There have been quite a few trade rumors surrounding Ron Artest lately, and although Ron has made it clear that he does not want to leave LA (and really who could blame him) there are still some other options out there.
Firstly I want to make it clear that I have not heard of any rumors about Ron Artest coming to Toronto, and honestly, I’d say there’s about a two percent chance of him ending up with the Raptors. Nonetheless, I thought since Toronto’s most glaring weakness is at the SF position, it might be interesting to discuss the reasons why I do and do not think Ron Artest would be a good fit for the Raptors. In addition, this allows us to obtain a better idea of what qualities we do need and would like to have in our “Small Forward of the Future”.
Offense:
Ron Artest has been around the league for some time, as a matter of fact, he is now in his eleventh season. That being said, we can come to the reasonable conclusion that he knows what he’s doing and could certainly be a good veteran presence and possible leader for this young Toronto team. I think he was a great leader when he played for the Rockets, (once Tracy McGrady went down due to injury) especially in the playoffs.
For example, take a look at their series against the Lakers; he wasn’t amazing statistically and even though he did let his emotions get the best of him on a couple of occasions, I could really see the fire in his eyes as he went head to head with Kobe Bryant. Apparently Kobe and Phil Jackson saw this fire as well, and as a result Ron Artest was in Lakers uniform the following season.
Since joining the Lakers, Artest has begun his slow digression as the result of not only age but also the fact that he had a smaller role on the team which I think has caused a bit of rust. The Lakers acquired Artest primarily for his defence and on offense he was the third or fourth option behind Kobe, Pau, and Bynum/Odom (depending on the night) as he struggled to comprehend the concept that is Phil Jackson’s triangle offense.
In the 2009/2010 season Artest only attempted 740 Field Goal, compared to his 1,037 attempts the year before with the Rockets. However, playing with the Raptors he would generally be our second or third option on offense behind Bargnani and DeRozan. He would certainly play a much more central role with the Raptors on offense and as a result, I think he would be able to regain some of his youth and play more like he did with the Rockets for a good two to three seasons.
Defence:
Now that we are finished with offense, I would like to turn your attention to the other side of the ball, defence. Defence has certainly been the Achilles heel of the Raptors for a very long time. However, Artest would be able to step in and immediately solve that problem for us. When he is motivated, Artest is still one of the best defenders in the league today, furthermore, he fills our void at the SF position and would be able to shut down star small forwards and some of the less speedy shooting guards in the Eastern conference and prevent them from torching us on offense.
At first glance, what you see when you look at Ron Artest is;
A. A savvy veteran who has overall experience as well as playoff experience,
B. A top notch defender who is able to shut down star SF’s in the east such as Paul Pierce and LeBron James and
C. An adequate scorer who could step up any night when Bargnani and DeRozan are struggling and lead the offensive charge.
So that’s good right? He offers three things that would go a long way in improving this Raptors team, let’s make a trade right now… Not so fast!
Yes Artest is a smart veteran who offers a lot to this young Toronto team, however, he is not always the best role model for younger players. Yes I know the brawl at the palace is something that will always taint the way we look at Ron Artest but that was more than half a decade ago; can’t we just move on already? I guess not, because this comes up just about every single time there is a discussion about a Ron Artest trade.
That being said, the question now becomes how would his personality most likely influence the chemistry and attitude of this Toronto team? The Raptors already have great chemistry and I would hate to see Artest come in and ruin that, but then there is also the possibility that he could bring some big energy to this team on defence. Essentially, I am torn in this regard as would be any team considering acquiring Artest, so what about the other qualities I mentioned earlier?
How would Artest be able to contribute to the Toronto offense?
Well he is a bit limited by his age which could impact our ability to play up tempo basketball and capitalize on fast breaks. This has become a specialty for this team due to our many athletic players who can get up the court in no time at all. In this regard, Ron Artest could hurt the team a bit and may also result in him having to sit out a couple extra minutes here and there in exchange for a younger quicker player who can get up and down the court faster, however I don’t think this would really be too much of a problem.
Furthermore, I think Artest would be able to make up for his lack of speed with his three-point shooting. Having him on this team would help spread out the defence, which in turn would open up more scoring lanes that allow guys like DeRozan, Bayless and Barbosa more opportunities to drive to the basket.
In addition, Artest was also pretty clutch on offense in the playoffs last year. This would help us late in the fourth quarter, which is a big need for us considering how Toronto has notoriously had problems scoring in the fourth quarter.
Wrap it up:
The bottom line is having Ron Artest on this Raptors teams would be a good thing in the short term especially if we ready to win now, however this is not the case. Artest only has about two or three more quality years left in him, which means right around the time when Toronto should begin reaping the benefits of our current “Re-tooling” process he will no longer be around. This is a big problem because first of all the extra playing time we give him would take away from the opportunities for our younger guys to play and gain valuable experience and on top of that, unless we acquire another young SF that will follow in his footsteps for the next couple seasons there will be no one to take over for him once he is gone and then we will essentially be back at square one.
Therefore, I conclude that Ron Artest is a great fit for a team that is ready to contend now, and only needs a SF to really be a top team, such as the Orlando Magic, however for a team like the Raptors who are looking to build a core of young talented players he is not the best choice, however a younger version of Ron Artest may be exactly what we need!
If we could get our hands on a younger version of Ron Artest with….
1. His grit and defensive prowess, which would greatly improve our defence at the three sport as well as overall team defence.
2. His adequate offensive game, which gives us someone who could step up on days when our better players are struggling and carry some of the offensive load.
3. His three-point shooting ability, which would help spread the floor and result in more open lanes for guys like DeRozan, Bargnani, Bayless, Barbosa, etc… who are at their best when they are driving to the basket and drawing fouls.
We would certainly be in good hands!
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to comment!
No comments:
Post a Comment