Ron Artest: Straight Outta Queensbridge, Straight Outta the Starting Line-Up (Hopefully)
We all know where Los Angeles guard Ron Artest hails from; now, this Laker fan wishes he could control where the Hennessy connoisseur is headed.
Namely, right beside coach Phil Jackson’s space-age captain’s chair, that homeless guy with the mustache, and whichever L.A. skank sits courtside for Game 6:
Smack-dab on the Purple-and-Gold bench.
With a season in hindsight, the Artest-Trevor Ariza swap at small forward smells like a well-intentioned failure. What youth and athleticism that Ariza possesses was replaced by the Tru Warier’s (yup, that’s the “correct” spelling) mystifying shot selection and general lack of sanity.
Nominally, Artest is out there to defend the opposition’s best weapon. However, Boston guard Paul Pierce — a perimeter player whose size and quickness ought to agree with Artest’s physique and skill-set — has been anything been shut down. Pierce paced Boston in scoring in both Games 4 & 5 — not coincidentally, both losses for the Lakers. In Game 5, Pierce shot 12-21 from the floor en route to 27 points with zero turnovers; in Game 4, he went 7-12 and attempted seven free throws for 19 points.
Yet Artest’s offense has been even more offensive (zing!). For the series, he is shooting a paltry 30% from the field and 47% from the charity stripe, averaging a shade under eight points per his 35 minutes of play. Damn, when did L.A. sign Ice Cube?
My solution? Insert Sasha Vujacic into the starting line-up. Nope, I’m not crazy; yep, I am as shocked that I typed this. But Sasha may be the key for Game 6:
- The Slovenian heartthrob can space the floor with his 3-point shooting, thus making everyone else’s job easier. Forward Pau Gasol and center Andrew Bynum will have more room to operate against the smothering Celtics defense, and Kobe Bryant will have a (more) reliable passing option when the inevitable Boston triple-team arrives.
- The Slovenian Bulldog can play irritating defense on either Pierce or fellow Boston guard Ray Allen. His 6-7 frame makes the latter match-up logica conceivable; his willingness to fight through screens seems like a match made for heave doable for the latter. Anyway, Vujacic can’t do much worse than Artest, right?
- NBA Finals virgin Artest may actually relax if he comes off the bench. He always seem to play better alongside fellow Queensian (or is it Queenese or Queensite?) Lamar Odom, and the shift in minutes would feature Artest more frequently beside the Lakers sixth-man.
Sorry, Ron, it’s nothing personal. And at least you have Nas pulling for you.
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I was thinking the same thing last night as far as spacing the floor goes. I think Sasha’s a huge downgrade from Artest on defense regardless of how well Pierce did yesterday, though. However, LA’s problem was with offense and not defense. Losing the ability to get many quality minutes from Bynum really limits their chances. Walton would probably be better than Artest on offense and isn’t much of a drop on defense. He moves the ball instead of dribbling it aimlessly, which Artest insisted on doing several times last night… after being ridiculed for it a couple games earlier. And, despite his insistence that he’s still a confident shooter, he passed up several open, in rhythm threes yesterday opting instead for passes that more often than not led to shot clock issues or turnovers.
I’d probably start Artest and quickly sub in Sasha whenever Rondo goes out. Rotate Walton in as well and tell them all to play extremely aggressively.
Good call on Walton, Zach. I also was thinking about placing Luke in the starting line-up, but I prefer his steady hand with the second unit. Plus, Sasha’s more reliable jump shot, and subsequent floor spacing, will (more) likely open up the key to tonight’s game — the painted area. If Gasol and Bynum get going early, I expect L.A. to win relatively convincingly, a la Game 1; if not, expect a lot of empty seats in Staples Center with two minutes remaining.
You can’t go wrong with Walton or Vujacic, however. As Ron keeps passing up open looks (as you pointed out), he’s only hurting himself and the team.
Though Zach, I’d be sure to not speak about this to Ron’s brother: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/chris_mannix/06/15/artest.lakers/index.html?eref=sihp
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