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Artest, 29, may be one of the league's most well-known players, but he often carries himself like a struggling rapper trying to make a name for himself with a grassroots marketing campaign and a penchant for saying yes to just about anything. Just weeks before the season he was on TV raising money for the Hasidic ***ish movement Chabad-Lubavitch, volunteering at an Iranian basketball camp, walking dogs at an animal shelter and taking some of his Twitter followers to a WNBA game, breakfast and bowling. Every time you turned around Artest was at another event, one more random than the next.
He seems to have made a point to win over Los Angeles one Lakers fan at time, though he doesn't exactly see it like that. "These things that I do aren't for anything. They have no purpose," Artest said. "I'm not promoting anything or selling nothing. I just want to have fun and meet my fans."
There are many things that Artest does that have no purpose. For example, for an interview with SI.com the other day, Artest hired Natalin Avci, a 23-year-old Turkish model he had met recently in a hotel lobby, and a camera crew for a photo shoot for the heck of it. "The only purpose is to have fun," Artest said.
That would appear to be one of the driving forces behind many of Artest's decisions, including the one that could drive him to get out of his Lakers contract early.
"I signed for five years but I want to box, I want to fight a heavyweight fight in four years," Artest said on more than one occasion. "I started training already and I'm doing good and I think in four years I'll be ready to fight my first professional fight. I want to get four professional fights under my belt and see how I do and take it from there. That's been my goal for a long time. Whether I get knocked out or knock somebody out, I just want to fight."
On the court, his performance this season will be judged in large part on whether the Lakers are able to repeat with him instead of Ariza. "I know the pressure is on me. I'm the one change that they made," Artest said. "I have to take responsibility. You can't put it all on Kobe [Bryant]. I know what I have to do."
He seems to have made a point to win over Los Angeles one Lakers fan at time, though he doesn't exactly see it like that. "These things that I do aren't for anything. They have no purpose," Artest said. "I'm not promoting anything or selling nothing. I just want to have fun and meet my fans."
There are many things that Artest does that have no purpose. For example, for an interview with SI.com the other day, Artest hired Natalin Avci, a 23-year-old Turkish model he had met recently in a hotel lobby, and a camera crew for a photo shoot for the heck of it. "The only purpose is to have fun," Artest said.
That would appear to be one of the driving forces behind many of Artest's decisions, including the one that could drive him to get out of his Lakers contract early.
"I signed for five years but I want to box, I want to fight a heavyweight fight in four years," Artest said on more than one occasion. "I started training already and I'm doing good and I think in four years I'll be ready to fight my first professional fight. I want to get four professional fights under my belt and see how I do and take it from there. That's been my goal for a long time. Whether I get knocked out or knock somebody out, I just want to fight."
On the court, his performance this season will be judged in large part on whether the Lakers are able to repeat with him instead of Ariza. "I know the pressure is on me. I'm the one change that they made," Artest said. "I have to take responsibility. You can't put it all on Kobe [Bryant]. I know what I have to do."
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