ARTEST WATCH 09 ! (Artest to Lakers? CBS Sports pg.153)

[mattf305]

but why would a lakers fan want to join real CAVS fan i just dont get it

 

[mattf305]

I've been here a long time, I'm not a troll. I just enjoy these forums, I am a laker fan first but i am also a basketball fan. LBJ is my fav non-laker player thats why i came here and i enjoyed the people and the forums so much that i decided to stay. so i give my input on things from a different perspective....... but i'm so excited right now.. i felt like posting pics.

ok now i understand. sry... i'm just getting pissed that lakers fans are now coming into the forums just to brag about getting artest

 

[Luffy]

ok now i understand. sry... i'm just getting pissed that lakers fans are now coming into the forums just to brag about getting artest

Yeah. Pretty obvious some of the "Cavs fans" here are Laker fans in disguise. At least this Shawn guy is being real. Dude I totally understand what you're going through. I just got two calls from my cousins in L.A. Ahhhh! So lame... Ferry better sign someone real good. Well I'm off to sleep, hopefully there's some good news by tomorrow morning.

 

[The_L_Train]

Artest is only getting paid $6 million a year?!?!

Talk about a f*cking steal.

 

[pjtoadie]

Latest Bucher Twitter:


http://twitter.com/RicBucher

Last on Artest/Lakers: team source denied it all the way. Don't know why but it twists my gut. Goes to show: none of us are foolproof.
21 minutes ago from web

 

[Walter White]

When your name is QueenJames how does that not get you automatically banned?

 

[Walter White]

Latest Bucher Twitter:


http://twitter.com/RicBucher

Last on Artest/Lakers: team source denied it all the way. Don't know why but it twists my gut. Goes to show: none of us are foolproof.
21 minutes ago from web

I dont get that

 

[landrews]

Could it be... This is all a massive publicity stunt by ron ron? I mean he said this is the 1st time he's been a FA and he's going to have fun with it. On his twit page he said he's been signed by everyone from the Knicks to the Dodgers.

Just putting it out there a little lime light for the crazy guy?

 

[Gimme Some Mo]

Artest told Kobe in 2008 that he'd be in LA

Kind of strange.

Kobe and Ron seem to have some kind of love affair going on.

http://cbs2.com/sports/ron.artest.lakers.2.1069858.html


After Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest got into that, "war of words" in March back in Houston, I asked Kobe what he really thought of Artest.

"We're friends," Kobe said, "I like him a lot--like his game--always have."
Then he told me a story that makes today's news--Artest is supposedly on his way to LA for three years, $18 million--very likely to happen.

Kobe said that after the Lakers lost game six of the '08 NBA Finals in Boston by 39 points, he was alone in the shower, just fuming. He heard somebody walk in and assumed it was one of his teammates, or maybe a staff member. Instead, he looked up, and it was Ron Artest (to this day, Kobe has no idea how Artest got into the locker room).

"I want to come help you," Artest said. "If I can, I'm going to find a way to come to LA and give you the help you need to win a title."

Kobe didn't think much of it, especially since Artest still had a year left on his deal with the Rockets, and that the Lakers were returning an entire team that had just won the Western Conference. Plus, players talk like that a lot, and it's just talk. But it struck Kobe as a nice gesture, especially since he had just been hammered by the Celtics and nobody was saying much of anything. Kobe told me that the perception a lot of people have of Artest is wrong.

"He competes....every night, every play," Kobe said. "I've known him since high school and he's always been like that."

Kobe found it strange that some people in the media were portraying he and Artest as enemies.

"He wants to win as much as I do...and I respect him--a lot."
When you consider that Artest and Lamar Odom grew up playing together in New York, this move makes a ton of sense. Artest gets to play with two good friends, for a coach that has always spoken highly of him.

Over the years, I've often asked Phil Jackson specifically about Artest's "colorful" nature. Phil never takes the bait, always shifting the conversation to something about how competitive Artest always is.

He speaks of Artest the same way he speaks of Dennis Rodman. You'll rarely hear Phil comment on how weird Rodman was, just that he adjusted to the team culture once he came to town. I imagine that if the Artest deal goes through, he'll treat Ron much the same way.

By the way, if the rumored deal was to go through, it leaves the Lakers with even more money to keep Odom.

Think about this: they would be getting Artest for less money than Charlie Villanueva just signed for in Detroit. Trust me, there isn't anybody who knows basketball who would rather have Villanueva than Artest.

The only downside to this deal is that the it leaves no room on the roster for Trevor Ariza, who was been fantastic in his time with the Lakers. But truth be told, Ariza and Artest play the same position, and Ariza didn't want to play for that money.

ESPN is already reporting that Ariza has agreed to sign in Houston to replace Artest.

Final note: none of this is done. League rules don't allow any players to sign free agent contracts until next week, and a lot can happen between now and then. But based on what I know about Artest and the way he feels about the Lakers, I'd say it's more likely to happen than not.

It also helps keep Odom.

 

[blank964]

Re: Artest told Kobe in 2008 that he'd be in LA

If I didn't know better this scenario is written like a lousy cliched script...but what do I know? Plus that sounds kind of :gayfite: to just randomly walk in the shower like that when he was on another team at that point.

 

[nevetslc88]

Mitch Kupchak Statement on Ron Artest

The following is a statement released on Thursday evening from Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak:

"We have entered into discussions with Ron Artest and it is our intention to sign him to a contract at the conclusion of the moratorium period."

The free agency moratorium period started on July 1, when free agents were allowed to begin speaking with NBA teams.

The period concludes on July 7, which sets July 8 as the date for the potential and official agreement between the Lakers and Artest.

http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/kupchak_statement_on_artest_090702.html

 

[Notorious]

Re: Artest told Kobe in 2008 that he'd be in LA

"I want to come help you Kobe"

No wonder dude beats women. At least he can play with his real love now.

 

[blank964]

Re: Artest told Kobe in 2008 that he'd be in LA

"I want to come help you Kobe"

No wonder dude beats women. At least he can play with his real love now.

Yeah really how long do you think it will be before we see pictures of Kobe, Ron and Gasol in the club like this:

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[cuckooroller]

I am a Laker fan, and I almost always preface any of my posts with this affermation.

As with any other fandom in the League, the Laker fandom has a cross section of very knowledgeable (mostly the older fans) members, and running the gamma to the total douchebags that like to come on to other teams fan sites for the only purpose of gloating.

I joined this site because I like to talk basketball. Without frills, without partisan crap, and in a coherent and sane manner with fans of one of the teams that I find most interesting presently on the NBA landscape.

I will add my voice to those on this site that find the Laker douchebags annoying. I find them annoying also on my usual fan site Laker top buzz.

As far as the topic of the day, there are a lot of Laker fans that still don't know what to make of these changes. We are pretty divided on if we should be happy or not. Personally, I liked Ariza. I feel, however, that he was very ill-served by the vocal press histrionics of his personal tapeworm, an agent by the name of David Lee. In essence, Lee set the tone for a sort of who can piss farthest contest between the Laker FO and his client, Ariza. It is rather obvious that Lee was mostly interested in serving his own personal interests, vis-a-vis possible augmented commissions, had he roiled the waters enough to have some unexpected contract leap out from under a rock somewhere. The tone created a a situation of a highly emotionally charged point of no return between Ariza and the Laker FO. It is a sad situation for both Ariza and the Lakers I feel. Ariza has a tremendous upside. He is a total stakhanovist in improving his game. However, there are many that feel that the playing system that the Lakers had last year is perhaps that which is most suitable to his playing style. We will now see if he is adaptable enough to fit into a very different systems such as that which Houston, now tremendously weakened, will be constrained by circumstances to implement.

Artest. I have never been a fan of Ron Artest mostly for his characterial problems. If, and I repeat, if he can be controlled and spliced into the existing offensive sets normally played by the Lakers, he could be a definite upgrade over Ariza. However, the proof is in the pudding, and I still have to see him fit in.

In my opinion, of those players left for the Cavaliers to possibly get, I think McDyess might be the right answer. He plays more under the basket, and he is a tough defender, and the Cavs need somebody to flank O'Neal in the interior. I consider Wallace, other than for his 3-point ability, somewhat just a sort of Ilgauskas, he was once a great high-post player, now he plays mostly in the same distance range as Ilgauskas, and he is no longer the defensive player of his younger days, nor does he still have much enthusiasm.

 

[King of the Cavs 23]

Re: Artest told Kobe in 2008 that he'd be in LA

But just how would he get into the locker rooms after a loss like that?