by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
Just because there may not be an NBA season in 2011-’12 won’t stop Ron Artest from guaranteeing a title for his squad. Why let reality get in the way of bravado, after all?
Should there be NBA hoops next season, Ron-Ron apparently isn’t too concerned about the aging Lakers, their new coach implementing a whole new offense and defense, and the dramatic rise of the competition in both conferences.
Nope, according to the man soon to be known as Metta World Peace, the next championship belongs to the Lakers. No doubt about it.
From the LA Times (via ESPN):
It may all feel like a distant memory considering how the Lakers ended the 2011 postseason with a four-game sweep to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals. But Artest guaranteed to ESPN Los Angeles’ Stephen A. Smith in a 40-minute interview Wednesday that the Lakers will again pop the champagne bottles after winning the 2012 NBA title. Assuming there’s a season of course. “Win it all,” Artest said when asked what will the Lakers do in the 2011-2012 season. “Win the whole thing. That’s a guarantee.”
Smith then asked what can the general public do to Artest should his guarantee go sour. “We’re going to win,” he answered. “You can do anything you want to do. Whatever you want to do, you do it.”
Bold statements are nothing new for Ron Artest.
When he joined the Lakers in the summer of 2009, Artest famously told Laker fans to blame him should the team fail to repeat as champs. Of course, following his 2010 postseason heroics, he emerged a hero of the people.
What’s in store this time around?
