Who's the bigger distraction?

[Valuist]

Or maybe I should say the bigger cancer?

Terrell Owens or Ron Artest?

[GaryG]

There has never been a screwball like T.O. I'll bet a lot of shrinks would like to get him on their couch. This guy is so insecure he will never be a team player. There will, however, be another team that thinks they can keep him under control. The act just moves to another city. I don't care anything about basketball so I have no opinion on Artest.

[Valuist]

But lets look at Artest. A week or two before the fight in Detroit last year, the Pacers suspended him because he claimed "he was tired from working on his rap CD". I'm not making that up. Here he is, making $10M a year and he can't find energy to play basketball because he has to showcase his rap talents to the world. Then he goes into the stands and totally loses it; 2 teammates come to his defense and they also get lengthy suspensions. The Pacers, a contender going into that season, see their season destroyed. This year, a month into the season, he claims he's not happy and needs to start elsewhere. Once again, he has destroyed their season. Now, they finally get a chance to unload him, and he kills it because he's not a "Sac-town" kind of guy. The guy is OCD; I can't imagine too many teams would take him.

[GaryG]

Sounds like his main priority is maintaining his street image of a thug. These guys don't realize without basketball they would either be flipping burgers or robbing convenience stores. Come to think of that's why I don't like basketball. Counting the days until baseball season starts!:jump:

[kenwoodallpromos]

They are both divas whose immaturity get in the way of their play.

[toetoe]

In the old days, young men were content to live their normal lives, maybe raise a family, be average, if sometimes wayward, citizens. Now, any sh@thook that hooks up with a geek with a mixer, or with a zealot with some weaponry, can be front-page "news." That's just sad, because everything is "newsworthy" now. RA is right to think that he'll be idolized, for whatever that is worth, to a far greater extent, as a "vocalist," :lol: than as a gladiator. And, if he can garner the moral capital :lol: of a famous person of the right color, a la Barkley, Owens, BelaFlogMe, Mayor Negin, or Kanye West, he'll be able to graduate from paid mugger to moral arbiter and general know-it-all. The two-headed monster is invincible --- black and therefore incapable of racism; famous and therefore omniscient. Hey, maybe Artest can be an NFL head coach. :jump: We need them desperately, from what I hear; and we all want to see them, as well as black QB's, succeed. Don't we?

[ceejay]

To answer Valuists original question, I would say that TO is the bigger cancer on his team. Here's why: Basketball is an individual sport played on teams (which is why I think it bores me). Football is a team sport played by individuals.

[Valuist]

In the NBA, I think you are correct. In college bball, I would say its a team game.

[Bubbles]

It's TO, and here's why. He's got the talent to be a Hall of Famer, but he's chosen to waste it with his diva-like behavior. Artest never impressed me. My reactions to both have been different.

TO: "Why on Earth would you do this?"

RA: (shakes head and moves on)

I think the Pacers made out like bandits in the Kings deal. They got a great shooter in Peja, and got rid of a do-nothing forward. With TO, the Eagles couldn't do anything.

In terms of cancers, Artest is curable, TO is terminal.

[Valuist]

I think you're wrong on Artest. In terms of all-around game, he's probably one of the top 10 players in the league. If he's not the top defensive player, he's probably top 3.

[Bubbles]

You're right on the defensive end, I'll give you that. He's won at least one of those awards, I think.

However, I'm taking a look at his stats right now. Looks like a straight shooter, pretty much. Not counting this season, he's had only one very good year (03-04, averaged just over 18 points and 5 boards a game). He started out last year strong, but the brawl set him back. This year, while he is averaging 19.4 a game, his top stat after rebounds (just under 5) is turnovers (2.7). Not a lot of dimensions to him. He can score and rebound a little bit. I won't say he's in the top 10 in the league. Until he shows he can do as much on the offensive end of the COURT as he can with the offensive aspect of his MOUTH, I'll say he's mildly overrated.

[Wiley]

I got to go with Artest. I think he probably has serious mental problems as I can think of no other reason to explain his cluelessness, though he is smart enough to continue to get paid by the Pacers at least this year not last year during his fighting suspension whereas what I think TO was not by the Eagles.

I agree with Valuist, when right Artest is a defensive force, his offensive game is suspect though, but the hope that he will be right and remain right are not worth the energy or effort, the Kings are desperate to take him. I think his first year in the league while with the Bulls he made some comment about how he was better than Jordan and I knew this guy was off his rocker.

In basketball, a starter is one of five and can play for the majority of the game, in football a starter is one of 22 and can at most play half the game, the general impact is more significant on a basketball team over the football team, though I know the argument is 'skill' position means more etc. but I don't think to the degree of a basketball players impact. I am not saying TO is not whacked out because on the nut job meter he is a 94 and I put Artest at 99 out of 100.

[Valuist]

When he came out of St Johns, he was very unpolished offensively. He definitely has gotten better. Bubbles' cites the 03-04 numbers. That realistically is his last full season. Since then he hasn't played much but is around 20 PPG. 2nd in steals/game in 03-04 but stats don't tell the whole story. I heard one player say several players in the league are afraid of him; not just because he's nuts but because he's such a fierce defender. Maybe not top 10 all around but definitely top 20. Not too many of the guys who score 20 a game stick around to try hard on the other end.