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Joey from Straight Bangin'



When Ron Artest was in college, there was something alarmingly easy about the way that he played basketball. Using his sinewy frame, QB mindset (that's Queensbridge, not quarterback, by the way), and skills of a guard, Artest would get the ball from a St. John's teammate and make his way into the paint without regard for things like other people. Once in the lane, Ron might pivot, duck under a defender, and flip the ball up to the rim; pull up while drawing some contact from converging defenders before sending the ball out to the perimeter to a teammate; put up a floater; corral his own rebound with George McGinnis-like style--it made no difference. It was always pretty easy, even if herky-jerky at certain points. But really, that's true to the Artest ethos: It might be awkward at times, but I'm doing it anyway, because I can. That's why Ron says what he says and does what he does.



We all know the rest of the story that has led us up to this point: Ron Ron balling with the scrubs on Sacramento's Vegas-league team. (Quick tangent: Las Vegas is fun and all that, but NOTHING excuses the fact that the Lig stole this summertime basketball oasis from the Northeast. Oh how I long for the long afternoons in UMass-Boston's Clark Center, a place where you could sit alongside local community groups and heckle your favorite soon-to-be-busts, witness (get it?) LeBron getting passed on defense by Marcus Banks, and practice pronouncing the names of all the best Euros. Good times.)



Anyway, Marc Stein from the .com has some choice Artest quotations that make you smile and, if you're like me, help you get through the interminable summer months when nothing but boring baseball is on.



Ron on Bonzi Wells and punitive measures:

"Bonzi ... he has to come back," Artest said. "I've talked to him a couple times [since free agency began]. He has no choice but to come back, or else he's going to be in trouble with me and Mike Bibby.

Ron demonstrating the disarming intelligence he clearly possesses and sometimes suspends:

On the Indiana Pacers losing Peja Stojakovic to the Hornets in free agency after trading Artest to Sacramento for Stojakovic in January: "They didn't get stuck without nothing. [Second-year swingman] Danny Granger is a really good player. Really good. He will fill the void. Definitely."

Ron on a little-invoked basketball syllogism:

And reflecting on the San Antonio series: "I was suspended [for] Game 2 and we still could have won that game. I twisted my ankle bad in Game 6 and Bonzi pulled his hamstring bad in Game 6. That was our series to win. I was saying that all along, that we would have a chance to win a championship. We were right."

And Sports Illustrated's Marty Burns has what will likely emerge as one of the top-three best nuggets of information from the summer (I've added the emphasis because this is so exciting):

As for Artest, he joined Stoudemire in bringing some marquee appeal to Monday's action. The seven-year veteran, who volunteered to join Sacramento's roster for this year's summer-league field, dressed for the second time in four games. He even passed out copies of his latest rap CD mix tape to Summer League staffers during pregame warmups before his team's game against the Knicks.