PurpleHaze
All-Star
saying there's mutual RESPECT.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/12/14/artest.countdown/index.html
5 Ways of judging Ron Artest
5. As someone who must be managed. During the Kings' 101-97 loss at Denver last Saturday, Sacramento point guard Beno Udrih called out "Aggie.'' It was a new play designed for Artest to go under the basket. But Artest didn't know the play. Instead, he clapped and waved for Udrih to pass the ball to him on the wing.
"Aggie!'' Udrih shouted to Artest.
"Give me the [expletive] ball!'' shouted Artest in return.
But Udrih refused, turning instead to run a pick-and-roll. Artest responded by calling an injury timeout, and this is when the NBA playing experience of rookie coach Reggie Theus became crucial.
As Udrih and Artest quarreled near the team bench, Theus stepped in between them to put a stop to it.
"What I said [to Artest] was, 'Don't call timeout again, that's not your job,' " Theus said. "I wanted to make sure that these guys stopped the conversation. I told them, 'If you guys wanted to talk longer, you should have called a full timeout. You called a 20[-second timeout], so we've got to get back out there -- so let's finish it later.'
"And then I grabbed Beno and I told him, 'If he calls you off something, there's a reason. Don't force-feed it. Understand your personnel. That's your job.' And he goes, 'OK, I understand.' "
This was not the first time Artest has impulsively called timeout over his three seasons with the Kings. The lesson to any contender interested in trading for Artest over the next two months is that he needs to be coached by a strong personality who will stand up to him, look him in the eye and speak to him directly.
"Meeting Ron head-on is what he wants,'' said Theus, who averaged 18.5 points and made two All-Star teams in 13 NBA seasons. "For all of the things that people have said about Ron, I've never heard one person say he's not a good guy.''
Which is not to say that they haven't had their scrapes in Theus' short time with the Kings.
"I think there's probably been three or four times that, under different circumstances, it turned into something that wasn't pleasant,'' Theus said. "But he and I are getting a dialogue now, and he knows I'm not going to flip out on him. And he knows respect is given but respect is expected back, and I think that it works for him.''
4. As a versatile star who impacts winning. Through Thursday, the Kings were 2-6 without Artest this season and 6-7 with him. The latter record is impressive, given the first-year status of their coach, the late arrival of Udrih off waivers from Minnesota and injuries to their starting backcourt of Mike Bibby (out until January after undergoing preseason thumb surgery) and Kevin Martin (sidelined four-to-six weeks by a strained right groin suffered Dec. 4).
More important is the illness to Artest's daughter, 4-year-old Diamond, who according to Artest has been given a 90 percent chance of surviving kidney cancer. Her condition is further complicated because she was born with one kidney, forcing doctors in Indiana to shrink the tumor with chemotherapy before deciding whether to operate.
Despite his personal worries, the flights back and forth to visit his daughter and the untidiness of his rebuilding team, Artest is averaging 19.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.1 blocks in 40.7 minutes.
"He needs to do what he's doing for his family, and that's a serious situation,'' Theus said. "He has gone back and forth [to Indiana] where he could have missed games. But he has been here to play, so that tells me he wants to be here.
"He's better than I thought he was,'' Theus added. "He affects the game on both ends, and there's only about four or five guys that do that.''
But problems arise when Artest falls into the trap of comparing himself to Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. In the past, he has been carried away with demanding opportunities to showcase himself as an elite scorer in the league.
"I let other people say it,'' he said of comparisons with Kobe and LeBron, "and other people have been saying that. They compare me to the same level and it's definitely a compliment.''
Does he hold himself to their elite standard?
"Definitely, definitely, definitely, and I work so hard I deserve to be held in that category,'' he said. "That's what I work for anyway. You want to be able to give yourself a shot if you want to compete with those guys. Unless you got three of those types of players on your team or two All-Stars on your team, you got to make yourself into one so you can compete.
"If you're on a team with the best players, then you find a way to fit in and win a championship. If you're on a team and you're the best player, you've got to find a way to win a championship with your team. At the end of the day, I'm thinking about a championship, whatever I've got to do.''
So ambitious is Artest that he takes on too much responsibility to the detriment of the Kings.
"When Theus calls the play and it isn't for Artest, he's so reluctant to let them get into a play he's not involved with,'' said an NBA advance scout who has been studying Artest recently. "He'll be running down the floor and he should go through to the opposite corner, but instead he'll turn and post up. He might be open and he definitely is good enough that he can be effective in a quick post-up, but that's not the play. I can't tell you how many times that happened.
"He is playing like a very selfish player right now,'' the scout continued. "Maybe he doesn't like the team, or he doesn't think the team is good and so he has to put up numbers to make up for it. I knew he was a time bomb in the past, but I always respected his game. But he has gone down a notch or two because of the selfish attitude.''
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/12/14/artest.countdown/index.html
5 Ways of judging Ron Artest
5. As someone who must be managed. During the Kings' 101-97 loss at Denver last Saturday, Sacramento point guard Beno Udrih called out "Aggie.'' It was a new play designed for Artest to go under the basket. But Artest didn't know the play. Instead, he clapped and waved for Udrih to pass the ball to him on the wing.
"Aggie!'' Udrih shouted to Artest.
"Give me the [expletive] ball!'' shouted Artest in return.
But Udrih refused, turning instead to run a pick-and-roll. Artest responded by calling an injury timeout, and this is when the NBA playing experience of rookie coach Reggie Theus became crucial.
As Udrih and Artest quarreled near the team bench, Theus stepped in between them to put a stop to it.
"What I said [to Artest] was, 'Don't call timeout again, that's not your job,' " Theus said. "I wanted to make sure that these guys stopped the conversation. I told them, 'If you guys wanted to talk longer, you should have called a full timeout. You called a 20[-second timeout], so we've got to get back out there -- so let's finish it later.'
"And then I grabbed Beno and I told him, 'If he calls you off something, there's a reason. Don't force-feed it. Understand your personnel. That's your job.' And he goes, 'OK, I understand.' "
This was not the first time Artest has impulsively called timeout over his three seasons with the Kings. The lesson to any contender interested in trading for Artest over the next two months is that he needs to be coached by a strong personality who will stand up to him, look him in the eye and speak to him directly.
"Meeting Ron head-on is what he wants,'' said Theus, who averaged 18.5 points and made two All-Star teams in 13 NBA seasons. "For all of the things that people have said about Ron, I've never heard one person say he's not a good guy.''
Which is not to say that they haven't had their scrapes in Theus' short time with the Kings.
"I think there's probably been three or four times that, under different circumstances, it turned into something that wasn't pleasant,'' Theus said. "But he and I are getting a dialogue now, and he knows I'm not going to flip out on him. And he knows respect is given but respect is expected back, and I think that it works for him.''
4. As a versatile star who impacts winning. Through Thursday, the Kings were 2-6 without Artest this season and 6-7 with him. The latter record is impressive, given the first-year status of their coach, the late arrival of Udrih off waivers from Minnesota and injuries to their starting backcourt of Mike Bibby (out until January after undergoing preseason thumb surgery) and Kevin Martin (sidelined four-to-six weeks by a strained right groin suffered Dec. 4).
More important is the illness to Artest's daughter, 4-year-old Diamond, who according to Artest has been given a 90 percent chance of surviving kidney cancer. Her condition is further complicated because she was born with one kidney, forcing doctors in Indiana to shrink the tumor with chemotherapy before deciding whether to operate.
Despite his personal worries, the flights back and forth to visit his daughter and the untidiness of his rebuilding team, Artest is averaging 19.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.1 blocks in 40.7 minutes.
"He needs to do what he's doing for his family, and that's a serious situation,'' Theus said. "He has gone back and forth [to Indiana] where he could have missed games. But he has been here to play, so that tells me he wants to be here.
"He's better than I thought he was,'' Theus added. "He affects the game on both ends, and there's only about four or five guys that do that.''
But problems arise when Artest falls into the trap of comparing himself to Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. In the past, he has been carried away with demanding opportunities to showcase himself as an elite scorer in the league.
"I let other people say it,'' he said of comparisons with Kobe and LeBron, "and other people have been saying that. They compare me to the same level and it's definitely a compliment.''
Does he hold himself to their elite standard?
"Definitely, definitely, definitely, and I work so hard I deserve to be held in that category,'' he said. "That's what I work for anyway. You want to be able to give yourself a shot if you want to compete with those guys. Unless you got three of those types of players on your team or two All-Stars on your team, you got to make yourself into one so you can compete.
"If you're on a team with the best players, then you find a way to fit in and win a championship. If you're on a team and you're the best player, you've got to find a way to win a championship with your team. At the end of the day, I'm thinking about a championship, whatever I've got to do.''
So ambitious is Artest that he takes on too much responsibility to the detriment of the Kings.
"When Theus calls the play and it isn't for Artest, he's so reluctant to let them get into a play he's not involved with,'' said an NBA advance scout who has been studying Artest recently. "He'll be running down the floor and he should go through to the opposite corner, but instead he'll turn and post up. He might be open and he definitely is good enough that he can be effective in a quick post-up, but that's not the play. I can't tell you how many times that happened.
"He is playing like a very selfish player right now,'' the scout continued. "Maybe he doesn't like the team, or he doesn't think the team is good and so he has to put up numbers to make up for it. I knew he was a time bomb in the past, but I always respected his game. But he has gone down a notch or two because of the selfish attitude.''
