Artested Development

As every news source on the planet is now reporting, Ron Artest has been indefinitely removed from the Kings roster, locker room and consciousness. People seem to be roundly applauding the Maloofs for their handling of the situation. I'm not that impressed. They were in a sticky situation, but the fact that it's Artest made the decision considerably easier; they know he's guilty. If this was Lamar Odom, for instance (I use Odom because he's a player of similar caliber with a blemish-free off-the-court persona), they would have been really screwed. What if they reacted the same way and he turned out to be innocent? Not so much of a quandary with Rappin' Ronnie. When you read a report that Mrs. Artest chased his Hummer down the driveway smashing the windshield with a frying pan, and that he then followed her back in the house minutes before the coppers showed up, that's like reading in the paper that Bush said something dumb. There's a small possibility Bush didn't say something dumb, but who's gonna believe that? BallHog has been saying for the last year, "it's only a matter of time..." about Artest, and he's right. Ron is one of those tragically gifted athletes, like Mike Tyson or Wild Thing Ricky Vaughn: his talent will never exceed his dysfunction.


Thanks to BasketBawful for the kick ass mug shot.