Tag: Metta World Peace

Metta World Peace on Kyrie Irving: ‘Just do what you wanna do’

Metta World Peace feels Kyrie Irving needs to do what he deems right regarding the NBA’s resumption of play, no matter what others do.

Although Kyrie Irving isn’t the only player who doesn’t want the NBA to resume the 2019-20 season in late July at Disney World in Orlando because he’s concerned it will distract people from the Black Lives Matter movement, he has received more criticism than anyone for taking this stance.

Some feel the awareness of social injustice is not an excuse to stop working. Others think Irving needs to have a greater plan than the one he’s produced so far. There are even some who think the Brooklyn point guard is doing all of this because he isn’t allowed to travel with the Nets to Orlando.

Metta World Peace told Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson on the Scoop B Radio podcast, “Everybody handles it differently,” when addressing Irving’s situation. At the same time, the retired NBA forward would not be on the same side as the Nets point guard if he were still playing:

The minute you move a mountain, I’m bringing my whole hood with me. I don’t need anybody to validate if I’m going to do that. I was telling people that I’m from the ‘hood in a corporate world, guys making a stand and having experience in the streets,’ I did it. From my hood, I just did it. And people still remember that to this day; people don’t even know why they like me…’cause I’ve been doing this for a long time. Because I just did it and somebody like Kyrie Irving should just do it. You don’t need anybody; you’re a big-time player. Just do what you wanna do. Whatever you think is right, we’re with you. But me personally, I would’ve played. Because I’m obsessed with the [expletive] game. I definitely would’ve played, maybe cussed a few people out, but nothing in the NBA is crazier than the issue that are happening; how I would’ve spoke would’ve been different. These [expletive] is nice. I remember the ‘I Can’t Breathe’ issue. [Expletive], we needed something stronger than that. We gotta say something. So, you know, I get the peaceful protests versus the ignorant or violent protests. But you got to let people know sometimes. I know that we are not entirely but it’s still an outrage.

RELATED: Why Matt Barnes is questioning Kyrie Irving

RELATED: Stephen Jackson: Kyrie Irving ‘understands this moment’

Morey says Westbrook, Ron Artest are most misunderstood Rockets

“If you know him, you like him,” Rockets GM Daryl Morey says of Westbrook’s personality. “Russell is such a sweet guy.”

In his 14 years with the Rockets, veteran Houston GM Daryl Morey says Russell Westbrook and Ron Artest are the NBA two players where the broader perception was most misaligned with reality.

Morey spoke Tuesday with the “Mason & Ireland” show on ESPN Los Angeles. When asked about Westbrook’s demeanor, Morey said:

If you know him, you like him. Russell is on my list, top two players who when they came to the Rockets, people had some negative opinions of that just didn’t line up at all. Russell is such a sweet guy. Ron Artest is the other. You had heard all these things, and he was the sweetest, nicest guy. There’s just some guys in the league where you don’t understand how some people have this negative opinion of them. Russell is just a really nice guy.

Westbrook was surly with the media at times during his time in Oklahoma City, but that hasn’t been the case in Houston. Both current and former teammates have raved about his qualities in the locker room.

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Recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in 2020) cited Westbrook as a shining example of American character for his relief efforts in Houston, Los Angeles, and beyond.

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Artest — who later changed his name to Metta World Peace — only played one year in Houston during the 2008-09 season. But he was a key cog for the first Rockets team to win a playoff series in more than a decade.

Artest missed 86 games early in his NBA career due to an altercation in Detroit, which remains the longest suspension for an on-court incident in NBA history. But he was a model citizen in Houston, with Morey and the Rockets raving about his qualities both on and off the court.

1999 NBA re-draft: The way it should have been

There were no superstars in this draft, but we can’t really complain about depth.

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There were no superstars in this draft, but we can’t really complain about depth.

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Metta World Peace campaigns for LaVar Ball to be NBA head coach

During a roundtable interview with TMZ, Metta World Peace made the case for LaVar Ball as a potential future NBA coach.

While LaVar Ball has never shied away from outlandish statements, one of the things he hasn’t done much of is campaign for a job as an NBA head coach. Ball memorably served as the AAU coach for his sons, which was detailed in early seasons of the family’s Facebook series “Ball in the Family.”

But Ball’s coaching stopped there and save for a few brief outbursts, he hasn’t often put his name in the mix as a coach. But a man with a similarly wild streak did the bidding for him. In a recent roundtable conversation with TMZ, former Laker Metta World Peace made the case for Ball as an NBA head coach.

“I was actually pushing for you to be a head coach. When you run a business…you have a good team. I feel like your energy would have rubbed off on everyone. You just have somebody do the defense, have a couple assistants, boom. I thought you would have been a great head coach. I would want to see that someday, actually.”

Ball, who was beaming from ear to ear as World Peace talked, stated he would be the first coach to press during NBA games.

Ignoring the factuality of Ball’s statement, or basically any part of World Peace’s comments, Ball’s philosophy has always been the same as a coach. He believes in outscoring other teams, defense be damned. He’ll press teams while gambling for turnovers and to up the pace but won’t have any other plans defensively.

Essentially, none of this would work in the NBA. Ball may have the energy to be the coach, but he doesn’t have literally any other requirement. It’s a silly premise.

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