Ron Ron

Waldini:

You know, I am curious, we haven't talked at all about Crazy Ron and his antics this week. Are we tired of him as a whole? Or do we simply not care about his actions?

Da Realist:

i don't care. good player, not great player. who cares?

Gangsta D:

He has potential to be great. He also has potential to go on a kill crazy rampage. It's a trade off...

Da Realist:

what potential to be great? he plays hard and he can do a number of things well but i don't see nothing "great" about him.

Gangsta D:

The ability to lock down the opponent's top scorer and the ability to score 25-27 points and grab 8-10 boards. If he averaged 26 pts, 10 reb, 4 ast, and 3 stl and won Defensive Player of the Year, you don't think that qualifies as great?

Da Realist:

there is NO WAY that dude can average 26 points a game. "average" is the key word here. 26 ppg? those are dominique numbers. and he's not quick enough! to lock down the ELITE guards in the game (kobe, dwayne wade, iverson...)

Gangst D:

You don't think so? Based on what? He's averaging almost 20 now as the second option. You don't think he can put in another 6 when he's the #1 guy. "Lock down" is a relevant term. No one can truly stop an elite player, but he can keep 'em from getting 30-40. And I'd take him on my team over a lot of other players if I had to play the Lakers, Heat, or Sixers.

Da Realist:

pros and cons, my dear watson. sure he'll have a few more opportunities to score if he was "the man" somewhere, but he will also have to deal with the pressures of being the #1 guy. right now he's what, the 2nd or 3rd option for indiana? teams scouting indiana are not trying to come up with creative ways to stop ron artest, i assure you. he gets his shots when teams are double teaming jermaine o'neal or collapsing on tinsley. you think he could become an elite player if given his own team. i don't. he'll always be better at being #2 or #3.

wait a minute....i think i hear something.... is that a stampede of ! teams willing to trade marquee guys for ron artest??? do i hear minnesota willing to trade kg for artest? no, must be contract considerations. what, is that something i hear from LA? kobe for artest? no? what about even odom for artest? really??? maybe dallas will part with dirk...no really, artest is a good player. but if teams could really see 26, 10 and 6 coming out of him every team in the league would be selling their souls to get him on their team.

Gangsta D:

Dude 15 teams, at the least, want him. The thing is it's all hypothesis. If he does become the focal point of a team, we'll see. Remember what I said, he has potential to be great. All the tools are there. But he's crazy, so we'll just have to see:)

Da Realist:

you actually think this dude can put up dominique numbers while being the number one guy. :-)