Michael Curry was player/coach during Ron-Ron's days in Indiana????? As a result, he recognizes Artest's strengths and weaknesses. Is Curry in Joe's ear pushing for a trade with Sactown???????? With a solid foundation, can Artest be an effective player for the pistons? A stand up guy, mesh with the community and fans???? Has he been a solid citizen since being in Sactown?????? My updated trade... Prince for Artest CBill for Gerald Wallace and Raymond Felton If we are going back to the suffering defense. Ron Artest and Gerald Wallace with the squad we have will be an opposing team nightmare. You will be getting two of the best defenders in the league. Pick up Diop with the midlevel PG: Stuckey/Felton/Dixon (combo) SG: Rip/Afflalo/Hermann SF: Artest/Afflalo/Sharpe/Hermann PF: G Wallace/Amir/JMax/McDyess C: R Wallace/Samb/Diop/Ratliff
I like the idea... First of all though, I think Tay is more valuable than Artest personally... No need to make that move. The Billups for Wallace/Felton seems to make some sense, if Charlotte's willing to part with Wallace. Does he play the 4 though? Either him or Tay could be our super sub... I like Felton coming off the bench behind Stuckey but I'm not sure he'd be comfortable with that... Joe doesn't usually have people of the same age and stage of their career at the same position on the team - Felton's not a bad PG and only a few yrs in the league himself... Part of all of this is that we need to trade Maxiell still... Instead of Artest, I'd package Maxiell and Tay in this case and try to get a starting big man... Then we can either play Sharpe or try to sign someone like Bonzi wells or Artest/Maggete if we can get them with the midlevel... Move McDyess to the bench with Amir.
I like the idea. Obviously neither of these guys would want to come off the bench. Plus playing one of them at the 4 takes away from Amir and JMax time. I think in order to make this work you have to also package Rip somewhere, so Ron can play the 2. On the other hand, Rip would be the perfect Microwave type guy off the bench. We all know his ego is too big for that though.
Sure wish somebody would have told Danny Ainge this. I love how unknown draft picks can be defended under "Trust in Joe" and "Nobody knows for sure" while simultaneously trades can be shot down as sure fire misses because of something as arbitrary and unpredictable (not to mention subjective) as "chemistry" and "ego". Sometimes lone wolves are only lone wolves because they have had to be.
Like Rasheed did. His diatribe of years ago was pretty much aimed at guys like Bill Davidson. If Bill D. were to take anything personal you'd think it would be that.
Fact is Artest is a very good person. He's just made some errors in judgment. Those close to him dont question where his heart is at though. He is alot like Rasheed in that aspect.
You don't think Mr. D holds Ron Artest responsible for bringing a black eye to the Palace and Pistons Organization? How about the money the league fined the Pistons because of the brawl?
I think Davidson trusts Joe and Curry enough to where he would be willing to bring Curry on board if they were. Same attitude he had with Rasheed.
It's not a good idea to play G-Wallace at the 4 because that's when he got all those high-flying injuries not so long ago. He was forced to play against bigger guys and got thrown around a lot more. He is more productive, a better player and it's a lot safer to play Wallace at the 3, so we can't have both him and Artest. Also Felton is not really good enough to be a bonefide starter for this team over Stuckey, but nor would he accept coming off the bench.
Plus in a recent radio inteview Artest said something to the effect that he is going to try and get as much money as possible and is not willing to take any less to be on a contender. I am sure most athletes feel the same way even though they would never admit it. At any rate, he would not be very impressed with our 6 straight ECF's. Pistons are probably fading as a destination point for a championship anyway.
Artest can play for any other team in the NBA and I wont care. I do not want his Punkazz on the Pistons. Yeah I know he has tons of talent, is a great player blah blah blah. It is bs to bring him here and would send the wrong message to kids and fans. It would be a slap in the face plain and simple. We have all seen the replay but here it is again YouTube - Pistons-Pacers Brawl 2004 Worst Fight Ever and this response from him after the fact does not give me a nice fuzzy warm feeling towards him either YouTube - Ron Artest speaks on the infamous BRAWL I can not root for that punkazz and would not root for the Pistons if they brought him here. I dont care if he came and scored 24 points a game and won defensive player of the year and we won a ship. It would be tainted. It would be like if I found out my son was not my son. You can try to put any spin on it you want but he does not belong on this team. I doubt Karl Malone would have been welcomed by any of the Pistons after what he did to Zeke, but that was just on the court this goes beyond that way beyond. How could any of the guys on this team accept him? Sorry but even rich superstar athletes hold grudges.
Everyone loves NY. Teams do fade and run in cycles. Many make great reputations and careers out of getting close. Close associations can and do shore-up rationalizations of being comfortable with the past and what has worked. There is something about balancing on the edge. It brings excitement, new conflicts, resolutions beyond the normal route of obvious solutions, creates new heroes and the counterpoint of player finites. Everyone probably picks a player and nourishes their development. Could be why everyone likes those coming off the bench and newer, untested players about to strut upon the stage. There is so much more than just victories.
PG: Stuckey/Felton/Dixon (combo) SG: Rip/Afflalo/Hermann SF: Artest/Afflalo/Sharpe/Hermann PF: G Wallace/Amir/JMax/McDyess C: R Wallace/Samb/Diop/Ratliff I have faith that this roster can get it done if Stuckey can come through next year.
Do you guys even realize that a great deal of other teams fans place equal blame for that brawl (if not more) on Ben Wallace and drunk Detroiters? In hindsight, it might be time to drop the bias and take some of the excessive blame away from Ron Artest, who never threw a punch in the stands, unlike Jackson, and no worse than JO, two who hardly get mentioned with the same amount of malice around the forum as Ron does.
you will see me playing for the pistons before you see ron artest play for the pistons. it will never happen...not while bill d. is alive.
That is one thing we can agree on. I don't fault Ben at all though because he did not take it off the court. If not for the Pacer players running into the stands throwing punches it probably would not have went any further than Artest. Another fault was the lack of security in their inability to control the situation. The usher who was in charge of that section was heard screaming oh my god.
