So much for those “going China” talks and wacky arena football dreams. Metta World Peace is going home to NY to continue his career in the NBA.
The two-way star (or very, very good player) is taking his talents, personality, combustibility and every other fitting adjective to Madison Square Garden on a two-year deal, $3.2 million deal.
A couple of thoughts on the matter:
1. The artist formally known as Ron Artest returning home is a positive on many levels. But before we get into the basketball side of things, let’s talk about World Peace, the person. I lived in LA over the past year and MWP always came off to me as a positive figure in the community, speaking out on numerous occasions on mental health and anti gang-related advocacy. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of positive effect he has on his own community, because on the surface at least, he’s been one of the good guys for a while now.
2. The Knicks needed a little extra motivational boost. Hard to think of a better catalyst than Artest. You can’t bring in a passive, soft-rebounding big like Andrea Bargnani and not surround him with tough guys like World Peace.
3. The Knicks are still a very incomplete team. Whatever hypothetical me-first player ranking we all have formulated in our heads, New York has four players finishing in the top 10: Carmelo, Amar’e, Bargnani and J.R. Smith. If these players aren’t scoring, they aren’t doing much else. Don’t look for Artest – who is, by all accounts, a good team player – to change that completely. That being said…
4. The New York-Brooklyn rivalry has the potential to be one of the best we’ve ever seen. Kevin Garnett and Metta World Peace; J.R. freaking Smith. The 2014 Battle For New York could very well be a 30 For 30 in 10-15 years. Start placing your bets now. At the very least, World Peace is ready.
Where Brooklyn at?
— Metta World Peace (@MettaWorldPeace) July 15, 2013
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Photo: Getty