Metta World Peace talked to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times today, defending Andrew Bynum after he was ejected for taunting the Houston Rockets in the fourth quarter.
"That's street ball," he said. "You talk trash. That's the essence of basketball right there. You score and talk trash off the bench. That's fun."
World Peace also said that everyone in the NBA are a bunch of "street-ballers," such as LeBron James who had to make it to the pros the tough way. Then, according to Metta, there are the "rich people" who made it to the NBA thanks to their fathers. World Peace said those kind of people were Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
Not only did he diss Curry and Thompson, he also dissed Medina himself, saying that him and other writers should be patient with Bynum with his temper and anger.
"You got to go through it," World Peace said. "The only reason you don't go through it is because you [stink] at basketball. You never had a chance to play in the NBA."
Artest remembers what he has done when he was young, such as the infamous brawl he was a part of in 2004 when he was an Indiana Pacer.
"When I got to the NBA, that's the only way I knew how to survive was to play and do whatever I had to do and fight," World Peace said. "That's the first thing I came to my mind was fight. Anything goes wrong on the court, I had to learn not to play that way. It took a while. It was a long adjustment and now I can play basketball aggressively and not carry it off the court. I'll see what exactly he's going through. He's 24? I was worse at 24."
Although the Lakers don't always want to keep making excuses, they think he will learn on his own eventually, as World Peace thinks so.
"Eventually he'll say, Enough is enough. I don't feel like getting ejected anymore and we'll be playing basketball,'" World Peace said. "He will adjust. I had to adjust. I used to get all the calls called against me. I had to adjust my defense and adjust my life and everything."
Bynum has done some crazy tactics in his career, like hard fouls on Michael Beasley and JJ Barea. Then there was his three-pointer this past week. In fact, he was also fined by Los Angeles.
World Peace says it clearly, though: it's up to Andrew to learn.
"I talk to him sometimes, but sometimes he has to go through it himself," World Peace said. "He's a man, makes $12 million a year and he's a man. He will figure it out. Obviously he worked on his game and he wants to win. He's emotional right now and I love it.""I talk to him sometimes, but sometimes he has to go through it himself," World Peace said. "He's a man, makes $12 million a year and he's a man. He will figure it out. Obviously he worked on his game and he wants to win. He's emotional right now and I love it."
Good stuff from Medina.
