אולי
ואולי אני פשוט מודע למגבלות הגיל ולכך שבדרך כלל שחקנים מתחילים לדעוך לקראת גיל 30. כל השחקנים שציינתי נמצאים בטווח הגילאים של 29-30 (מלבד פישר כמובן), כך שהם צפויים להתחיל לרדת בכושר בעתיד הקרוב. מן הסתם הם לא יוכלו לשחזר את היכולת שלהם העונה בעוד 3-4 שנים, ואולי אפילו מוקדם יותר. בדרך כלל קבוצה שלוקחת את האליפות חוזרת לעונה הבאה מרוצה מעצמה ופחות אינטנסיבית. יש כמה קבוצות יוצאות דופן מהבחינה הזו (הסלטיקס 08/09 לדוגמה). אני פשוט לא חושב שהלייקרס כאלה. אולי אני טועה. לדעתי בעונה בריאה של כל הקבוצות הלייקרס גם לא היו לוקחים אליפות העונה. לא הגדרתי את ארטסט 'רעל', אבל ברור שזו הסחת דעת רצינית לקבוצה. ביל סימונס כתב השבוע אחלה טור בשני חלקים (ארוך מתמיד), והתייחס להחתמה של ארטסט כמובן:
To the Lakers' fans. If you think your boys improved by swapping Trevor Ariza (a 24-year-old who came into his own this past spring, shot 45 percent from 3-point land, came through repeatedly in the clutch, turned into the NBA's single best defensive swingman and doesn't care about his numbers) for Ron Artest (an unreliable 29-year-old head case/attention hog who slipped noticeably as a perimeter defender these past two seasons and has a knack for taking terrible shots at the worst possible times), then absolutely, you're on drugs. I don't know what else to tell you. Your team is worse. I'm sorry. And that's before we get into the whole "Is Lamar Odom coming back?" and "Do you really want to commit to an aging Artest for FIVE years?" questions.
(...)
Here's a classic case of someone hoodwinking the American public with a 10-year pattern of bizarre behavior that eventually immunized them to all future crazy Ron Artest stories and anecdotes, such as the fact that he's wearing No. 37 to honor Michael Jackson because it's the same number of weeks that "Thriller" led the charts (um, what?), or his recent revelation that he had been pining to play for the Lakers for two solid years. Artest told reporters that he wandered into the Lakers' locker room to express that desire to a showering Kobe Bryant -- right after L.A.'s bitter Game 6 thrashing in Boston in the 2008 Finals, no less -- adding, "Yeah, I walked in the shower. I'm not a homosexual or nothing like that, but Kobe had no clothes on." These anecdotes just bounce off people now. Artest is a benevolent crazy. Or so we think. Being around this nuttiness every day is a little different from merely hearing about the nuttiness in secondhand anecdotes. I know for a fact he routinely broke plays on offense and is still a handful behind the scenes, and the Rockets buried every 2008-09 story that would have made this patently clear. For instance, Artest routinely walked around in his underwear in public places: the Rockets' team bus, hotels, you name it. People around the team barely flinched after a while. Before Game 7 of the Lakers series -- only the biggest game of the entire season -- they finally flinched. Here's what happened: Artest missed the first two team buses (the ones for players, coaches and team personnel) from Houston's hotel to the Staples Center and barely made the third and final bus, which was reserved for business staff, sponsors and friends of the team. These stunned people watched Artest sprint to the bus right before it left, jump on and take one of the remaining seats ... yes, wearing only his underwear. Owner Leslie Alexander happened to be sitting on the bus and witnessed the whole thing. And you wonder why the Houston Rockets didn't make any effort whatsoever to bring back Artest. (Note: If you want to make the "Kobe and Phil can keep him in check much like MJ and Phil kept Rodman in check" argument, just remember Rodman was still a world-class defender and rebounder when Chicago acquired him. Artest is neither. If anything, his athleticism is slipping and he can't defend quick small forwards anymore. So why even risk it? Wait, why am I complaining? Thank you for screwing up your title defense, Lakers!)
אחרי שנחשפת לסיפור התחתונים (במודגש), אתה עדיין חושב שארטסט מקצוען אמיתי שלא יפגע בקבוצה גם מחוץ למגרש? עכשיו כבר ברור לנו שהוא לא נרגע העונה, הרוקטס פשוט לא אפשרו לשטויות שלו לצוף בכלי התקשורת.
לאמאר על המהלך: "I always wanted to come back because we won the championship," Odom told ESPN.com. "I'm playing for the biggest brand in the world. And I'm playing with the most fluid, talented center in the world in Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum's coming back and of course Kobe Bryant. "But to now get an opportunity to play with Ron Artest, a guy I've known 16 years, it means a lot. I told Ron Ron a few weeks ago I couldn't walk away. I still had to fight. Everytime negotiations didn't go the way I thought, I just took a step back, like them pulling the offer off the table, I just knew I had to fight." סוף סוף העסק הזה נגמר. אני בימים האחרונים, כבר התייאשתי לגמרי ופרט לאתרים באמת אמינים- לא ניסיתי אפילו לעקוב. רק חיכיתי כבר לדיווח באמת אמיתי, והנה הוא מגיע. לאמאר לקח את ההחלטה הנכונה, ועכשיו אין לי ספק, אנחנו ניהיה חזק בעיניינים גם בשנה הבאה. GO LA!!! נ.ב http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfTg...243-t113597-4800.html&feature=player_embedded אפשר לישון בשקט וכמובן עסקה מצויינת מבחינתנו!