Metta World Peace: 'I'm still one of the best small forwards in the world'
The always-colorful Metta World Peace has given us an abundance of memorably absurd quotes over the years. There’s his fascinating views on social equality, his culinary combat tales and his Vincibility Theorem regarding the 95-96 Bulls. There’s also the teeth that he’s thankful to Jesus Christ for, the psychiatrists he’s grateful for and the cats he’s too sexy for. Now, the Artist Formerly Known as Ron Artest is blessing us with one of his classic quotables yet again.
In an interview with Mitch Abramson of the New York Daily News on Tuesday, World Peace was in midseason form. With a return to the Los Angeles Lakers appearing imminent, he was asked to forecast his basketball future. “I don’t really know, honestly,” said the former Defensive Player of the Year. “I work out. I’m still one of the best small forwards in the world, but my career has been up and down. With my career being up and down, some teams are like, ‘Can we use Metta World Peace, where is he going to fit in? Is he going to be good for the rookies? Can he still play?’
“I’m still one of the best small forwards in the world, so that’s not a question,” he said. “But the question is can I actually fit into a team and can a coach coach me? Those are realistic questions, and it’s cool. I still train to be one of the best.”
Well, comparatively speaking to the rest of the earth’s population, MWP isn’t exactly wrong in his evaluation of his small forward talents. But on an NBA level, he may be a little bit off his rocker at 35 years of age. His last stop in the Association with the New York Knicks in 2013-14 wasn’t exactly pretty. During his tenure in the Big Apple, World Peace’s loss of his old calling card of lateral quickness was stunning, and he could barely even sink a wide-open three. Does he really think that, two years later, he can still compete with the LeBron Jameses, Kevin Durants and Kawhi Leonards of the world, or even just the DeMarre Carrolls and the Khris Middletons?
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