Lets give Ron Artest the benefit of the doubt here..

[PJAZZ19]

Sacramento has always been a place about second chances: Chris Webber, Vernon Maxwell, Jimmy Jackson and Bonzi Wells...to name a few. It's naive to say that this WILL be the turning point in Artest's career...but until he shows us otherwise (on the court), lets give him a chance to succeed.

Remember that when Webber was traded to the Kings, he was very upset and only reported to the team when his father lectured him. True, Webber didn't have the extensive baggage that Artest does. It's up to us how much we let the past bother us. I believe in looking forward. Sometimes in what appears to be the darkest times, a light can appear. Lets hold off on judging Ron Artest..."judge not lest ye be judged"

And, given the way our team has played this season, I don't think we have anything to lose.

GO KINGS!

 

[Rockmeister]

Good post. I'm really getting tired of reading the negatives on Artest. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. I just hope others will too.

 

[Sirius]

Broken record.

 

[SkinnerBox]

There is no doubt that he is an unstable moron for him to benefit from. The mountain of evidence supporting this claim is more extensive than that for some subatomic particles.

 

[ParniValjak]

The only way he gets my trust and respect is when he earns it. Until then he is nothing more that a nutcase drongo for me. He might be a King but he is a nutcase that has a lot to prove. He has to earn my trust and respect just like every other player did on this team.

Until then he is in my doghouse

 

[Bballkingsrock]

Yup, I definatly agree!

 

[Dreadnought]

I agree, 100%.

But there is just something... a small, gut feeling that this will turn, horribly, horribly wrong.

I hope not however.

 

[piksi]

You mean the guy - that spit in our face yesterday. that made us look like idiots. That our owners had to beg to come.

 

[Bricklayer]

You mean the guy - that spit in our face yesterday. that made us look like idiots. That our owners had to beg to come.

This is one of those colossal get over it things. I remember how many years people remained fascinated with Webber not wanting to come initially, or with Peja asking to leave. Its irrelevant. He will prove whether his heart is here soon enough. Until that time complaining about he showed up is just...irrelevant. If he disses us it was for about 2 hours yesterday before the retraction. Big whoop.

 

[Bad Boy Bo]

I'll cheer for his efforts, but he'll never earn respect from me. What Artest has done is far beyond Webber, Wells, Maxwell, Jackson all put together. I just hope everything turns out alright. I might learn to accept him as a King, but that's as far as it goes.

 

[bozzwell]

This is one of those colossal get over it things. I remmeber how many years peolle remained fascinated with Webber not wanting to come initially, or with Peja asking to leave. Its irrelevant. He will prove whether his heart is here soon enough. Until that time complaining about he showed up is just...irrelevant. If he disses us it was for about 2 hours yesterday before the retraction. Big whoop.

Yes and no. It's been only 24 hours since he didn't want to be a King. Now is "Show me" time, and given his history, I will wait a little while until I am ready to fully embrace him. Those my Ron Artest rules and they may not apply to other players, because most of them, quite simply, are not as crazy as Ron Artest.

Having said that, he has accepted whatever "the deal" is with Kings/Maloofs or caved to whatever threats from Walsh/Indy. He _must_ know that this is his last chance to prove that he can be somewhat reliable, so I expect good/great basketball from him. Doesn't mean that he terrifies me any less with his craziness then he did before today.

 

[PixelPusher]

Just an observation, but replace the name "Ron Artest" with "Bonzi Wells", and a lot of these posts look identical to the posts from last Fall.

 

[Ryle]

You mean the guy - that spit in our face yesterday. that made us look like idiots. That our owners had to beg to come.

Please.....those are ridiculous comments. If he shows up and plays ball I could care less.

 

[4cwebb]

Sacramento has always been a place about second chances: Chris Webber, Vernon Maxwell, Jimmy Jackson and Bonzi Wells...to name a few. It's naive to say that this WILL be the turning point in Artest's career...but until he shows us otherwise (on the court), lets give him a chance to succeed.

Remember that when Webber was traded to the Kings, he was very upset and only reported to the team when his father lectured him. True, Webber didn't have the extensive baggage that Artest does. It's up to us how much we let the past bother us. I believe in looking forward. Sometimes in what appears to be the darkest times, a light can appear. Lets hold off on judging Ron Artest..."judge not lest ye be judged"

And, given the way our team has played this season, I don't think we have anything to lose.

GO KINGS!

Word.

 

[ParniValjak]

Just an observation, but replace the name "Ron Artest" with "Bonzi Wells", and a lot of these posts look identical to the posts from last Fall.

I was all for getting Wells. I thought he was a risk that was worth the gamble for a number of reasons. He never has been as nutty as Artest, his main beef has been lack of playing time, he has had issues and brought a lot of baggage but the skeletons in his closet are no where near as sacry as Ron's. Bonzi had 1 year to run on his contract, if things worked out great. If not he is off the books at the end of the season.

Another reason is that Adelman and Petrie combo has been known to get trouble makers and turn them into solid citizens. Adelman is gone at the end of the year. With Adelman gone, chances of Artest blowing us increase significantly.

These 2 cases are not very comparable. We are talking about a real nutcase here that has been in anger managment since the age of 8 or 9.

 

[SacTownKing4Life]

You mean the guy - that spit in our face yesterday. that made us look like idiots. That our owners had to beg to come.

Ron Artest from what I understand was never quoted saying "I do not want to come to Sacramento" or anything like that, it seemed it was his agent that said those things. I could be wrong though.

 

[ParniValjak]

Ron Artest from what I understand was never quoted saying "I do not want to come to Sacramento" or anything like that, it seemed it was his agent that said those things. I could be wrong though.

And I very much doubt that his agent would make that statement without talking to Ron.

Some people can be really naive.

 

[The Hammer]

You mean the guy - that spit in our face yesterday. that made us look like idiots. That our owners had to beg to come.

Piksi you want people like Artest to spit in your face so you can have something to justify yourself with. It secretly delights you that things has gone this way. You're the guy who says: "Those stinking bastards!" And you love it. Admit it.

 

[DocHolliday]

I'm happy he is coming, and letting him start with a clean slate.

-The End

 

[PJAZZ19]

Ahh human nature....so quick to point out the speck in other's eyes while ignoring the plank in one's own.

It amazes me how we talk about forgiveness, etc...but absolutely love to come down on someone.

 

[KP]

Well, this board is getting interesting again.

 

[thedofd]

I'm willing to forgive Ron his past if he comes here, plays hard, shows some maturity, fits in and proves himself a good teammate. But he's on probation, in my mind.

The fact is, talent means so much in the NBA and Artest, at his best, is a genuine difference-maker.

 

[KP]

I am going to go ahead and say this now... it's only a matter of time. It's not his fault, but that may be even more scary. No matter what he wants to do in his heart he will lose control, it's just a matter of time. Good luck Ron, you are going to need it.

 

[nbrans]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=sheridan_chris&id=2306301

This is an interesting take on the deal that quotes someone close to the deal as saying that Mark Stevens as being the one who really didn't want Artest to come to Sacramento. I won't reprint it here, but apparently because Stevens only recently came to represent Artest, he's not picking up commission for Artest's salary. Therefore he has a much bigger stake in endorsements, and hence an LA deal, since they would represent his only shot at making money off of Artest before Artest's deal expires.

So Artest might not be quite as opposed to all of this as his agent may have portrayed.

 

[JJ22L]

This is one of those colossal get over it things. I remember how many years people remained fascinated with Webber not wanting to come initially, or with Peja asking to leave. Its irrelevant. He will prove whether his heart is here soon enough. Until that time complaining about he showed up is just...irrelevant. If he disses us it was for about 2 hours yesterday before the retraction. Big whoop.

finally some intellegence..thank you brick..whether people like it or not HES HERE..this can be as painful as you like or as pleasant as you like...if artest dosent do his job...then ill be pissed...until then why bring him in already on a negative slate.

 

[thesanityannex]

Ron gets a clean slate. Every player to come here has. He is no different. I'm ashamed of all the people that were soooooooooooooooo excited yesterday when they found out about the trade, then the were the first to cast the first stone at Artest last night and early this morning.


Anyone who truly wanted Artest here knew before any of this happened how crazy and volatile he was. These people also realized the talent swap we were getting by swapping out Peja. I am not emotionally attached to any certain player, so I am able to realize when a "B-" is swapped for an "A". (speaking strictly talent wise)

 

[kennadog]

No he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt from me. That phrase means that you don't know something for sure about a person, so you will not hold something against a person that you don't really know. Artest got the benefit of the the doubt from Indiana after messing up in Chicago.

We know without a single doubt what Artest has done. I will allow him time to to show me he will change. I accept he's a King and I will support him as long as he supports this team with good behavior on and off the court. However, he has a long, long way to go to earn any trust or respect from me. And I have never, ever felt that way about any player that has come to the Kings previously.

 

[GameBall]

I'm willing to forgive Ron his past if he comes here, plays hard, shows some maturity, fits in and proves himself a good teammate. But he's on probation, in my mind.

The fact is, talent means so much in the NBA and Artest, at his best, is a genuine difference-maker.

Says it all for me! I am taking a wait and see attitute with Artest. I was thinking this trade could work when I heard about it, but I was furious yesterday with him saying he didn't want to come here and I posted at the time that the Kings should reject this trade. However, now that he's here, I am going to root for him if he comes here and plays and gives us what we need. If he is going to be a cancer, I say see you later and don't let the door hit your *** on the way out. I read a quote from an article (don't remember which one) that the Kings have the personality of a vanilla shake. Now they have the personality of a vanilla shake with tabasco sauce. We shall see what happens.

 

[Diabeticwonder]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=sheridan_chris&id=2306301

This is an interesting take on the deal that quotes someone close to the deal as saying that Mark Stevens as being the one who really didn't want Artest to come to Sacramento. I won't reprint it here, but apparently because Stevens only recently came to represent Artest, he's not picking up commission for Artest's salary. Therefore he has a much bigger stake in endorsements, and hence an LA deal, since they would represent his only shot at making money off of Artest before Artest's deal expires.

So Artest might not be quite as opposed to all of this as his agent may have portrayed.

Exactly my point in one of the other Artest threads here. Look, agents are first and foremost looking out for THEIR own best interests, which usually are the same as their client's. However, that's not always the case. I'm sure his agent was pushing and pushing for him to be in a big market so Ron would have more exposure, more endorsement opportunities and a better chance to pursue interests other than basketball, which in turn his agent would have benefitted from.

 

[nbrans]

Exactly my point in one of the other Artest threads here. Look, agents are first and foremost looking out for THEIR own best interests, which usually are the same as their client's. However, that's not always the case. I'm sure his agent was pushing and pushing for him to be in a big market so Ron would have more exposure, more endorsement opportunities and a better chance to pursue interests other than basketball, which in turn his agent would have benefitted from.

Exactly. And there's an added unhealthy dynamic where the agent doesn't have the luxury of "telling Ron how it is" since he has to stay in his good graces to reap any return on the huge amount of time he's investing in representing him for free for several years. He can't risk alienating Artest or he's out and he just wasted countless hours and days and months of his time.

So basically, if Ron acts or thinks immaturely his agent is going to be an enabler rather than a counterweight. Not a great situation.