Ron Artest

[Guest Polish_Rifle]

It seems to me that the Pacers have lost like 13 of theor last 14 games but everyone is primarily concerned about Ron Artest. Who is this guy anyway? He's a good defender that seems to be full of himself ever since he received a contract extension.

 

Is it Isiah Thomas's influence? Is he trying to recreate the "Bad Boys" days just like during the Pistons Championship run? Or does he just have some issues like Dennis Rodman? Thoughts anyone?

[Guest Flyboy]

I suppose he just wants attention.

[Guest Lethargic]

The only problem with Ron Artest is that in plays in today's league that doesn't want a player with his type of personality to possibly ruin their "perfect" little game. Now he's got the stigma attached to him that every single time he touches somebody it's a flagrant. Just like Rodman. Rodman should be considered one of the best defensive players of all time, but since he didn't play the political game, kiss everybody's ass and conform like many other players, his accomplishments on the court are always over-looked. I'd much rather have 12 players that have the passion to get so mad after losing that they want to smash everything in their path than 100 nice players like Grant Hill that win or lose just smiles and tries to be a good guy through it all.

[Guest The Fett]

He needs to lay off the roids. He's got some serious mental problems. He's beaten up his girlfriend a couple times. He's come really close to hurting some players. Being intense is fine, but when you're physically hurting other people with your anger, you need help.

[Guest AlwaysPissedOff]

Intensity is a good thing, but when it's royally fucking up your team, then it's time to fucking reign it in. If Artest was controlling his outbursts and trying to motivate his teammates, I wouldn't mind, but he's not and it's actively hurting the Pacers as a whole with his ridiculous sideshow.

 

And with the Rodman example, compare his Bulls days with his stint with the Spurswhere he'd do eccentric shit like take his shoes off after being taken out of the game. That hurt the Spurs, point blank. Chicago, however kept his ass in check for the most part because Scottie and Micheal didn't fuck around and laid down the law straight.

[Guest Mindless_Aggression]

I don't think Rodman hurt the Spurs at all personally, frankly, you had the biggest team of pussies in the league and you threw in a guy who played a very physical hard nosed brand of basketball. He only took his shoes off/ did retarded shit when they tended to just flat out give up out on the court, something the Spurs have always done against the elite teams. Well except this year, they've got their shit together it seems.

 

I don't think comparing Rodman and Artest is accurate really. Artest tends to do more stupid things than calculated stupid things, which Rodman specialized in. Witness the finals series against the Sonics where he had that whole team worried about him as Michael friggin Jordan was dropping 30 every night. And yet they STILL were getting into it with Rodman. Artest just needs to learn when and where to do his wacky shit. He's just doing it at random and killing his team at the moment

[Guest Lethargic]

How people can say taking your shoes off when you're NOT ON THE COURT hurts the team is the most retarded thing I've ever heard. That kind of stuff is exactly my point. If other players did that, nobody would care. It was because it was Rodman that it got blown out of proportion. Just like now with Ron Atrest. He fouls Eric Snow and gets called for a flagrant when there was NOTHING there that was flagrant. That was one of the stupidest calls I've ever seen. Anybody else, it'd be just a normal foul.

[Guest AlwaysPissedOff]

He pretty much tackled Snow instead of trying to go for the ball. That will always get called a flagrant.

[Guest Mindless_Aggression]

I'd have to agree with the Snow call sadly, I was more bothered by Artest throwing the official the ball in one game, ya know, like they do when theres a dead ball, the official was not looking and it hit him on the leg. Technicals were flyin, I tell ya.

 

Rodman never hurt a team as far as I could tell. At the end with the Mavs he wasn't great for them but he always brought something a team always needs. An AWESOME defender and a guy who will do every lil bit of dirty work and love it.

[Guest Still Fly]

I remember when Rodman played for the Lakers for a few months in 1999. He degenerated so much he was the a huge distraction. I mean even Shaq and Kobe hated him! (Shaq and Kobe pretty much hated each other then) But nobody seems to remember that. He was so stupid. That was when Kurt Rambis was the coach after the Lakers fired Del Harris.

 

Ron Artest just needs a hug and a flower before every game. Maybe then hell cool down. Artest is just hurting his team with his foolish antics. He become like Rasheed Wallace. If the Pacers want to go to the next level, I would try to calm him down or just cut him. A player of his calibre should know better then to do stupid. He needs some anger mangement.

[Guest Crazy Dan]

I think that Ron Artest is a head case. I do like how he plays hard on defense. He just needs to take a few anger management classes and learn to focus his energy on playing hard and tough. I think that he gets to caught up in the moment and his anger gets the best of him. But, I bet many teams would love it if all their players played as hard as Ron Artest.

 

Dennis Rodman is a very interesting case. If you were to see his picture of him while he was on the Pistons and his picture of him when he played on the Mavs, it's like he became an entirely different person. But, the man could rebound like there was no tomorrow. One of the best defensive players ever to play the game. I also heard that he would spend countless hours watching and studying tape. So the man was a hard worker, it's just when he was on a team with a coach who would make a big deal out of his actions, then that would push Rodman to do it more. I think that Phil jackson coached rodman the best, along with Chuck Daly. As long as Rodman went out and did his thing, he made no big deal out of Rodman taking his shoes off, or going to the back to ride the bike.

 

Also, I really think Rodman was a huge factor for the Bulls beating the Sonics in the Finals in 1996. I though he had a better overall series than Michael Jordon did. In that three year Championship reign, Rodman was the muscle who didn't mind doing the dirty work. And the man has five rings, so obviously he was doing something right.