Bluegrassrivals

A bull crap article to say the least.... Artest truly doesn't want to put Lebron in any kind of rankings that would show his talent.. Jealousy indeed.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- If you ask the Los Angeles Lakers' Ron Artest, the biggest NBA signing of the summer wasn't LeBron James leaving Cleveland to go to Miami as a free agent; it was Kevin Durant extending his contract with the Thunder to stay in Oklahoma City.

"He's the second best player in the NBA," Artest said of Durant, ranking the youngest scoring champion in league history behind only teammate Kobe Bryant.

"Kobe's got five rings, six game winners [last season], 23-straight points in [Game 5 of the Finals] off mostly jump shots," Artest elaborated. "[He's] the biggest shot maker, big shot maker. So, that said, Durant's the second best player in the NBA."


When asked where James ranks on his list, Artest excluded the back-to-back MVP from consideration.

"I only count to two," Artest said. "I've been out of school for 10 years, so I only count to two."

Bryant himself said that James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh coming together on the Miami Heat did not raise his motivation level to win another championship, but did manage to raise an eyebrow.

The 15-year guard said his first reaction to the South Beach signings was, "Wow. How did Pat Riley pull that [expletive] off?"

Bryant acknowledged the Heat's potential to be "great" but added that when the Big Three materialized in Miami in the middle of the summer, his thoughts remained with himself and his team.

"I said I've got to get my knee healthy, that's what I said," Bryant added.

Artest's praise of Durant echoes a recent statement made by the Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard. During a radio interview with Sports Illustrated's Dan Patrick, Howard was asked who is better, Durant or James? "I'm gonna go with Kevin," replied Howard.

Artest's respect for Durant's abilities on the offensive end has influenced the former Defensive Player of the Year's diet. The Lakers starting small forward has vowed to abstain from alcohol during the season and is putting in extra work to try to get his weight down to 245 pounds by the time Los Angeles could face the 6-foot-9, 230-pound Durant in the playoffs.

"He was a hard cover for me last year," Artest said. "I had to spend a lot of extra energy carrying extra pounds, so this should at least give me more of a chance to run around [guarding him]."

Artest weighs less than 260 pounds now after coming into training camp at 268 a year ago.

"I was a little bit afraid [Durant] would average 40 on me if I came in 270 [again]," Artest said.

When informed by a member of the media that Durant actually shot well below his normal percentage in the first round of the playoffs with Artest marking him primarily (35 percent in the postseason vs. 47.6 percent during the regular season), Artest acted surprised.

"Wow ... good job, Ron," he said.

After admitting last weekend that, "when we get to the championship I'll worry about the big weight guy later, LeBron," like Bryant, Artest was not ready to coronate the Heat on Thursday.

"You never know," Artest said. "Boston got [Shaquille] O'Neal and [Jermaine] O'Neal ... Dallas, they're looking good. And Kevin Durant, don't forget about Kevin Durant."

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nb...NHeadlines

I agree with Ron and Howard.

Well this is HIS opinion and he has a right to think whatever. Not everybody is going to agree. Imo I would switch Durant and Lebron.

^ LOL... If Lebron was #3 of course IYO..

And K Mac, nothing of the new coming from you.

K_Mac Wrote:I agree with Ron and Howard.

Well, I'll take Michael Jordan's take instead, much more credible than Ron and Howard!

Yeah, I saw where MJ stated that Kobe is the best player in today's game.

^ Guess he hasn't seen him play recently.

^ lol

Aslan Wrote:Yeah, I saw where MJ stated that Kobe is the best player in today's game.

:Thumbs:

Ballers Wrote:^ Guess he hasn't seen him play recently.

LeBron played very well in the finals last year.
I heard he won a 7 game series of 2k10 on Xbox live

I heard they have Kobe rated exactly what he is in real life on 2k11, which is around a 80. Good call by the creators.
When he was Lebron's age, he could still jump over a piece of paper ya know.. And didn't have arthritis in every limb..
Oh where did the days go Kobe..

So obviously Zaga can't take a lil' sarcasm, ever..
There’s a three-way tie between LeBron James (97), Dwayne Wade (97), and Kobe Bryant (97) for the highest-rated player in the game.


Dumb.. Kobe Bryant at 97??? Overrated much?!?!?!?

You guys wanna talk about rings.. Robert Horry come to find out has 7 rings.. More than Kobe and MJ. What what...

Ballers Wrote:So obviously Zaga can't take a lil' sarcasm, ever..
There’s a three-way tie between LeBron James (97), Dwayne Wade (97), and Kobe Bryant (97) for the highest-rated player in the game.


Dumb.. Kobe Bryant at 97??? Overrated much?!?!?!?

You guys wanna talk about rings.. Robert Horry come to find out has 7 rings.. More than Kobe and MJ. What what...

Dear Ballers,
It's great that you know that Horry has more rings than Kobe or Jordan.
As a matter of fact, I remember telling you that earlier today away from the web site.
So please, don't try to take stuff that I tell you and make it look like you know more about this stuff than I do.

Sincerely,
Zaga

Ballers Wrote:Zaga_fan,
Please keep the misinformation down to a small quanity. You actually told me that he had around 8 or 9 rings. When I looked it up, it was 7. Not to mention you did not even know what teams the guy played for. Thank goodness for google.

Sincerely,
Ballers

I said he had "like 10" which was a joke because I knew he had more than 6, but I knew it was less that 10.
And it was Corbett that said he played for the Bulls, not me.


**officially retiring from NBA related threads until the season starts and it matters because you can't argue with Ballers. He simply doesn't have enough respect for other people's opinions to make these threads enjoyable**

Ballers Wrote:^ LOL... If Lebron was #3 of course IYO..

And K Mac, nothing of the new coming from you.

Lol never much new from my side of the woods. Kobe could be 80, playing on a walker and I would still like him haha. I cant argue that Lebrons not a beast, he is. I would take a healthy D-Wade or Kobe over him though. Durant with some weight and a bit more experience could play with the best of them as well. Regardless NBA is a team sport, one guy isnt winning anybody a championship. And "the big three" in Miami are a H*ll of a start without a doubt. But their scoring alone wont beat anyone, there role players and bench has to contribute too bub. Im not heat-hating (although i do dislike them strongly lol). Im just being real about the topic. I also believe the Celtics are incredibly deep this year and I have no doubt that them or the heat one will make it to the finals. As what I think to be Phils final year in the league though, Im calling the Lakers champs and wont say otherwise until proven wrong.

K_Mac Wrote:Lol never much new from my side of the woods. Kobe could be 80, playing on a walker and I would still like him haha. I cant argue that Lebrons not a beast, he is. I would take a healthy D-Wade or Kobe over him though. Durant with some weight and a bit more experience could play with the best of them as well. Regardless NBA is a team sport, one guy isnt winning anybody a championship. And "the big three" in Miami are a H*ll of a start without a doubt. But their scoring alone wont beat anyone, there role players and bench has to contribute too bub. Im not heat-hating (although i do dislike them strongly lol). Im just being real about the topic. I also believe the Celtics are incredibly deep this year and I have no doubt that them or the heat one will make it to the finals. As what I think to be Phils final year in the league though, Im calling the Lakers champs and wont say otherwise until proven wrong.

Excellent post.

Aslan Wrote:Excellent post.

Thank you my friend.

K_Mac Wrote:Lol never much new from my side of the woods. Kobe could be 80, playing on a walker and I would still like him haha. I cant argue that Lebrons not a beast, he is. I would take a healthy D-Wade or Kobe over him though. Durant with some weight and a bit more experience could play with the best of them as well. Regardless NBA is a team sport, one guy isnt winning anybody a championship. And "the big three" in Miami are a H*ll of a start without a doubt. But their scoring alone wont beat anyone, there role players and bench has to contribute too bub. Im not heat-hating (although i do dislike them strongly lol). Im just being real about the topic. I also believe the Celtics are incredibly deep this year and I have no doubt that them or the heat one will make it to the finals. As what I think to be Phils final year in the league though, Im calling the Lakers champs and wont say otherwise until proven wrong.

Soo.. If Kobe didn't play for the Lakers, would they had one last years finals? and the year before? :eyeroll:

Ballers Wrote:Soo.. If Kobe didn't play for the Lakers, would they had one last years finals? and the year before? :eyeroll:

Kobe paid his dues. After Shaq left they were awful. I remember at one time, Vujacic, Radmanovic, and Kwame Brown were starting! They team was by far worse than any team Lebron played on. Kobe still found a way to get them to the playoffs in the west. In the East they prob would have been a 5 seed that year. Memphis gives Pau to them as a gift basically, and we drafted Bynum and that has turned out well. Hopefully we can stay healthy!

I'll give you that much.

Ballers Wrote:Soo.. If Kobe didn't play for the Lakers, would they had one last years finals? and the year before? :eyeroll:

Nope. Probably not. But same could be said for every player that contributed big in the playoffs. Gasol, Ron, even Fisher. If you want to get technical every ring Kobe has, came with Fisher as his running mate. So like I said, no one person can do it alone.

Regardless NBA is a team sport, one guy isnt winning anybody a championship.

So basically you just contradicted yourself.

More of Zaga's crybabyness? Ugh...

Anyway, Ballers, I don't think Kobe is overrated. I'm not a huge fan of his, but I call it like I see it, and he's definetly the 1st or 2nd best player in the league. In my opinion, it's a toss up between him and Lebron.

But, Kobe is great, and I think he's still on top of his game, despite how ever bad he's shooting in the pre-season. I also think he deserves that 97 on the game. He hasn't done anything to make him not deserve it.

zaga_fan Wrote:LeBron played very well in the finals last year.
I heard he won a 7 game series of 2k10 on Xbox live

This year it has heat over lakers in the finals 4-3on 2K11.

Ballers Wrote:Regardless NBA is a team sport, one guy isnt winning anybody a championship.

So basically you just contradicted yourself.

I dont see how you get that I contradicted myself? I never said Kobe or any player on that team won them a ring by themselves bub. It took every one of them all the way down to Farmar and Luke Walton. I cant say for certain if u took any one of those guys out, Kobe, Gasol, Ron, anyone, if they would have won or not. Fact is they did it together.

Widereceiver6 Wrote:This year it has heat over lakers in the finals 4-3on 2K11.

That would be one **** of a series if it happened. I hope it does.

if i were building a basketball team, out of the three listed i would pick kobe, durant then james as well.

kobe has proven as the leader of the team he can win championships.

james has shown to date that even if given the opportunity to lead the best regular season team into the playoffs, he still cant win it.

durant on the other hand, has shown he has tons of talent but doesnt have the supporting cast to make a legitimate run.

so as of now i would prefer to have the unknown in durant than what i know of james....

vundy33 Wrote:That would be one **** of a series if it happened. I hope it does.

Ditto.