Ron Artest takes shot at LeBron James
The Los Angeles Lakers' Ron Artest has not earned his reputation by keeping quiet. The controversial defender gave his opinion as to who he thinks are the best players in the NBA. In what may surprise many, neither LeBron James nor Dwyane Wade were
on the list.
The Miami Heat has been the talk of the summer as Pat Riley was able to bring in James and Chris Bosh to team with Wade.
Behind his team mate Kobe Bryant, Artest went with scoring champion Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Durant led the Thunder to 50 wins and averaged 30.1 points per game to go with 7.6 rebounds last season.
“He's the second best player in the NBA,” Artest said. “Kobe's got five rings, six game winners [last season], 23-straight points [in Game 5 of the Finals] off mostly jump shots,” Artest said. “[He's] the biggest shot maker, big shot maker. So, that
said, Durant's the second best player in the NBA.”
James, who has won back-to-back NBA MVP awards and led the Cavaliers to 127 wins in the last two seasons, is considered by many to be the best player in the league.
When asked where James would be on his list, Artest had an interesting response.
“I only count to two,” the former Big East star said. “I've been out of school [for] 15 years, so I only count to two.”
The Lakers are the favourites in the West to take on the Heat in the NBA Finals. Los Angeles is hoping that Bryant returns to his old self, after suffering through a nagging knee injury.
Bryant was asked about his reaction to the Heat forming the biggest trio of stars the league has seen in quite some time.
“Wow,” Bryant said. “How did Pat Riley pull that [explicative] off? Impressive.”
The two teams will meet on Christmas Day.
Tags: