Vancouver Metro Basketball League

By Clint Lomax

Ronald William Artest Jr. was born November 13, 1979 in Queens, New York. He is the oldest of six children born into the world by Ron and Sarah Artest. Artest Sr. was a Navy veteran, former Gold Gloves boxer, and a Jack of all Trades. At 6’2” 250lbs with a hair trigger temper, you can see where his sometimes “unpredictable” emotions derive from. As most of us already know, Ron was brought up in the Queensbridge Houses complex. The Artest family lived in a 2 bedroom apartment with 10 people (two parents, six kids, and two cousins). From all accounts after his parents split, Artest’s anger management issues started around 8 years old. Luckily for him (and maybe the neighborhood) that is around the time he picked up basketball as a release.

Early on in his basketball adolescence, Ron would look for a challenge on the court. Has he grew older, he found himself spending almost endless amounts of time at the hoop court. Mostly for his new found love of the game, but almost equally to take his mind off his family situation. Artest, while playing AAU ball, had a fire that burned so hot at times that he even got into it with his teammates on occasion. Rumor has it that before one AAU game, Artest got into an argument with fellow teammate Elton Brand. Before you know it, that argument turned into a massive scuffle, right in front of then coach of St. Johns University Fran Fraschilla. What may have destroyed any other athlete, led Artest to even more accolades. Nicknamed the “True Warrior”, Artest was a McDonald’s All-American selection. He also led LaSalle Academy to a 27-0 record and was named NYC’s Co-Player of the Year along side Maurice Brown of Henninger. Brown won the award the previous year too, and of course none of us on the west coast has ever heard of that cat (funny how the chips fall sometimes).

His freshman year at St Johns, Artest was teamed up with the likes of: Zendon Hamilton, Lavor Postell, and Highly touted Felipe Lopez (dubbed as ONE of the next Michael Jordans, LOL)! This team underachieved until Artest brought his “Take No Prisoners” style of play. Not only were his opponents scared of him, but so were his teammates! That year Artest was named Big East All Rookie and All Tournament teams. He also helped St Johns make the NCAA Tourney for the first time since 1993. With the contributions of Bootsy Thornton, Postell, and Erick Barkley, the Red Storm advanced to NCAA Regional Finals for the first time in 8 years (that would have been back when Chris Mullin played). At season’s end, Ron averaged 15 ppg 6 rpg 4 apg taking home awards like: 1st Team all Big East, and a finalist for the Wooden Award as the top Division 1 player in the nation.

The Chicago Bulls snatched up Artest with the 16th pick of the first round. Artest’s hard hat mentality earned him a spot on the All Rookie 2nd team averaging 12.5 ppg 4 rpg. However, with liquidation of Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc, Rodman, and Michael Jordan’s retirement, The Bulls manage one 20+ win season under Coach Tim Floyd. Floyd had little patience for Artest’s youth mistakes on the court which led to him being pulled from games often. With the additions of Ron Mercer, Brad Miller, and Jamal Crawford, Artest was expendable and was traded to the Pacers mid way through the season. The Pacers acquired for NBA sharpshooter Chuck “The Rifleman” Person as an assistant coach, who locked in with Artest almost immediately. Artest already had the defense and the hustle, Person help Artest find his offensive side. In the 03-04 season, Artest (with the help of Person) was a reserve on the East All Star team, and was named Defensive Player of the Year!

After the infamous “Malace at the Palace” event. Artest was suspended for the remainder of the season, along with suspensions for Jermaine O’Neal and Stephen Jackson. 73 games lost and $7 million in forfeited salary was the result of the suspension. What was worse is that he had the “Rodman” touch of death put on him. Through some GM trade talks, Artest was traded to Sacramento for Peja Stojakovic. Under the coaching of Rick Adelman, Artest found his place quickly and added much needed defense to the Kings. Unfortunately, after a first round exit (in which he was suspended for game 2 for a flagrant elbow to Ginobili’s temple), Artest was the victim of another team partial dismantling. With Bonzi Wells and Adelman’s contracts being up, the Kings opted to trade and not renew their contracts, respectively. Artest had even offered his whole salary in support of keeping both of them with the Kings with no luck.

Artest was again traded to Houston for a few players and a draft pick. Yao and McGrady ruled the roost in Houston, but with McGrady injured on a regular basis Artest filled in the gaps that Houston needed. With McGrady out for the playoffs, Artest helped Yao, Scola, Brooks, and the Rockets defeat the Blazers in the first round of the playoffs. Artest was ejected in games 2 and 3 for what some people call “questionable” technical fouls. Coincidentally enough, Houston lost both of those games. After that the Rockets couldn’t put together consecutive games to move on to the next round, and lost to the lakers in game 7 at the Staples Center by 19.
Artest signed with the Lakers as an unrestricted free agent for 5 years/$33 million. He took the number 37 as a tribute to Michael Jackson’s 37 weeks at #1 for his album Thriller. The signing paid dividends right off the bat! While trying to learn the Triangle Offense and struggling to find his offense in it, Artest played smothering defense game in and game out. This was highlighted in the playoffs where he had to guard: Kevin “Durantula” Durant, C.J. Miles, Jason Richardson, and Paul Pierce. Not only that, he had a hand in a number of Laker playoff victories including: The whole series vs OKC and guarding Durant especially game 5 vs OKC (Durant 5-14), The last second rebound and layup vs Phx in game 5, and his rough and tumble play vs Paul Pierce in the NBA Finals. Game 7 at the Staples Center was more or less a showcase of how dangerous he is on both ends of the court. Artest (with Gasol) literally kept the Lakers in the game with his scoring, rebounding, and defense. His 20 points including the clutch 3 pointer after Ray Allen cut it to 3 was monumental for the Lakers in keeping the game at 2 possessions for Boston.

Lastly, from my experience following Artest from the St Johns Red Storm days (they were actually not the Red Storm back then, think they were the Redmen back then) to the present day Artest, and everything in between. Including all the Love and Hate, not too mention the blame from all Lakers fans when they lost (which is absolutely ridiculous). When every loss was on your shoulders, and you held it together because you wanted to be the ultimate team player (even though I predicted midway through the season he was going to crack Kobe’s jaw in practice)…. RON ARTEST! I SALUTE YOU! You are an NBA Champion, and you deserve all the accolades that go with it!