The Indianapolis Star’s Mike Wells quotes Pacers GM Donnie Walsh as saying if he’s unable to find the right deal for Ron Artest, he’s prepared to keep the flaky forward on the inactive list for the entire season. That should really scare the heck out of the Pistons.
In the same piece, Jermaine O’Neal said of Artest,
“The most disappointing part is he hasn’t called anybody; no players or anything,” O’Neal said.
“Players don’t forget stuff like that. We’ve been very forgiving to him.
“I will never play with him again. We can’t ever play together.”
Interesting that Artest was fined $10,000.00 for making a public trade demand, yet O’Neal is free to impact his club’s leverage in trading the former by saying he’ll never play with him again.
In his last outing, the 44-year old played 26 minutes and logged two points, nine rebounds and three Rodmanisms — you know, those wacky things that only he does. He took off his sneakers and walked around in his socks whenever he wasn™t playing. He got whistled for a technical foul for throwing the ball into the stands, and his presence even attracted the attention of Mexican police officers.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, while the game was being played, Rodman unexpectedly stood up from the bench and walked out the front door of the stadium. Someone had smashed the rear window of his black Cadillac Escalade, which was parked amid other players™ cars in front of the stadium.
Rodman declined the team™s offers for a chauffeur and company car for future games. Instead, he said he would œtake extra measures, said Josefina Madrid, the Dragon’s vice president.
Maybe that means he™ll bulk up on Plexiglas or security. Last year, when Rodman and the Orange County Buzz traveled to Tijuana for a game against the Dragons, he hired off-duty Mexican police officers to shadow him.
As far as his basketball skills go, the Worm looked sluggish. He was often the last person to get downcourt, he struggled to hold onto passes, and he missed a couple of layups. It™s obvious he has hardly practiced with the team — or should I say, the bunch of individuals.