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Bobby
Posts: 22094
Alba Posts: 0
Joined: 5/18/2003
Member: #408
USA
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lets forget about the temper tantrums ron has displayed in previous outings, this recent event may add more conflict to carlisle's system then management may want to tolerate. remember, carlisle's first three months coaching had rick complaining about ron's shot selection. imo rick and ron are oil and vinnegar....they do not mix. better reading below at boston globe.com:
This silence can't be golden
By Peter May | November 14, 2004
What does Larry Bird think of Ron Artest's recent sabbatical? He's not saying. But given that this was a guy who came out of traction to play a game, we can pretty much assume what he has said behind closed doors.
That's where Bird was holed up Friday, on the longest telephone call in history. The Pacers president of basketball operations has resolutely refused to comment publicly on Artest's two-game timeout and the changing-by-the-day reasons for it. He has left coach Rick Carlisle and president/CEO Donnie Walsh to speak to the situation. You'd have to think he has Artest's face on a golf ball and has whipped out a titanium driver and headed to the first tee.
Artest returned to the Indiana lineup Friday night after missing two games. Why did he miss two games? Carlisle said Artest was benched for conduct that "compromised the integrity of the team." Carlisle left it at that on Day One. Artest subsequently replied that he didn't know the meaning of the word "integrity."
It then leaked out from Artest that he was tired and needed a break. This was the same guy who, in Slam Magazine recently, made an after-the-fact impassioned appeal to be on the Olympic team. Gee, if USA Basketball had taken him up on his offer, the Pacers might have been without Artest until March. Artest also hinted that one of the reasons he was tired was the work he was doing on a CD that is due out Nov. 23. (ESPN mentioned that date at least four times in its "SportsCenter" report Thursday.) Guess where the Celtics will be on the 23d? In Indiana.
Predictably, Artest got skewered from coast to coast, with a few exceptions. The New York Post's Pete Vecsey said Carlisle mishandled things, and Bill Walton, in an e-chat on ESPN, said, "One question that screams out at me -- why didn't Rick Carlisle simply say, `no,' and try and talk him out of it?" Maybe because Carlisle knows Artest as well as anyone.
But, for the most part, Artest was easy fodder because of his combustible past. It sort of reminded me of Bette Davis's line in "All About Eve" when she first lays eyes on a very young, very attractive Marilyn Monroe at a ****tail party: "She looks like she might burn down a plantation."
And that's what gave this story some legs. In hoopese, Artest has priors. There have been numerous suspensions and incidents. He's not David Robinson. But, in an attempt to explain himself, he largely made things worse.
In a chat Friday with ESPN.com, he said he "did it the wrong way . . . I wish I could have done it a little differently." Done what differently? He mentioned possible retirement if the Pacers won the NBA title, even though he has $29 million coming his way. (In other words, forget about it.) He said if the Pacers had granted his wish, he would have been gone for a month or so "and not worried about the pay."
Asked if he wanted the Pacers to keep him, Artest said, "I love the Pacers. I like the organization. I like the team. But just as much as I like Indiana, I've got to be able to show people what's me. I can't lie to people. This is Ron Artest. I was in a studio all summer and I came back and had 31 [points] in my first game. You have to accept Ron Artest the way he is. And, if not, that's OK."
It's not exactly a trade secret that the Pacers explored moving Artest over the summer, which speaks to their own discomfort with him. Nothing came of it. There is a won't-go-away rumor of Indiana dealing Artest to Sacramento for Peja Stojakovic because (a) they're both All-Stars, (b) they're both unhappy or distracting, and (c) their salaries match.
But Sacramento -- and everyone else -- knows about Artest and what a handful he can be. Maybe that's why Bird was so conspicuous in his silence; you don't want to devalue your own players.
Then again, anyone who knows Bird has to know how he feels about all this. And everyone knows about Artest. You have to take the whole package, which includes an excellent basketball player with, unfortunately, more baggage than Kate Winslet had on the Titanic
"Like they always say, New York is the Mecca of basketball,"I read that in Michael Jordan books my whole life and I played here in the Big East tournament, so it's always fun to play in the Mecca of basketball."---Rip Hamilton
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11/14/2004 9:42 AM