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Lakers' Ron Artest says it's not about him, it's about the team
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By Mike Bresnahan
December 7, 2010
Los Angeles, CA — Ron Artest didn't like being asked about it, repeating his mantra about his reduced role in the Lakers' offense this season.
"We've just got to win games," he said Monday, over and over in front of a semicircle of reporters, with the star of the Lakers' Game 7 victory over Boston last June unwilling to discuss why his scoring, shooting accuracy and playing time are down significantly this season. His latest efforts include a two-point game against Sacramento on Friday and a four-point night against Houston.
Only when the media crowd thinned out did Artest open up. What he said fell somewhere between entertaining and enlightening, as usual.
"Guys got better," he said. " Shannon [Brown] got much better. It's his time to shine. Steve [Blake] is averaging more than Jordan [Farmar] last year and then Matt Barnes is probably averaging more than Luke [Walton]. So if you take all those points, those are points I probably could have had. But those are team points.
"When people start talking about numbers, I think realistically they're trying to sabotage the team and they're trying to get negative feedback from a player to be against his team. If somebody says, 'Ron Artest is not playing as well,' they're trying to take away from the team. That's how I take those questions. People are trying to cause friction."
Artest is averaging 8.2 points a game this season, easily a career low if it continues, and shooting only 39.5% in 27.1 minutes a game. His numbers last season: 11 points and 33.8 minutes a game, 41.4% shooting.
He has played 120 games with the Lakers, so the triangle offense is no longer a new concept to him. But Artest often gets stuck lingering at the three-point line, reduced to a spot-up three-point shooter, especially in games when Kobe Bryant takes a larger-than-expected share of the shots.
Artest shrugs it off, saying his offense will have to happen "naturally."
"The sun comes out when it's going to come out. You can't just force it," he said. "I could go maybe eight for 15 every game or something like that, and take away shots from other guys. I'd rather have two points and everybody else score. I'd rather win.
"That [championship] ring did so much more individually for me. How much more individually do I want? Ten points? What am I going to do with 10 points? Be a Hall of Fame legend? What am I going to do with 15 points? I'm going to be MVP of the NBA?
"Sometimes I don't even want to go for a rebound. If I can get one more rebound and somebody else can get it, let them have it. What am I going to get, five rebounds? I'm still not going to be president with five rebounds."
Lakers coach Phil Jackson jokingly begged a reporter not to write about Artest.
"He's fine. Just leave him alone," Jackson said.
"He plays well at practice. He'll find his stroke here and he'll be good. He's just too good a ballplayer not to get out there and get some things going for himself."
Jackson also said he liked Artest's defense, including a game in Denver against Carmelo Anthony last month.
Artest has been continually engaging off the court, keeping reporters and fans amused with decrees that he wants to play in the NFL or become a pro boxer after his NBA career. Last week, he pretended to be Houston forward Luis Scola after a Houston-area radio show somehow mistook him for Scola in a phone interview.
Then there's the serious side of Artest, the one that has raised about $500,000 for an upcoming charity raffle of his championship ring. On Monday, he also questioned whether he would go with the Lakers next week to visit President Obama to honor last season's championship run.
"I really don't want to go," Artest said. "I want to give myself some more hunger. I'd rather not go and just wait until next year. But I'm going to go."
By then, maybe his stats will be on the uptick, but in Artest's world, predicting anything is next to impossible.
• NBA News Archive Index:
2010, 2009
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