The Lakers are the returning champions for this new season and with new seasons are always new additions. The Lakers felt they had a great team to make a run for another championship, but things were quickly derailed when Trevor Ariza and his agent were trying to play hardball with the Laker's General Manager Mitch Kupchak. Not only that, but Laker fans thought Lamar Odom would be gone as well. I remember talking to my friends about who we should pick up in the off season and a few names came to mind such as Rasheed Wallace, Charlie Villanueva and the always troubled Ron Artest. My friends was like hell no! Why would the Lakers get Ron Artest who got physical with Kobe in that playoff series against the Houston Rockets. I didn't care we needed to become tougher and I felt Ron Artest and his defence was able to do so. I saw Carlos Boozer pushing around Gasol, Bynum and any other big men we had and the year we lost to Boston the Celtics did the same thing. So as I'm walking into my local YMCA and my friend behind the counter quickly tells me the Lakers just signed Ron Artest and the reason was to get him before the Cleveland Cavaliers did. I was so happy I started high fiving everybody I came in contact with because I knew this would ensure our back to back championship. I mean Trevor was a great defender and could shoot the three, but Ron Artest is a fierce defensive player and has the skills to go for at least twenty-five a night. Look I knew the media wouldn't like this acquisition, but I didn't think it would be so negative. I don't know why I didn't expect it though. I mean sports writers are hammering Ron Artest and I think they're doing it to get Ron to blow up and destroy the chemistry of the Laker team. All I have to say is this, Ron was playing on a bunch of teams that really had no chance of winning a championship. Now he is on a team that has won one the year before and is playing with arguably the best player in the NBA. Ron's antics are small and trivial. So what he came out half naked on Jimmy Kimmel. Dennis Rodman wore a dress and make up. The problem is we love the troubled athlete, but are quick to judge them when we feel they do something we don't approve of. Ron has been a great addition and is being a warrior on the court and a good Samaritan off of it. He's giving away tickets on twitter and now he's trying to speak against violence with the guy from the "Malace at the Palace". Even though I couldn't blame because no one should get any kind of beverage throed on them. I don't care if they are a professional or not. Getting disrespected is a tough pill to swallow, But we can see Ron is taking it in stride. He just needs to run the triangle offense, play "exquisite D" and try his best to help the Lakers win a championship without any major incidents. Lets just let Ron be Ron.
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