He's a foul machine partly because he's often out of position defensively. Theus talks about him needing to improve on that end of the floor quite a bit. Coach is right.

Sactown Royalty: Where fear and loathing of Geoff Petrie happens.

(Here's what I read: "If an apples taste better than oranges, oranges cure cancer." In actuality, Artest is far better at drawing the foul. Further, Salmons doesn't have the abilty to GET to the post or draw the defense that Artest does.)

"If Artest is more valuable than Salmons defensively why doesn't the teams defense pick up with Artest on the floor the way it did when
Ron was first acquired?"

(Different personnel. Remember Bonzi Wells?))

"If Artest is such a brilliant consistent player with fire and passion how does he shut down Jason Richardson and let Jared Dudley have a career game?"

(Sometimes that's part of the game. If Dudley has a career game, Let 'im have it because he's not going to have many. I'll take Dudley's 'tell the grandkids' loss over Wallace and Okafor's "I was mediocre" win.)

"If Artest is such a talented versatile player why doesn't he prove to be more of an asset in the open court. Last I checked the team still played fairly well in the open court with Udrih, Salmons and Garcia because all 3 can handle and pass in the open court effectively. Ron does neither."

(Has it occurred to you that alot of open-court opportunities are brought on through Artest's defense?)

"If Artest, outside of controlling wild shot attempts, is such a good leader/team player why wouldn't he do little things like set picks to try to get Kevin Martin involved in the game?"

(Don't blame Ron for Moore and Miller slacking. If you play C or PF you're SUPPOSED to set the pick. How many SFs in this league set picks on a regular basis? An occasional pick is fine, and occasionally Ron does. Ron's at his best in the low post though, so why in HELL would he stay at the top of the key when that's Miller/Moore's job?)

...In conclusion Pook, you're a hater. Artest is the best all-around player we've seen in a Kings uni this decade. Webber had his weaknesses like getting baked before games, catastrophically hurting himself, and Buffalo Bills impersonations.
Stojakovic was never physical and invisible w/o screens. He was also deaf to the word "defense". He could be intimidated and taken out of a game.
I LOVE that guy, but he is who he is.

Right now, Artest is the most physically dominant player in the league. Those who could be are too old, fragile, or don't have the mentality for it.
His defense is A+. His inside game B+, his outside a B. He isn't injured much, doesn't cry much, and has a Bird/Jordan like resolve even if he doesn't have their teams or skill set.

Artest, another HIGH-quality player(or an emerging Udrih) plus another year of Kevin Martin will be like chicken n' waffles: you just can't fuck with it.

The one point I totally disagree upon is Ron's handles: He handles the ball very well with both hands.  I do, however, agree that he is not a great passer.

And, of course, Ron is a better man defender than anybody on this team. (It's not even close; the only person in the same vicinity is Cisco.) We just watched Ron shut down excellent players in the past several days. That is not to say he can't have an off night here or there.  Of course, he will.

Anyway, there are certainly negatives to Ron Ron, and you done a good job pointing them out lately and keeping the rest of grounded when it comes to his game.

>>If Artest is better than Salmons at scoring, Salmons is far better at finishing around the rim.<<

Salmons is not far better at anything lately, averaging 1.4 points a game in the past five games. That's hard to do in 19 minutes a game. Maybe you can work that out for me on a per 48?

>>If Artest is such a brilliant consistent player with fire and passion how does he shut down Jason Richardson and let Jared Dudley have a career game?<<

Jared Dudley scored six points last night.

When it was winning time, JRich could not even get his hands on the ball. Recently Ron has shut down McGrady and Brandon Roy, to name a couple more.

There's no doubt that Ron had an off night last night. He had trouble finishing inside in the first half and seemed a step slow.

Still, he fought through it and came through when it counted and helped the team get an ugly W. He made what turned out to be the winning shot on a shot most people around here doesn't think he should shoot. He may have made the winning shot to avoid overtime if Reggie had not called timeout to set up a play.

He played 47 minutes. He went 7 for 12 after halftime after going 1 for 10 in the first half. Nine rebounds, five offensive. Four steals, four assists, four blocks, 20 points. That's a career night for some players, but an off night for a guy who's fifth in the NBA in scoring in February.

It was good enough to win, though. Just like Artest.

Salmons? Please wait until he can score more than three points in a game before bringing up his name again unless you are trying to figure out who we can move him to.

Give it a rest, Pookey, or they may run out of dead horse cartoons.

Finally a concession that he's adequate.  Well, that's fair enough I guess.

Remember, he's a 3rd year player, and I've always pegged his development at about half a year behind KMart's, so since Martin broke out at the beginning of his third season, Garcia's right on track. And he's a better defender.

As for Miller, I still think you're missing the big picture. He doesn't get a technical foul every game. And every player out there gets forced into blown assignments. So what's your real gripe here? Because I'm seeing a physically tough defender who's also an asset on offense. He's not Dwight Howard, but he's pretty good.

You don't think that T might come from... someone else? Small Forward? Big guy, little crazy? (I said a little ron, it's progress, I don't hate you, just fear. Fear akin to respect, right?) And for the record, If you scroll to the bottom of this page, ( http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/stats?playerId=25 )you'll see Ron has 7 techs this season. Skip over to miller and it's six. That's only -1 more than Ron, right? :)

Although I agree that Ron looked like he had an opening against the defense on that play that was short-circuited when Reggie called the timeout, I don't fault Reggie for calling the timeout. This is an area where the team needs to improve, and where Kevin Martin in particular is going to earn his pay starting next year.

I don't fault Kmart for missing that shot. You got to take 'em to make 'em, and experience is going to help him get over that hump.

It may help to get the ball to Udrih initially in those plays. He can drive and shoot or kick out to open shooters like Francisco and Kevin. Or pick and roll with Brad. Or get the ball to Ron in the low block.