The Warriors Should Be Warier

And the winner of the Ron Artest derby is ...

Here’s some bad news for all involved. With Artest, there usually are no winners, including Ronnie.

The Golden State Warriors are now considered the front-runners to land him. He might even save their season and deliver them to the playoffs for the first time since 1994.

On the other hand, they’d better enjoy it because after that, they’re in for the ride of their lives.

This has been going on for seven seasons, since Artest was a rookie in Chicago and tried to get a part-time job at Circuit City for discounts on his gear since the Bulls didn’t play on Sundays. He was making more than $1 million, but it reportedly was going to a wide circle of relatives, friends and hangers-on.

That might have meant only that he was confused as well as good-hearted, but whatever it was, by his third season the Bulls had had enough. They put him in a seven-player deal with Brad Miller and sent him to Indiana for Jalen Rose.

(Talk about your deals that wound up helping no one. As soon as Artest leaves, all seven players will have changed teams again.)

Artest became a star and a unique one. The league’s best perimeter defender, he was quick enough at 6 feet 7, 260 pounds to stay with guards and so tough, teammate Reggie Miller said most players were afraid of him. Artest could not only score 20 points, he could knock 10 off the other team’s total and shut its star down in crunch time.

This should have made him a superstar. Instead, it just made him crazier. The real problem wasn’t that Artest needed help, but that he wouldn’t accept it. Doctors prescribed antidepressants, but he wouldn’t stay on them.

He was likable and soft-spoken, but in down moods, he challenged teammates, destroyed a TV in a Madison Square Garden hall, squared off on the sideline with Miami Coach Pat Riley and committed one flagrant foul after another while the league toted up his suspensions like a checker in a grocery store.

He was suspended six times in the 2002-03 season (five by the league, once by the Pacers) for 12 games, costing him more than $250,000 in salary and $150,000 in fines.

He was better behaved the next season as the Pacers won 61 games to finish No. 1 in the East. It lasted right up until Game 6 of the conference finals, when they were eliminated after his flagrant foul sent Detroit’s Rip Hamilton to the line to make the free throws that put the Pistons ahead to stay.

Then came last season, all seven games of it. Artest was just back after being suspended by the team for asking for time off to promote his record label’s new CD when he went into the stands at Auburn Hills, Mich., starting the melee that got him suspended for the season by Commissioner David Stern.

Incredibly, the Pacers gave him one more chance. Nobody does contrition like Artest, who gets a lot of practice, but teammates Jermaine O’Neal and Stephen Jackson went to bat for him, going to management and asking to stay together.

Artest never stopped being Artest. On May 19, after the Pacers were eliminated by Detroit in the first round, the Pistons were sitting on their bus when a car swept down the ramp in the Conseco Fieldhouse garage and screeched to a halt. Out jumped Artest, who proceeded to rip off his T-shirt and stomp around in his gym shorts before security people flooded the area.

Artest’s last chance lasted 16 games, until Dec. 4, when he announced he hated Coach Rick Carlisle’s offense and wanted to be traded. He changed his mind days later, whereupon his agent, Mark Stevens, made plaintive pleas through the media, trying to butter up the Pacers, calling executive Larry Bird “a legend” and President Donnie Walsh “a gentleman and a scholar.”

The Pacers weren’t unmoved -- “When I look back on this, I’ll never be mad at Ronnie, I’ll always feel bad for him,” Walsh said last week -- but they weren’t bringing him back, either.

They’re still picking up the pieces, 7-7 since Artest left, meaning he may have just single-handedly ended their title hopes for the third season in a row.

Of course, the Warriors have been picking up the pieces for 12 years. This season’s fast start has slowed, they’re dying for a low-post threat like Artest and they have prospects they can deal in Ike Diogu and Mickael Pietrus.

Unfortunately, Coach Mike Montgomery is already at odds with Baron Davis, who seems beyond his or anyone’s control, hoisting up six three-pointers a game while making 30.7%. If they get Artest, you may be able to time the rest of Montgomery’s stay with a stopwatch.

With General Manager Chris Mullin unavailable (assuming he still works there since he rarely speaks and hasn’t even been seen recently), Montgomery said he was in the dark.

“Picture me as Sgt. Schultz.” Montgomery said. “I know nothing.”

Meanwhile, the San Jose Mercury News’ Tim Kawakami was already speculating about possible successors: former coach Don Nelson, current assistants Keith Smart and Mario Elie.

And Artest isn’t even there yet!

He may well give them a great season, as he did when he arrived in Indiana, but after that they’re on their own. Artest, who’s nothing if not hard-nosed, might not care for Davis’ flashy style either and, being Ronnie, might mention it to him.

On the other hand, the Warriors won’t be unnoticed any longer.

Faces And Figures

The SuperSonics, who wanted a players’ coach after hard-driving Nate McMillan booted the team to 52 wins and then left, decided that Bob Weiss was too nice, firing him after he started 13-17. Because they’re still thought to owe Weiss $4 million for putting in three months’ work, he probably didn’t even mind.... Interim Coach Bob Hill, cracking down, announced: “They talked too much in practice and concentration wasn’t good there. Little things like that. Really, winning in the NBA boils down to little details.” ... Actually, winning in the NBA boils down to good players and good coaches. No one expected the SuperSonics to win 52 games last season and no one expects them to get anywhere close any time soon.

Louisville Coach Rick Pitino, six years after the end of his nightmare run with the Celtics, told the Boston Herald: “You have a place that you love and your whole family loves and now it’s probably gone for me. I’d love to just go in for the weekend and run around the Charles [River] and go to the restaurants but I don’t feel welcome, true or untrue. It makes me feel that I’m missing out. I’d love to go back and probably most everyone would be gracious. But it only takes five or 10 people to say the wrong thing and ruin your day.” ... Pitino’s son, Richard, is an assistant at Northeastern in Boston. “He was born there,” Pitino said. “He grew up there. He loves it. I said to him, ‘Well, there are a lot of people there who don’t think your dad did a very good job.’ And he said, ‘I wasn’t too happy with the Chauncey Billups trade, so I’m on their side.’ ”

Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban, continuing his obsession with the referees, is upset that the Pistons and San Antonio Spurs, both tough defensive teams, have been called for the fewest fouls in the league. Not surprisingly, it’s spilling over to his team, creating a cop-out mentality. Coach Avery Johnson now blames society because Dirk Nowitzki gets only 7.2 free throws a game, although that puts him in the league’s top 20. “I don’t know what we have to do to get him catapulted and change the perception of who he is,” Johnson said. “He’s a legitimate superstar. It’s just that we’re living in a world where it’s style over substance.”

Houston Rocket Coach Jeff Van Gundy, after the debut of rookie John Lucas III, a 5-9, 154-pound guard from Oklahoma State: “I’m not afraid to put him in. He’s a confident guy. He’s a serious professional. He’s smart. I’m always worried about guards who weigh less than me, but he’s got heart. I’ll take heart in this league.”