Metta World Peace has a few beefs with Lakers coach Mike Brown, starting with how he’s utilizing Ron Artest (no, I didn’t not slip up, he reverted between his two names) Metta feels that Coach Brown relies to heavily on stats and not the subtle nuances that he brings to the games.
“I’m trying to win,” World Peace told CBSSports.com. “And right now, coach is a stats guy. His background is video coordinator or whatever. So he’s all stats. But Ron Artest is all feel. He doesn’t understand that. Having me in (Thursday night’s Celtics) game at the end, he was worried about me shooting bad from the free throw line. And I was like, ‘I could care less because I’m gonna get a stop at the end of the game.’ He didn’t understand the rhythm that we had—me, Fish (Derek Fisher), Kobe (Bryant), Pau (Gasol) and Drew (Andrew Bynum). I’ve been through games where I would have two points, go 1 for 9 and we’d win. That’s what matters. Stats are for people who need stats.”
“If I could count how many times another team went away from the best player when I was on him, I’ve got to be like No. 1 in the league,” World Peace said, per CBS Sports. “That’s not a stat, and coach doesn’t … you would have to play basketball to feel that. When Phil Jackson was here, that’s why I was in the game, because he understands that. Philly and Utah, I was on the bench because of stats. … I think he just has to get a better feel of the players.”
The irony in this, Brown is always referred to as a defensive minded coach. You’d think that the two would get along well. But as I said when this hiring was first announced. After winning over Kobe, wrangling the various personalties on the team would be one of Coach Brown’s biggest issues. The head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers has to have a certain amount of mystique. The is Hollywood and the Lakers have always been one of the most exciting shows in town.
