Screw Ron Artest and anyone who ever suggested that the Pistons sign him or trade for him.

Artest quietly had a good season last year, good numbers without emotional headaches. Brawl or not, he is a better one on one player than Tay (especially now that Tay can’t even play).

Screw you too, Big Z.

I will never forget that night. I turned 21. I vaguely screaming a bunch at the Arena in Ann Arbor. That is all.

Gotta love the brawl. Can’t wait for the next…

LMFAO! This is what Michael Redd said about wanting to stay in Milwaukee:

“I’ve been here for 10 years. So I’ve enjoyed my time here, man, and the team keeps getting better.’’

Sorry, Michael. Common sense and records say otherwise:

Season W L %
2007-08 26 56 .317
2006-07 28 54 .341
2005-06 40 42 .488
2004-05 30 52 .366
2003-04 41 41 .500
2002-03 42 40 .512
2001-02 41 41 .500
2000-01 52 30 .634

I was overseas :-(

My father-in-law and brother-in-law were at that game. I missed it, but I’m a law prof. here in Toledo, and a fact pattern remarkably similar to The Brawl was a long essay question in my Torts exam later that year.

Ironically, my wife and I were watching the game at a Buffalo Wild Wings in downtown Indianapolis…

I’m glad he used the term “fucktard” in there. It seemed apt.

It’s just a shame we didn’t have one Kwame Brown back then. I can just see him envisioning Artest as a piece of delicious cake, and Water Boying his ass. Oh the horrors that would have been unleashed.

Toledo Joe – I was a composition prof at Owens CC in Toledo and a lot of my students chose to write about the brawl. We call that “a teaching moment.”

I was in Ashland, Ohio at the Hotel preparing for our trip up to Detroit for the Thanksgiving game with my Dad. I watched it from my hotel room and thought “holy shit, I’m going to be in Detroit tomorrow and this has happened…”

That was the only year we didn’t already arrange to go to a Piston game when we were there for the Lions game.

funny…

@Mike P: This is a guy that has proven time and time again that he’s basically insane; he breaks off offensive plays, he screws with locker room chemistry, he’s more interested in his rap career than playing basketball (according to him), and he caught the last bus from his hotel to the arena for game 7 against the Lakers last year in his underwear.

This was a guy who went into the stands and after a fan… not even the one that actually threw something at him. How often do you go to games? That could have been you or me with crazy Ron-Ron swinging at us. And you would have welcomed him into the arena as one of your own?

So, yeah. Screw you or anyone who thought that he would be a good thing for the Pistons.

Otherwise, I think you’re brimming with intelligence and good things to say.

@ Big Z

I’d take Ron Artest in a heartbeat over Tayshaun Prince at the SF position for the Detroit Piston. Ron Artest is a Detroit Piston. He’s Rick Mahorn, Bill Laimbeer and Mark Aguirre all rolled into one…

A lot could have happened, like you said…

but it didn’t and therefore, I’d take him on my team

Ironic that you claim to know what’s best for the pistons, and yet you chose the name of a Cavs player. I stand by what I said before, Artest quietly had a very good season last year and was a major reason why Houston made the second round and took LA to 7 games.

He had no emotional issues last year, quite frankly he would be a much better option to have than Tayshaun.

@bmr:

Ah, you’ve found me out bmr. I’m actually Zydrunas Ilgauskas of the Cleveland Cavaliers. I’ve come to screw up the Pistons by posting idiotic ideas like “Ron Artest is more trouble than he’s worth” on this message bored and hoping that someone important in Piston’s management actually reads this and cancels a the big trade for Artest that they were working on. HAHAHHAHAHAH! My evil plan is working.

It didn’t even occur to you that I might have been Big Z before the other Big Z was still toiling away in some equivalent Lithuanian YMCA?

@Boney:

Tayshaun Prince helped this team win a Championship, almost two. What has Ron-Ron ever helped a team do other than get blown up? It’s interesting that you should bring up Prince, because he’s almost the polar opposite of Artest in how he affects a team. Tayshuan will do whatever you ask of him, doesn’t need the ball in his hands, and until recently, was always on the court and focused on basketball. Artest is more interested in doing his own thing than fitting in with the ideas the coaching staff has for him, is frequently injured, and most certainly has his own ideas about how the offense should be run (through him).

As far as Artest being “a Bad Boy”, you should wash your mouth out with soap after saying that. Lambieer and Mahorn were enforcers, not raving lunatics, and neither ever went into the stands after a fan. Their efforts were exclusively on how to become better basketball players and how to make a better team. Artest doesn’t have the self control or basketball IQ that either of them had, and doesn’t appear to be focused enough on basketball to care how things are going as long as his album sales are good.

The only player the Pistons ever had that even approached Artest for pure CRAZINESS would be Rodman, and while he was a Piston no one had any idea he was nearly as messed up as he turned out to be. He was just a great rebounder as a Piston, not a guy who went out in public with a wedding dress on.

The Pistons team and organization in the last 30 years has been about how players fit into the team, and not necessarily about who is the most purely talented player; the character of a player certainly played a big role. The Piston’s single foray into the “other” way of team building (getting a bunch of talented players and throwing them together) was last year and didn’t work out so well.

Is Artest talented? Sure. Is he worth the trouble and disruption? No freekin’ way.

Well to be honest Big Z, no actually it didn’t. Names that start with Z are fairly uncommon (at least where I live), so I assumed you were just a Cavs fan.

@Big Z:
A few years ago, I’d be right along with you cursing anyone who thought Ron Artest should ever wear a Pistons uniform. However, I think that times have changed, that Artest has matured a bit, and much of the risk that was associated with his name has diminished.

It has been five years since the Palace Brawl. What were you doing five years ago? Five years ago, my life was completely different than it is now. Ron is 30 years old now, and fortunately the only stories about Ron in the last two years have been about his on court play, not his off-court nonsense.

For me, the tide turned with Artest right here:
http://vodpod.com/watch/1597762-ron-artest-punks-out-kobe

Dude seems to have something he didn’t have years ago: self awareness. Personally, I’m willing to bet that the Ron Artest drama story ended a few years ago, and his career should play out rather quietly from now on. It’s on this assumption that I would have been just fine seeing that man in a Pistons uniform. When it comes to what he does on the court, he is a clear upgrade over Tayshaun Prince- who has failed us in the playoffs for three years running.

I’d say there’s a middle ground between Big Z and MP. Is he as much of a disaster as he was a couple years ago – attacking cameras, wanting to ditch the team mid-season to promote his rap album, running into the stands to attack a fan? No. At the same time, there are very few human beings who feel the compulsion to act the way Ron Artest has acted at many points in his career and there is likely some amount of instability that will always exist with him – probably some natural issues that need to be addressed through some counseling or meds. Whether he’s more mature and better able to cope with these issues or not, there’s always going to be some risk involved.

Can’t imagine what might have caused those issues…

Plus Tay will never show this type of brilliance on defense!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu1zMV5j0fo