Rappin Ron Artest for real! [Archive]

Indazone

11-09-2008, 05:17 PM

Rappin Shaq got nuthin on Rappin Artest.

SHELBURNE: For Ron Artest, image isn't everything

By Ramona Shelburne, Columnist
Article Last Updated: 11/08/2008 11:43:00 PM PST

He was perfectly behaved. So well behaved it took me half the game to even notice he was sitting a few seats down.
Normally, you notice the person sitting next to you and that's about it. But for some reason, I decided to take a closer look at the guy sitting a couple chairs over at our press table in Section 117 of Staples Center during Game 5 of the NBA (http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_10938634#) Finals last June.
It's hard to tell in street clothes, but the guy looked a lot like Ron Artest.
A lot. By the third quarter, I just had to know. So I walked over and took a closer look. Yep, it was definitely Artest.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Just watching my guys," he said, referring to close friend Kobe Bryant and childhood buddy Lamar Odom.
I tried to chat a bit more but Artest was completely focused on the game, eyes fixed, jaw clenched, competitive instincts in full glower.
At the time I didn't think much of it. Plenty of other NBA players show up at the NBA Finals to mingle, get a feel for the scene, visualize themselves playing there in the future, and be where all the action is.
But this is Artest we're talking about - believed to be aconstant malcontent, miscreant or misdirected figure in the NBA. It just didn't seem to fit the image. Over the summer he was traded to the Houston Rockets (http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_10938634#). Another new town and newstart for the immensely talented, but oft-troubled swingman. And the Rockets' current leader didn't take too
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kindly to the idea, telling the Houston Chronicle that he was worried about Artest's attitude and past digressions.
"Hopefully, he's not fighting anymore and going after a guy in the stands," Yao Ming said.
A couple days later, Artest shot back, telling the Sacramento Bee that Yao was just buying into "all the propaganda."
It had all the makings for a train wreck.
But when I asked Artest about the situation with Yao on Friday night before Houston's 92-83 victory over the Clippers, he claimed not to remember the incident.
"I don't know what happened. I don't remember that. I got too many kids, I'm just more into my kids," he said.
Whether or not that's true is irrelevant.
What's important here is that Ron Artest is backing away from controversy instead of stirring it up.
When I asked specifically about his relationship (http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_10938634#) with Yao, Artest was downright effusive.
"He's a dominant player. He's smart too, he knows how to play and he's very unselfish," Artest said. "Yao passes, he doesn't always call for the ball. He's not a ball hog at all, so it's easy to play with him.
"It's more like everybody is on the same page as far as wanting to win. Nobody really talks about sacrifice this, sacifice that. Everybody wants to win so, it speaks for itself."
Yes, it does.
Artest said that his motivation for attending last season's finals between Boston and L.A. had as much to do with supporting Odom and Bryant as visualizing the place he'd like to get to one day.
"Yeah, I'm just trying to get used to it because I've never been to the Finals and I wanted to see how it was, see how the crowd was. Just get that feel.
"Just see how hostile it would be. See what it takes to win. So now I've kind of prepared myself for this year, because you know how you got to play to win."
With Yao in the middle, Tracy McGrady at his side and point guard Rafer Alston running the offense, Artest has a much better chance of doing that in Houston than he ever did in Sacramento.
"Houston is playing real well," said Lakers (http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_10938634#) coach Phil Jackson, whose team will host the Rockets at 6:30 tonight. "They've lost a couple games, but they've played well in those games and I think they have a good team."
Landing Artest gives the Rockets - already a good defensive team last season - another tough defender. But even more importantly, a proven scorer to take some of the load off Yao and McGrady.
Still, it's going to take the Rockets some time to integrate Artest.
Houston looked great in the first week of the season, beating Memphis, Dallas and Oklahoma City, but this week they've come back down to earth, losing close games to Boston and Portland before beating the winless Clippers on Friday.
"You throw another guy who can score 20points a night in the mix so you gotta factor him in. Sometimes you go away from playing from your strengths," Alston said. "Some teams adjust quick and some teams adjust slow and I think we're at about a turtle's pace right now and we're hoping to accelerate that pretty quick.
"It took us about 20 games last year too, then we started to figure it out. We figured out the right way to run the offense, but now we're reverting back again, instead of building off of last year.
"We've got to get that ball hopping around, we've got to get some cuts, bodies moving, got to start flowing."
Last season, once Houston got going, it won 22 games in a row. That won't happen again, but if Artest keeps playing nice, the Rockets could take off.
" I think there's been some times when he was younger he's done some immature things, but he's very mature at his his age now and those things that he did, I don't think you have to worry about him doing that again," said McGrady, who has known Artest since high school. "Any time you've had a guy whose had some baggage in the past and he comes to a new team, he wants to leave that baggage at the door and get off to a new beginning."