ron could be traded tomorrow for all any of us know....my mind (not my heart or my gut) tells me he will not be....and i fully understand with bird and walsh the unexpected should be expected....however i will outline for u why i think they wont trade him....i feel it really comes down to two key issues....the business side and the intangible side....i will cover both but will focus on the intangible side....
first...from the business side...ive talked about this before as have others....ron makes 6 million/yr...he was 3rd team all-nba and DPOY...hes 25 years old....he simply is the best value in the nba(i will give u, if he plays-6mill is a bit spendy for a practice player)....only a couple of players, most noteably lebron and wade, could be argued, and those players will soon be given longterm max contracts.....artest is locked in for 3 more years at a relative bargain basement rate...
ron is arguably a top 5 all around talent....if u compare his salary to any of the other top 15 in the league that arent on their rookie contract there really isnt much comparison....most players similar to ron make 2 and in many cases 3 times what ron makes....hell....many players not nearly as good as ron make at least twice what he makes(knicks roster)....what he really enables u to do is have a max player thats not nearly making the max....and as we eliminate albatross contracts thru trade or them expiring, the addition of substantial talent is not out of the question....
believe it or not, and something that doesnt get discussed is another business element....putting people in the stands....reggie is gone now....its very easy to see where there would be considerable concern given to attendance next year....the team has always had a bit of a problem drawing crowds....not nearly the sellouts that one might expect from having such a competitive team every year...there are those of us that remember going to games at MSA where the partition curtains were up and 7-8000 fans was the norm-and the pacers were anything but competitive-heaven forbid what would happen if that ever became the case again....
ron artest will put people in the stands next year....for many different reasons...i will grant u some will come for the circus effect....but many fans love ron....the fact that he was overpenalized by the league made it that much more easy to like him for many....he has become a martyr of sorts...but beyond this....fans just relate to him more than most nba players....they see him as being real, having many of the same problems that many in the world face...most fans look at the players as objects....ron is the exception to this....admittedly, for some good reasons as well as some bad ones...but nevertheless the results are the same....people will be watching next year....more fans will come to games....more pacer games will be broadcast on a national level....bottom line is ron is controversial...and controversial gets attention in this day and age......expect the pacers to be a nat'l tv stalwart next year...
these reasons, however, wouldnt override a business/team from getting rid of someone if they really wanted to....if they felt compelled strongly enuff, they would get rid of a player that they felt like compromised their chances to win a title....and i dont have any doubt that for any number of reasons that artest has been the subject of trade discussions in the past, especially last offseason, but a trade was not consummated because of some of the above mentioned reasons, most noteably, not being able to get fair value in return...however, i propose there is a reason now where those possibilities are all but gone....that any trade of ron, at any time this season, is next to impossible and it has nothing to do with the above mentioned reasons....im a firm believer if they wanted to bad enuff they could get rid of him....and what they got in return wouldnt matter much....
and heres the real reason i think they wont get rid of him now....
second, the brawl...more to the point, the fallout from the brawl....the organization has, on numerous occasions, made their feeling very well know regarding the severity of the penalties that ensued....that not only do they think theyve been overly penalized but that their franchise was made to be the scapegoat and was cast into a shadow that couldve been avoided.....they have openly said that they felt there were other factors that were involved that seemingly went unpunished, and the full responsibility seemed to fall squarely in the laps of the indiana pacers...
all this from a supposed personal friend...
i would propose that from that moment on, it became personal....if the punishements wouldve been less severe and a bit more evenly distributed among the two teams, such as a half season or so for artest, then i wouldnt have been surprised one bit if the pacers then got rid of artest either last season or this offseason.....so in some ways u might have david stern to thank for rons assured continued presence on this team....i would even go so far as to say that i wouldve been totally surprised that ron wouldve been on the team come this training camp if he wouldve received a suspension of around 40 or even 50 games...i personally think they wouldve even tried to release ron and fight his contract based on personal conduct issues....
but because of the severity of the suspensions...because the pacers took such a huge hit, i think its reasonable to see where the simons, because they basically felt betrayed by their 'good' friend, basically laid down the law....its personal....they along with donnie, larry, and the rest of the organization took it upon themselves to make sure that this travesty was shown up.....to prove that the nba and their 'good' friend was not only wrong in the way they damaged and penalized their franchise, but wrong in their reasons for doing so-not the least of which was the way ron was portrayed as well as the pacers for 'putting up and allowing' ron to continue on while not getting him help...
to get rid of ron says the nba was right in what they did and how they penalized the franchise...it says that the nba did what the pacers shouldve done a long time ago....and i dont think the simons or their management appreciate that much, especially coming from a 'good' friend....so i think they have taken it upon themselves and the rest of the organization to make sure they do everything humanly possible to make sure that not only is the nba proven to be wrong in the way they handled it, but more importantly to use this as an opportunity to regain their status as one of the very best franchises in the league...and what better way to do that than to 'rehab' ron and for ron and this franchise to have a banner year next year....and while im sure the commissioner will only say that this will validate his decision....those within our organization will definitely feel differently and will get a great deal of satisfaction from this....
are they taking a chance? of course they are....but u dont get to where the simons are today without taking chances....hell...they bought the pacers franchise way back when....that was taking a HUGE chance....but they also are very smart.....and know how to tilt the balance to their favor....and if u believe for one moment that they are spending time trying to get rid of artest....instead of expending every possible effort and asset trying to ensure that this season is not only a team success but an artest success, well i would respectfully disagree....and i think thats the message larry bird gave jermaine oneal as well....
last year it was business...this year its personal.....
first...from the business side...ive talked about this before as have others....ron makes 6 million/yr...he was 3rd team all-nba and DPOY...hes 25 years old....he simply is the best value in the nba(i will give u, if he plays-6mill is a bit spendy for a practice player)....only a couple of players, most noteably lebron and wade, could be argued, and those players will soon be given longterm max contracts.....artest is locked in for 3 more years at a relative bargain basement rate...
ron is arguably a top 5 all around talent....if u compare his salary to any of the other top 15 in the league that arent on their rookie contract there really isnt much comparison....most players similar to ron make 2 and in many cases 3 times what ron makes....hell....many players not nearly as good as ron make at least twice what he makes(knicks roster)....what he really enables u to do is have a max player thats not nearly making the max....and as we eliminate albatross contracts thru trade or them expiring, the addition of substantial talent is not out of the question....
believe it or not, and something that doesnt get discussed is another business element....putting people in the stands....reggie is gone now....its very easy to see where there would be considerable concern given to attendance next year....the team has always had a bit of a problem drawing crowds....not nearly the sellouts that one might expect from having such a competitive team every year...there are those of us that remember going to games at MSA where the partition curtains were up and 7-8000 fans was the norm-and the pacers were anything but competitive-heaven forbid what would happen if that ever became the case again....
ron artest will put people in the stands next year....for many different reasons...i will grant u some will come for the circus effect....but many fans love ron....the fact that he was overpenalized by the league made it that much more easy to like him for many....he has become a martyr of sorts...but beyond this....fans just relate to him more than most nba players....they see him as being real, having many of the same problems that many in the world face...most fans look at the players as objects....ron is the exception to this....admittedly, for some good reasons as well as some bad ones...but nevertheless the results are the same....people will be watching next year....more fans will come to games....more pacer games will be broadcast on a national level....bottom line is ron is controversial...and controversial gets attention in this day and age......expect the pacers to be a nat'l tv stalwart next year...
these reasons, however, wouldnt override a business/team from getting rid of someone if they really wanted to....if they felt compelled strongly enuff, they would get rid of a player that they felt like compromised their chances to win a title....and i dont have any doubt that for any number of reasons that artest has been the subject of trade discussions in the past, especially last offseason, but a trade was not consummated because of some of the above mentioned reasons, most noteably, not being able to get fair value in return...however, i propose there is a reason now where those possibilities are all but gone....that any trade of ron, at any time this season, is next to impossible and it has nothing to do with the above mentioned reasons....im a firm believer if they wanted to bad enuff they could get rid of him....and what they got in return wouldnt matter much....
and heres the real reason i think they wont get rid of him now....
second, the brawl...more to the point, the fallout from the brawl....the organization has, on numerous occasions, made their feeling very well know regarding the severity of the penalties that ensued....that not only do they think theyve been overly penalized but that their franchise was made to be the scapegoat and was cast into a shadow that couldve been avoided.....they have openly said that they felt there were other factors that were involved that seemingly went unpunished, and the full responsibility seemed to fall squarely in the laps of the indiana pacers...
all this from a supposed personal friend...
i would propose that from that moment on, it became personal....if the punishements wouldve been less severe and a bit more evenly distributed among the two teams, such as a half season or so for artest, then i wouldnt have been surprised one bit if the pacers then got rid of artest either last season or this offseason.....so in some ways u might have david stern to thank for rons assured continued presence on this team....i would even go so far as to say that i wouldve been totally surprised that ron wouldve been on the team come this training camp if he wouldve received a suspension of around 40 or even 50 games...i personally think they wouldve even tried to release ron and fight his contract based on personal conduct issues....
but because of the severity of the suspensions...because the pacers took such a huge hit, i think its reasonable to see where the simons, because they basically felt betrayed by their 'good' friend, basically laid down the law....its personal....they along with donnie, larry, and the rest of the organization took it upon themselves to make sure that this travesty was shown up.....to prove that the nba and their 'good' friend was not only wrong in the way they damaged and penalized their franchise, but wrong in their reasons for doing so-not the least of which was the way ron was portrayed as well as the pacers for 'putting up and allowing' ron to continue on while not getting him help...
to get rid of ron says the nba was right in what they did and how they penalized the franchise...it says that the nba did what the pacers shouldve done a long time ago....and i dont think the simons or their management appreciate that much, especially coming from a 'good' friend....so i think they have taken it upon themselves and the rest of the organization to make sure they do everything humanly possible to make sure that not only is the nba proven to be wrong in the way they handled it, but more importantly to use this as an opportunity to regain their status as one of the very best franchises in the league...and what better way to do that than to 'rehab' ron and for ron and this franchise to have a banner year next year....and while im sure the commissioner will only say that this will validate his decision....those within our organization will definitely feel differently and will get a great deal of satisfaction from this....
are they taking a chance? of course they are....but u dont get to where the simons are today without taking chances....hell...they bought the pacers franchise way back when....that was taking a HUGE chance....but they also are very smart.....and know how to tilt the balance to their favor....and if u believe for one moment that they are spending time trying to get rid of artest....instead of expending every possible effort and asset trying to ensure that this season is not only a team success but an artest success, well i would respectfully disagree....and i think thats the message larry bird gave jermaine oneal as well....
last year it was business...this year its personal.....
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