Latest news with #Sandiford-Artest
USA Today
18-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
LeBron James names toughest defender he's ever played against
LeBron James names toughest defender he's ever played against During his 22 seasons in the NBA, LeBron James has faced just about every imaginable defense and every good or great defender the league has had to offer. Like anyone else, he has had his moments where opposing defenses have gotten the best of him, but he has also made plenty of opposing defenses look weak and incompetent. Thanks to his unprecedented longevity, he has played through multiple eras of NBA basketball, which means he has faced great defenders who have been out of the league for a while. On a recent episode of his "Mind the Game" podcast, he named the toughest defender he ever faced, and it was someone who hasn't played in a game since 2017: Metta Sandiford-Artest. 'Yeah, Ron Artest,' he said. 'Metta World Peace now. Really good with his hands, laterally was really good, strong as an ox. We played a game in my early years when he was in Indiana I mean, it was challenging for sure. One of the best defenders probably I've played against. I had to go straight back to my early days. Ron definitely had you like, OK this is what the league is about. OK, lets continue to lock in, this is a hell of a test for you as an 18-year old kid out of high school with a target on your back. I was like yeah, I love this. This is awesome.' Sandiford-Artest was a first-round draft pick in 1999 by the Chicago Bulls, and other than the 2014-15 season, he remained in the league until the 2016-17 campaign. In his prime, he was a very physical and fierce defender who had great hands, and he was named to four All-Defensive teams and won the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2004. After his reputation went down in the gutter following the "Malice at the Palace" early in the 2004-05 season, he came to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009 and got to team up with Kobe Bryant. The Lakers won the NBA championship in his first season with them, as he played a key role in slowing down Paul Pierce during the NBA Finals versus the Boston Celtics. But Sandiford-Artest was much more than just a defensive specialist. He was that uncommon player who could lock down the other team's best guard or wing and drop 20 points on the other end. He had a career average of 13.2 points a game and went over 20 points per contest in two seasons.
USA Today
16-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Metta Sandiford-Artest on giving up money to play for the Lakers
Metta Sandiford-Artest on giving up money to play for the Lakers In 2009, after a seven-year drought, the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA championship by defeating the Orlando Magic in five games in the final round of the playoffs. Immediately, their quest for back-to-back titles began, especially since they hadn't gotten revenge on the Boston Celtics after the Celtics embarrassed them in the 2008 NBA Finals. Their first task was to retain forwards Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza, both of whom were integral parts of their team. Even though the Miami Heat made a big push to sign Odom, he eventually agreed to a new deal to stay put. But Ariza was a different story. He opted to leave and join the Houston Rockets, and Los Angeles replaced him with Metta Sandiford-Artest, then known as Ron Artest. At the time, Sandiford-Artest had a reputation for being a hoodlum, especially after his role in the infamous "Malice at the Palace" in 2004. But he was on his best behavior as a Laker during the 2009-10 season, and he embraced a greatly reduced offensive role while helping Kobe Bryant and crew win it all over Boston. He agreed to a contract that paid him $5.85 million that season after he had made at least $7.4 million in each of the previous three seasons. In fact, his salary for the 2009-10 campaign was lower than his salary in each of his prior five seasons. During an interview with entrepreneur and podcaster Patrick Bet-David, he said he gave up plenty of money to win a ring in L.A., and he was even reluctant to come on board. "I did not expect that call at 12:01 (the start of NBA free agency). ... I get a call, we pull over, and then my agent, David Bauman, says, 'The Lakers want to speak to you.' Pardon my French, but my first reaction was, 'For [expletive] what?' 'Cause I'm like, 'They just beat us.' "... I meet with Dr. [Jerry] Buss the next morning and he was like, 'I'm sorry, I'm not going to be able to pay you what your worth, but we really want you on this team.' "... And I said, 'Damn! Dr. Buss, Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant.' I love Kobe. "... I left a lot of money on the table." Sandiford-Artest saw a big drop in his offensive production. He went from averaging 17.1 points a game during the 2008-09 season to putting up 11.0 points a game the following year, and his 3-point accuracy even fell from 39.9% to 35.5%. To that point in his basketball life, he had always been one of the top offensive options on every team he had ever played on, but with L.A., he was merely a role player. But he said it was all worth it, partly because he learned a lot about himself, and he learned that he could overcome adversity. In the process of winning the 2010 NBA title, he reversed his public image and suddenly became likable, and he ended up doing plenty of community-oriented work, especially in the area of mental health.
USA Today
11-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Metta Sandiford-Artest wants to 'bring a title to New York City'
Metta Sandiford-Artest wants to 'bring a title to New York City' The New York Knicks are looking for a new head coach after firing Tom Thibodeau just days ago. They reached the Eastern Conference Finals after toppling the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics in the second round of the playoffs, and although they fell to the Indiana Pacers in six games, they may be ready to win it all if they hire the right coach. Former Los Angeles Lakers forward and Queens native Metta Sandiford-Artest made it clear in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that he would be a "perfect" choice as the Knicks' next head coach. He told Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson his intentions when it comes to getting the job (h/t Lakers Daily). 'I'm trying to bring a title to New York City,' he said, when asked about the Knicks' coaching vacancy. According to Robinson, Sandiford-Artest has been coaching Division II women's basketball for the last six years. He also had a brief stint as a developmental coach with the G League's South Bay Lakers. He provided a brief description of how he would aim to take the Knicks to the next level should he be hired. 'Watch my games when we almost beat the Lakers with the Rockets. Watch my closeout games with the Lakers in the Finals,' Sandiford-Artest said. 'From the post, from the perimeter, on defense — I've been in every situation. I know how to put guys in position to win.' The Knicks haven't been to the NBA Finals since 1999 and haven't won it all since 1973, when they beat the Lakers in the championship series. This year's trip to the Eastern Conference Finals was their first in 25 years. They have an outstanding starting five in Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and former Lakers guard Josh Hart. They may simply need a better bench and the right bench leader to bring a ticker-tape parade to Manhattan.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Metta World Peace campaigns to replace former Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau
The post Metta World Peace campaigns to replace former Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau appeared first on ClutchPoints. Following the New York Knicks' decision to fire head coach Tom Thibodeau on Tuesday, former NBA champion Metta Sandiford-Artest — formerly known as Metta World Peace — publicly expressed interest in taking over the position. Advertisement Sandiford-Artest made his pitch via X, formerly known as Twitter, where he advocated for himself as the ideal candidate to lead the Knicks. 'Metta is the perfect choice for head coach of the @nyknicks. Since 1999 this was suppose to happen. I've never ran from the city,' he wrote. 'When all the top players left NYC because it was hard , I went to @StJohnsBBall. I wanted to be drafted by the Knicks, I seemed to be the only one un-afraid of the city. I'm built to challenge the city. I'm the number one guy for the job. And I have 360degree experience.' Metta Sandiford-Artest makes case to replace Tom Thibodeau as Knicks' coaching search begins Sandiford-Artest, 45, was selected No. 16 overall in the 1999 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. A Queens native, he spent 19 seasons in the NBA with the Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, and New York Knicks. He earned All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2004 and played a key role in the Lakers' 2010 NBA championship run. He retired from professional basketball in 2017. Advertisement His brief stint with the Knicks came during the 2013–14 season, where he appeared in 29 games before being waived. Thibodeau, who was hired by the Knicks ahead of the 2020–21 season, was dismissed after leading the team to a 226–174 regular-season record and a 24–23 postseason mark. His tenure included four playoff appearances in five years and the franchise's first Eastern Conference Finals appearance since 2000. The Knicks have not named an interim or permanent replacement for Thibodeau. As the organization begins its search, Sandiford-Artest becomes the latest high-profile figure to express interest in the vacancy.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Tyrese Haliburton: not overrated, just efficient
It's an odd time for a native New Yorker to heap praise on Tyrese Haliburton, the Indiana Pacers point guard who knifed through the New York Knicks defense like butter in the Eastern Conference finals and fried Gotham's hope for its first NBA Finals appearance this millennium. But not only did former NBA champion and Queens' own Metta Sandiford-Artest do so; he also said Haliburton's dominance in the Knicks series was reminiscent of a certain Basketball Hall of Famer. 'He reminds me of John Stockton from the perspective of a late bloomer in terms of effectiveness. … Not the same type of player but the same type of impact,' Sandiford-Artest told NBA reporter Brandon Robinson this week. Stockton, who played 19 years in the NBA, wasn't considered as elite as Michael Jordan or Scottie Pippen. And to Sandiford-Artest's point, there's legitimacy in considering Haliburton a late bloomer. As recently as April, his NBA peers voted him the league's most overrated player. Ouch. Guess who's getting the last laugh, though? As the 2025 NBA playoffs have shown, it's Haliburton's moment now. With the NBA Finals starting tonight, he's the unquestioned leader of an underdog Indiana Pacers team that almost no one thought had a legitimate shot at the title when the playoffs began. He has a chance to do something not even Pacers legend Reggie Miller could do: win Indiana its first NBA title. Some pundits are bemoaning what the matchup between the Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder might mean ratings-wise, as each team resides in the bottom third of NBA cities when ranked by TV market size. We could have had the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics (again) or the Lakers and the Knicks. Instead, we have… Haliburton. And you know what? That's fantastic. No, really, it's great. And here's why: Haliburton is having a great playoff run, averaging 18.8 points, 9.8 assists and 5.7 rebounds a night (for all his playoff series, six in total, he's averaged 18.7, 5.3 and 9). He put up 32 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds in a dominant Game 4 against the Knicks — becoming the only NBA player in history with 30 points and 15 assists while committing no turnovers in a playoff game. This postseason aside, Haliburton isn't known for gaudy stats. The real beauty in his game, and what promises to make the finals something worth everybody's attention, is his efficiency, a statistic that puts a number to how much a player contributes when they're on the court. The average player efficiency rating in the NBA is 15; Haliburton's efficiency has been above 20 in each of the past four seasons, and it's never dipped below 16. This season, he ranked 20th among NBA players, with an efficiency rating of 21.84. The highest rating belonged to the Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic, at 32.12. It's the kind of stat that won't wow casual basketball fans who live for the 3-ball, or old-school fans who long for scoring assassins like Jordan or Carmelo Anthony. Efficiency explains why a player like Haliburton is so significant to the Pacers because the statistic considers how often a player scores the ball and how well they perform on the floor when they don't have the ball. To put his efficiency rating another way, Haliburton is capable of taking over games — like he did against the Knicks — but he's also content to shift into a style of basketball that prompted ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, an unabashed Knicks fan, to declare before the Pacers-Knicks series that he's not a superstar. Like a true point guard, he prefers to move the ball rather than force a low-percentage shot. He gets back on defense. He recognizes when the ball is better off in the hands of a teammate, for example Eastern Conference finals MVP Pascal Siakam. Unsurprisingly, he finished the season ahead of the vanquished Knicks' Jaylen Brunson — who is a superstar, according to ESPN's Smith — and the Celtics' Jayson Tatum, whom the Knicks vanquished in the playoffs, in efficiency rating. It has to be worrisome for the Pacers, but exciting for fans eager for a great finals matchup, that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the last barrier standing between them and glory. OKC's lethal point guard, who posted a 30.73 efficiency rating, is the only one of the 19 players with a better efficiency rating than Haliburton in the finals. Unlike Haliburton, Gilgeous-Alexander has never had his superstar bona fides questioned. If Haliburton and the Pacers can overcome him and a Thunder team that had the best record in the league this year, then the Pacers point guard won't ever have to worry about being called overrated or being labeled as less than a superstar again. This article was originally published on
