The Worm and World Peace
The artist formerly known as “Ron-Ron” has come quite a long way throughout his 13-year career. The former black eye of the NBA, now ironically named Metta World Peace, has somehow managed to elude his reputation over the past few seasons and is following in the footsteps of the original bad boy, Dennis Rodman.
Physically, the two players were always very similar. Undersized, yet ferocious, both forwards had a focus on defense and rebounding. Each played with a chip on their shoulder and had a knack for frustrating opponents. But one big difference between the two, was that in Artest’s 10 seasons prior to joining the Lakers, he averaged just under 20 points a game, where as Rodman only touched double-digits once in his career. However, since he began donning the yellow and purple, Artest has a three year average of just 8 points per contest. A slight dip in scoring was certainly to be expected, seeing as how he would suddenly be sharing the court with a perennial league leader, in Kobe Bryant. But lopping off 12 full points from his nightly average is pretty astounding, and if you watch him play, it is clear that this is not the same guy that he once was.
In my opinion, though, the more perplexing transformation is not in his skill set, as much as his reputation. A man who was universally perceived as a low-life thug for the better part of a decade, is now mysteriously accepted by the general public and all his past sins forgotten. Now, I am certainly all for second chances, but Artest is about 14 chances deep and just now finally making good. It’s hard to believe that the same man who once hurdled 12 rows of stadium seats in order to pummel a scrawny fan, would go on to win the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award just a few years later.
This is the same man who requested a few weeks off during the 2004/2005 season so that he could work on a Rap album. Needless to say, his request was denied. But in the end, Artest was granted the free time following a 73-game suspension handed down for his role in the “Malice at The Palace”. Coincidently, the fight came just a week after he had asked for the time off.
Right out of the gate, Artest’s career got off to an inauspicious start. As a rookie for the Bulls, the First Round draft pick walked into a Circuit City store and applied for a job with the intentions of garnering employee discounts on various electronics. If that idea, alone, isn’t ridiculous enough, Artest also opted to list, then Bulls General Manager, Jerry Krause as a reference on his application. Krause was naturally dumbfounded when he was contacted by the store in regards to Artest’s inquiry. Ron-Ron’s stint with Chicago would last just three seasons, but years later the forward would reveal that during that time, he was regularly stashing liquor bottles in his locker and taking pulls during halftime.
Yet, for all his indiscretions both on and off the court, Artest is now fondly championed by the fans. Similar to the way that Rodman had been a crowd pleaser, for both his hustle and his antics, so too is Artest appreciated. During a recent blowout victory over the Trailblazers, Artest re-entered the game with just minutes left and the reaction to his presence was a passionate one. Fouled late in the contest, Artest stood at the free throw line with the ball in his hands and 19,000 fans began a unified chant of “World Peace”. This overwhelming show of support was pretty remarkable and it proved that it’s never too late to turn your life around.
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