Is Ron Artest one of the Association’s great all-around talents/personalities, or is he a ticking time-bomb, about to wear out a welcome with his 5th franchise (and counting)? Or is he a little bit of both? The Second Coming’s Kyle Slavin took an impassioned approach to Artest becoming part of the defending World Champion Lakers, warning, “you absolutely cannot mess this season up. You fail here, and you will never redeem your career again.”
Given an opportunity to reply to Slavin’s editorial, Artest reportedly fired back the following e-mail ;
No law when it comes to me.
I let you type critics write and I just keep it hood.
That will never change.
I am not kissing no ones ass because I’m in LA. Suck a cock.
Understandably taken aback by Artest’s invitation, Slavin responded thusly;
WTF, don’t tell me to suck a cock! I wanna ROOT FOR YOU. I want you to SUCCEED, and I want you to WIN US A CHAMPIONSHIP! All these things are good for you! I don’t want you to kiss anyone’s ass! You’re a LAKER now. Act like one!
Is the Tru Warier out of line telling a blogger to monger on his baloney pony? Well, yeah. But in Artest’s defense, the whole “don’t you dare tarnish the Laker legacy” spiel is a bit much. What does “act like a Laker” really mean?