem is that when Ronnie’s upset, we’re not talking about merely being upset.
This was still a slam dunk for the Rockets, who weren’t sure of getting out of the first round – and hadn’t since 1996. Great as McGrady is, the less you have to have from him, the better he is.
Rick Adelman is one of the last of the players’ coaches who can actually coach. He and Artest are already on good terms, from their half-season together in Sacramento.
In the most compelling reason, Artest is on the last year of his contract, so how much trouble could he be?
Oh, I forgot. He’s Ron Artest, capable of being more trouble than any team – or league – can handle. Remember the Auburn Hills riot that set the NBA’s image back about 40 years and is the reason we have to watch those “NBA Cares” spots? That was all Ronnie.
By the way, even if the East had something of a renaissance last season, this is why the league should seed the playoffs. With the overall imbalance, there’s an East mindset (what, us worry?) and a West mindset (us worry). That’s why 55-win West teams like the Rockets go out on limbs while East teams chill, as when Boston let Posey go.
Not that anyone knows how this particular move will turn out, but the West just got even more Western.
Nick Said,
July 31, 2008 @ 1:48 pm
The fact of the matter is, no one knows how this will turn out. All of that other shit is in the past. That incident about him being upset at being benched…it happened 5 years ago. The Palace brawl was horrible, but if you actually watch the brawl you’ll see that Ben Wallace started the whole thing and Ron Artest was provoked by a fan who threw a beer at him. I personally wouldn’t just stand by and let that happen either, so I can understand how Ron lost control. When it comes down to it, none of these situations really matter. Ron knows that Yao and Tracy are the stars and he’s stated that he has no problem deferring to them. Whether or not that’s actually true remains to be seen.
bballer Said,
July 31, 2008 @ 1:54 pm
rockets may end up with the 4th seed and may win a first round game, but nothing is guaranteed. they are just slightly better than the spurs. this team needed a back up big in case yao goes down again.
the west may be deep, but boston and philly are 2 of the top 5 teams in the league with new orleans, the lakers and utah rounding out the top. this east west thing is overblown. 3 different teams out of the last 5 champs has been from the east and only 2 western teams has won since the 2000’s. the west’s strength is overrated.
T Said,
July 31, 2008 @ 4:53 pm
I’ll bet that Peter Pan reference really resonates with NBA fans.
AB_40 Said,
July 31, 2008 @ 4:56 pm
LOL about philly top 5 team in the leauge hahahaha sorry hell no. Utah top 5 ? are you serious? uhm this artest to houston thing will turn out just fine. Battier for the 2,3,4 spots off the bench as a sixth man. Now let’s see if they can trade hayes for a big man project like one of oklohoma city’s centers (not robert swift he’ll be told by artest that he ain’t getto and he’ll need therapy of some sort) Houston as a 3rd seed or higher sounds ok. Hope y’all don’t forget about the fact that they won TWENTYTWO games in a row without tmac in the beginning and without yao ming in the end.
Ron Artest is a person you should learn to deal with rick adleman knows this and has done it before therefore I think houston rockets will be right up there with the top tier teams in the leauge next season.
Andrew Said,
July 31, 2008 @ 5:11 pm
bballer said: 3 different teams out of the last 5 champs has been from the east. the west’s strength is overrated.
Yeah well out of the last 10 championships, 7 have come from the West. East may be up and coming with their young teams, but they still dont hold a candle to the West. Possibly teh reason that only 2 teams have been dominating the West is that it’s cutthroat in the west. In the East, you got maybe 2 or 3 teams comparable to the west, and the rest of the east, including a good fraction of those who make the playoffs, has more losses than wins.
iM Said,
July 31, 2008 @ 6:35 pm
Go look at the entire footage. Ron Artest started it. He provoked Ben Wallace and Ben forearmed shivered him across the court. Ron was obviously afraid of Ben and kept backing up. Look at his eyes. Once he had the officials and his team between Ben and him, he made a big show of laying down on the scorer’s table. Ron would not dare take on Ben, because Ben would have easily brutalized him. This much is obvious to any well trained martial artist. He was no match for Ben and moved away from him. But when somebody threw a paper cup with a little beer in it at him, he launched himself into the seats and beat up on an innocent bystander, instead of the guy who threw the paper cup. Later, back on the court, Ron took a wild, very inept swing and hit a charging fan but barely phased the fan. My son and daughter, who are a martial arts champions, laughed when they saw a replay of Ron’s foppish, amateurish swing. Weak. The blow did not drop the guy. The smaller, fat guy kept coming but tripped on someone else. Bottom-line: Ron ran away from the much tougher, more lethal Ben Wallace but went out of his way to attack a smaller, weaker fan, the wrong fan. I am not impressed.
That said, I think Rick Adelman can handle Artest, who can at least play ball well, and I hope Rick wins the title with the Rockets that was stolen from him by horrible officiating while with the Kings.
Umair Said,
July 31, 2008 @ 7:19 pm
u r insane, philly is not a top 5 team in the league, are u insane….they barely made the playoffs last year, and yes they got elton brand but u don’t knw how tahts gonna work out for them, the top 5 teams in the nba, only boston represents the east. don’t forget the pistons either, they are alt more talented then philly. the rockets are gonna be up dere with the lakers, hornets and jazz, with now 2 of the top defenders in the league in shane battier and ronnie artest. mix in the best center, and how alston played last year this team is a huge favourite to represent the west in the finals. the east is as usual crap as it was last year, no one realli improved. like last year, ur gonna hav a ton of teams in the east under .500 while in the west ull hav even less, with clippers and trail blazers getting better.
#1rocketsfan Said,
July 31, 2008 @ 9:32 pm
I look foward to seeing the rockets in the west finals with ron on the team he’s the missing piece the rockets need yao tmac ron unguardable lineup look for the francis making a comeback and getting the starting pg position
bballer Said,
July 31, 2008 @ 9:45 pm
i don’t want to go towards which division has been better in the recent past, but if you look at the 90’s, even though the west had “better teams’ detroit and chitown ended up winning the titles. what happens in the season is irrelevant. there are only 2 teams in the finals. since the 1980’s out of 28 titles, the east has won 15 so there is some balance.
as for utah being in the top 5, they may not be flashy, but they will get to the western semis again along with houston, nok and lal.
by the end of the year, you will realize that philly is a top 5 team.
expert Said,
July 31, 2008 @ 10:47 pm
The East has been tough in the Finals because teams like the Celtics and Pistons have plenty of rest from knocking out teams like the Magic ranked 3rd and clinchers of the Southeast division (which translated to the West would be ranked 7th and 4th in the Southwest division), and Cavaliers ranked 4th (which translated to the West would have missed the playoffs). No need to go any further.
Celtics also had Gatorade commercials “Be History or Make History” portraying them as champions practically since day one of the 2007-08 season which might have been a confidence booster (or ESPN commercials about the “Boston 3 Party” as well, among others).
Meanwhile you have teams like the Rockets who are ranked 4th in the west, but only have 5 more wins than the bottom seed.
Also, had Yao or Bynum not been injured, perhaps the Rockets or Lakers fate would have changed.
I’m not talking about the “what ifs”, but if you all are going to argue about who won the Finals 10, 20 years ago… then do that outside of this blog.
If you’re argument is that the Celtics had a tough run because of the 7 games with both the Hawks and Cavaliers, wake up. All the games won were at home. They were all pretty much blowouts too. The NBA is a business after all. Oh wait, you didn’t know that?
Juan Said,
July 31, 2008 @ 11:08 pm
HAHAHA. Once again Houston we have HATERZ! As always we have low expectations because of us being “Injury Prone”; well guess what? All of the doubters are probably fans of other teams or just don’t know a thing. There is already beef with Yao and Artest, but Artest cleared things up and its all good now. The Houston Rockets should be a top 3 seed and playing in the conference finals. Houston may finish behind New Orleans and the Lakers, but they can beat the Hornets…as for the Lakers, we beat them last year to extend the win streak to 22. Picture this: Starting Lineup: PG: Rafer Alston, SG: Tracy McGrady, SF: Shane Battier, PF: Ron Artest, C: Yao Ming. 6th man: PF Luis Scola. Then Steve Francis, Brent Barry, Carl Landry(if resigned), Luther Head, Chuck Hayes, Steve Novak, Mike Harris, Joey Dorsey, and Aaron Brooks. All won’t play every night, but that is a pretty good bench. Lights out shooting to space the floor with Barry, Head, Novak; then the Hustle Guys and those who can provide an offensive spark, Luis Scola, Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes, Steve Francis. Uh..we do have alot of 4’s, but they will clear that up and probably get a back up center…as if we’ll need it because Yao will stay healthy all year. Trust me 08-09 is the Year of the Rockets. I believe we can make it to the Finals with our “Big Three” Yao, Artest, and T-Mac…Oh man..this team is scary and i’m proud to call myself a die hard fan who goes to alot of games during the season. HA and i’m just a kid. Get Ready…Houston We Have Lift-Off! GO ROCKETS!
phillip Said,
August 1, 2008 @ 12:35 am
not matter what people think of the ron artest trade you have to honestly look at the players the rockets gave up…an aging pg in bobby jackson and a unproven rookie who could be good/great but isnt likely to be the talent artest is in 3 maybe 4 years from now…lets see if we offer that and get a josh smith or an andre igudola or anyone close to those caliber of players…so the trade was very much worth it no matter the outcome because artest is in a contract year and many teams will be looking for expiring contracts come feb. if it all goes sour…and please keep the east out of it when you rank teams…for one they have an easier schedule than any team in the west…secondly have a serious injury to someone important on your team and your butt will be sitting at home come playoff time if youre in the west…but if youre in the east youre 10 games below .500 and still in the playoff race…and honestly who cares about the ranking in the west considering its probably going to be a five game difference from the top 8 teams in the conference anyway…and lastly we are used to questionable shot selection we have tmac but thankfully we have yao, shane, scola,chuck hayes, landry, and possibly mutumbo to grab those rebounds when those questionable shots clank off the rim…so ron artest will be just fine…
LukeOz Said,
August 1, 2008 @ 1:49 am
On ESPN Artest stressed that he was four years removed from losing $7million, not four years removed from potentially winning a championship!!! Anyone elses thoughts but that says to me that he is only concerned about himself.
space Said,
August 1, 2008 @ 6:11 am
philly top 5. somebody said that just to start an argument didn’t they? Lol. they haven’t played a single game. step back.
as good as they were, battier doesn’t take enough shots. he’s a great shooter. they need a coach who MAKES him take 15 shots a game. in his duke days if he touched it he jacked it. and he scored alot. artest will fit in, but what happens come playoffs. its an improvement, but are they better than the lakers? portland with oden and bayless? san antonio? even phoenix? they are a western conference finals team at best.
a finals team only if a key guy on their opponent’s team gets hurt. nuf said.
Hov Said,
August 1, 2008 @ 9:57 am
seriously, I think that Ron and Yao will end up like a house on fire. It’s be like an odd couple - we’ll see some chest bumps!
the kemp dudes dropped this, it’s prety funny.http://thesportcount.com/2008/07/30/ron-the-rocket-the-yao-factor/
Celtics247.com » Blog Archive » Today’s Links 8/1 Said,
August 1, 2008 @ 10:00 am
[...] action NY Daily News US Olympic team finds motivation in red, white, blue and gold Hoopshype Is Artest worth the headache? Oregon Live The biggest of the Big 3’s Pioneer Press McHale praises Gomes’ [...]
Daily Fix: Better late than really late | SportFiends Said,
August 1, 2008 @ 10:55 am
[...] Is Ron Artest worth the headache? [Hoopshype] [...]
lonny Said,
August 1, 2008 @ 2:26 pm
can’t win anything with alston at the point. and yao and tracy may play 82 games, combined.
this is starting to look like the pippen barkley hakeem drexler rockets. they won a ring together, right?
meanwhile the portland trailblazer dynasty starts in 09.
Roofrey Said,
August 1, 2008 @ 7:36 pm
http://closedeyevisions.blogspot.com/
“An open letter to Mr. Ron Artest:
Please stick to playing basketball, and leave cultural commentary to others. Please refrain from defining your antics, tirades, and tantrums as just “representing your (Black) culture” to the fullest. Stick to slam dunking and turnaround jumpers. Please, for the love of man, stick to simply entertaining. For the record, I am a huge fan of your game. I appreciate all of its aspects, and actually have been wanting you as a member of my favorite team (THE Los Angeles Lakers), antics aside, for many years. I’m even down with your desire to pursue a music career, wild and ridiculous hairstyles, and super-inflated sense of self…just so long as it doesn’t interfere with your actual productivity on the court. I know that is an essential part of becoming one of the best/finest at what you do, so I dig that. What I cannot co-sign with, is your claim that Yao Ming’s concerns over team chemistry (after your recent acquisition) are simply a result of him never having a Black teammate that has “really represented his culture” as much as you do. You go on to state that you are “still ghetto”, and that you will never change. You even go as far as to claim your role in the Detroit Palace brawl (2004) was simply a “culture issue”. As though, the decision to go into the stands and randomly assault the wrong fan (inciting one of the most disgusting sports brawls in history) was somehow the ’Black’ thing to do. That is a blatant disregard/disrespect towards our history and culture. It reminds me of that scene ‘When Keepin’ it Real Goes Wrong’, from Chappelle’s Show (Comedy Central). Maybe you didn’t see that one Ron-Ron, but just in case: In that instance (the brawl), Keepin’ it Real went VERY wrong for you.
Let me help you out Ron-Ron. When A. Philip Randolph organized the Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porter’s Union, that was a cultural issue. When Martin Luther King led the Montgomery Bus Boycott, that was a cultural issue. When Malcolm X founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity, that was a cultural issue. When Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, THAT was a cultural issue. You play basketball. You shoot a round leather ball into a hoop. What you are doing, whether on/off the court or in the stands, is not a cultural issue. If you are going to continue to make comments about Black Culture and what it is to “represent“, then please keep that fact in mind. Your charitable works and community service should be your definition of ‘representing’. If you really want to be considered a ‘Tru-Warrior’, then find redemption through ‘true’ deeds. Not holding onto a false sense of self….a flawed and completely backwards mentality of ‘Ghetto=Black’. “
expert Said,
August 1, 2008 @ 8:14 pm
In response to “and honestly who cares about the ranking in the west considering its probably going to be a five game difference from the top 8 teams in the conference anyway”:
There are 15 teams in the west and all of them want to be in the playoffs which obviously cannot happen… so western teams who miss the playoffs by one game will care when they know they’d be seeded a helluva lot higher the other conference where, as you pointed out, teams can get in with a record of 37-45. My whole post about the East was about that there are analysts out there saying “The East is coming back”, etc, when really its ridiculously out of proportion.
It bothers me tremendously knowing that my favorite team who hasn’t been to the second round for a decade could have easily been a conference-final competitor in the East.
In response to “they are a western conference finals team at best.”
In the west, it’s anyone’s game. I wouldn’t rank the Rockets as an instant champion already (I don’t work for the media so I couldn’t tell you even if I wanted to). Its up to David Stern and company: do they think T-Mac would be more memorable as a hall of fame player who never made it to the second round, or one who tried seven times, and on the eighth succeeded? Which is more poetic? We’ll let Tim Donaghy’s successors decide.
xgame Said,
August 2, 2008 @ 5:46 am
houston is not scary. it will never win the west. this is a team with a history of off and on injured starters every year-yao, mcgrady, alston, battier.their coach is a perrenial loser-lost in portland with clyde drexler, porter, duckworth, buck williams and kersey. he lost in sacramento with bibby, peja, vlade, webber and christie. artest is not a winner but a whiner, a time bomb waiting to explode. im not sure he will be in houston next year.
TheNegation Said,
August 2, 2008 @ 7:31 am
The West even got wilder too w/ Ron Artest , already himself a defensive behemoth, goin; to a team already loaded w/ a defensive stopper[Shane Battier].If Ron could just “chill” and go w/the flow of an NBA game, he wouldn’t be called for those silly technicals. Man he could be a f**kin’ liability to the Rockets if he doesn’t watch it!
kingsblade Said,
August 2, 2008 @ 10:36 am
“This much is obvious to any well trained martial artist.”
What an odd thing to say.
rocketsfan89 Said,
August 2, 2008 @ 1:22 pm
stop comparing this new McGrady-Artest-Yao era to the Clyde-Barkley-Olajuwon team. They played in the Summit/Compaq center. They had Rudy-T. They had pinstripe jerseys. Who cares about what happened the Rockets 10+ years ago you HATERS! NON-BELIEVERS!
AMac Said,
August 3, 2008 @ 1:49 pm
iM-
Your son and daughter are martial arts champions? Then you should probably know that size and muscle doesn’t always define a fighter, and Ron-Ron might be able to easily handle a larger opponent such as Ben Wallace. Perhaps you should just go back to letting your “martial arts champion” children fight your battles.
jeremy Said,
August 3, 2008 @ 8:36 pm
Everyone seems to be forgetting that defense wasn’t the Rockets problem. The were perhaps one of the top 5 defensive teams in the NBA last season and adding Artest makes them even better, but he doesn’t solve their main issues. The problems they have are team speed, consistant perimeter shooting and playmaking from the pg position. These are problems that Ron Artest just does not solve.
The Rockets are a slow team that just can’t keep up with the majority of athletic, quick teams in the West. Houston was one really good player away from being a legit contender, Artest is definitely a good player, just not the right one for Houston.
Headache » Artest worth the headache? Said,
August 3, 2008 @ 9:54 pm
[...] Artest worth the headache?No, really, I think this Ron Artest trade has turned the West completely around. Well, until the season starts, anyway. After that, everybody in Houston will be on their own, as everyone always has been everywhere Ronnie has been. … [...]
yelito Said,
August 4, 2008 @ 10:22 am
Artest should be the next one signing with an European team.
circlecitychaos Said,
August 5, 2008 @ 11:59 pm
Houston, you have a problem!
Take it from a pacer fan, no doubt ron-ron is good, but he will single-handedly end your season somehow, someway. Do something stupid during the season? Do someting stupid in the playoffs? I guarantee he will do something regretable and the team and fans will be hurt.
Good luck Houston.
EsDot Said,
August 6, 2008 @ 1:50 am
All of this is blown out of proportion. He behaved in Sacremento and he should in Houston. You people act like Ron Artest is the only “bad boy” in the league.
Houston played great towards the end of the season. Even when Yao went down. Add Artest to that mix and you now have the favorite in the West.
Houston vs LA Lakers in the Conf. Finals.
Ron Said,
August 22, 2008 @ 2:28 pm
Regardless of his attitude, Ron Artest is a great talent to have on a championship-contending team. He posseses one of the important yet quickly dissapearing skills in the game: the ability to defend. Analyst always say, Defense wins championships. The Lakers found that out when they saw the Championship hopes slip away as Boston’s styfling defense drowned them. Not even with a player like Kobe Bryant. Now Houston, already a solid defensive team (probably the second the defensive team in the Western Conference behing San Antonio), hopes Ron Artest’s versatility on defense will hold up when they face the West’s Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki. But defense isn’t the only thing Artest will bring to the Rockets. He would give the Rockets a strong sense of toughness. Yao Ming is an MVP- caliber player but he is no intimidator. He’s been posterized a ton of times and no one will ever forget that shot blocked by 5′9″ Nate Robinson. Artest will give them the no-nonsense Dennis Rodman/ Rasheed Wallace kind of swagger that teams might need at times. He also brings an element of scoring that at times was lacking when Yao and McGrady were out. He would take pressure off of guys like Alston, Scola and Battier. Another person who would be a little more lax with Artest around is the coach, Rick Adelman. RIck Adelman is a MIke D’Antoni-type coach who likes to score fast and in bunches, and has been critisized for not making the best decisions on defense. Ron Artest would make that workload significantly lighter. Not to mention that Artest and Adelman enjoyed a brief stint together in Sacramento and in the short time grew quiet fond of each other. But although the odds of restoring this francise back to glory days of 1994 and 1995 when they won back-to-back Championships are looking more and more realistic, there are still some changes that can be made. One hypothetical trade I had been thinking about is trading Tracy McGrady to Dallas in exchange for Josh Howard and Jason Terry (add a rookie and/or a draft pick or two to make the numbers work). Now I have nothing against Tracy McGrady, he’s a great player who’s accomplished a lot in the league. But this deal would do wonders for both the Mavericks and the Rockets. Jason Kidd excels when he has a freak athlete to lob oops to. T-Mac is perfect for his. Dirk Nowitzki would also benefit because he wouldn’t be double and tripple-team as much with an offensive force like T-Mac on the wing. Houston would receive even more depth (especially after the arrivals of Artest and Brent Barry). Terry is a very versatile player who can play both guard positions and Josh is an underrated all-around player whose mouth got him in a little late last year and a change of scenery could help him forget about it and move on. Most importantly though, this makes Yao Ming THE man in Houston. Not that T-Mac was keeping Yao fom blossoming, but this just eliminates the question of who is the team leader. Dallas’ projected lineup would include Kidd and T-Mac at the guars with George, Dirk and Diop on the frontcourt. Stackhouse would continue to produce as the 6th man, along with Bass, Dampier and young Antoine Wright. Houston’s starting five would be Terry at the 1, Howard at 2, Battier playing the 3, Adelman has said he wants to use Artest a the 4 spot and Yao Ming anchoring the middle. Their bench would include nice, deep group with Alston, Scola, Barry, a healthy and motivated Steve Francis, Luther Head and Mutumbo. That would certainly make things a lot more interesting.