It’s been a rocky road for Ron Artest since he entered the league in 1999, but the troubles could be coming to an end soon. Well, at least for the Kings.
While Artest won’t publicly say it, Corliss Williamson told the Sacramento Bee that Artest sent him a text that said he would be retiring at the end of the season in order to spend more time with his family. There’s no word yet on if his family wants to spend more time with him, but Artest still seems serious about his desire to call it quits. He also told the editors of HipHopGame.com, the site that publishes his personal diary, that he wants to retire.
But this doesn’t mean that Artest is done starting on-court riots. In fact, he could be taking his show overseas, where riots are much more common, in order to escape some of the negative attention that has hounded him in America. But how is hot-head Artest going to handle getting beaned with a battery considering he went ballistic after getting hit by a plastic cup in Detroit?
Still, Artest seems to think that with a little separation he can repair his image and go from villain to hero in the eyes of the American public just like his hip-hop heroes Flavor Flav and Ice Cube did. But Sacramento president Geoff Petrie doesn’t seem to have much faith in Artest’s decision just yet.
He’s under a lot of scrutiny and at a point, really, in his own career where he needs to be a better keeper of his own soul in some ways,” Petrie said. “We’ll assess in the context of the whole season where we go (with Artest from here). But again, it’s sort of Ron being Ron.
Petrie went on and hinted that the team might be better off without the continuous distractions that Artest brings.
So, don’t worry Ron, it looks like you might get to work on that Flavor Flav impression after the post season concludes whether you want to or not.
Links:
[SacBee.com]: Is Artest calling it quits?