Artest Question

[tisbee]

Artest has not lost a step,he's lost 2 or 3. Quick players can blow past him-if they can get away from Ron's hands. He has incredibly strong hands and if he can get in close initially and latch on,the offensive player can't move. If the offensive player creates space first,then Ron is pretty helpless.
Players like Carmelo and LeBron who are strong 1 on 1 players are ideal for Ron,esp in a Series where he can wear them down physically.
Quick players in motion style offenses who use numerous screens will kill Ron,he doesn't have the quickness to fight thru a screen and catch-up.
He has very quick hands and will strip the ball frequently and get many deflections. If he gets his hands on a loose ball nobody can rip it out.

He blocks out more than he rebounds and he has little verticle as noted. Definite downgrade from Ariza.

What can you say about Ron on offense other than he is extremely frustrating. Something you can only understand by experiencing it. He misses shots he should easily make,hits others that he has no business making and does so completely randomly. His three best shots are a wide-open stand-still 3,a one dribble to his left and then shoot and a little step-back shot in the lane. On the perimeter the more dribbling he does the less effective he is.(If I was Phil I'd fine him for each dribble over one.)
His drives into the lane are not what anyone else would consider a drive into the lane. He simply lowers his shoulder and bull-rushes his way to basket ignoring everthing else on the court,open teammates,defenders lying in wait,referees,whatever. Because he is so out of control,smart defenders can get excellent position to draw charges and athletic ones can pad their block totals. He rarely makes a shot on his bull-rush,but is bailed out by the refs enough to encourage him to try again.
He has poor court vision often missing teammates open near basket and doesn't seem able to anticipate when a cutting teammate will be open.. He can make the obvious pass,but that's about it.

[jove9]

Tisbee,
Hearing you talk about Artest's "bull-rush" reminded me of Mike Tyson's Punch Out for some reason.

You're right, though. That totally IS Artest's move.

Artest : Bull Rush :: Dream : Dream Shake

[moofs]

tisbee's got it so spot on that it hurts. Like the fine idea, too.

BULL RUSH FTW

[Dexmor]

Would you guys consider Artest a slow sf average speed or kind of fast just not as fast as he was?

[Guy986]

I would say that among SFs, Artest probably has below average speed in this stage of his career. He's 6'7 260 pounds for christ sake. He's just too bulky sometimes. It'll do him good to shed a few.

[tisbee]

Dexmor,
Artest is definitely slow for a SF.
However,he is so strong that he can force his way past defenders where other players use quickness. On defense he can't hope to keep up w/vast majority of players,but what he does instead is use positioning,his body and esp his strong hands to keep offensive players under control.
It was quite routine for Ron to strip the ball from a player on the perimeter,gather it in and head downcourt w/a substantial lead yet have the defender catch up to him and cause Ron to shoot a contested lay-up.

To be honest,Ron has fairly long legs and in a straight race would prob be faster than anyone thinks. But he just doesn't have that quickness/explosiveness that we mean when we talk about NBA quick.