Artested Development - Ron Artest: The NBA's Mad Genius

www.Maxim.com goes One on One with Los Angeles Lakers' Ron Artest. It's nine o'clock on a Saturday night, and Ron Artest is signing autographs in the middle of fucking nowhere. And he's smiling. The 6'7", 260-pound forward for the LA Lakers sits in a flimsy wooden chair at a foldout banquet table, welcoming the long line of fans that stretches out in front of him. They've come to see him here in the desert, two hours outside of Los Angeles at the Indian gaming casino Pechanga. Over the course of his career, Artest, 31, has built a reputation for menace thanks to a history of suspensions, fights, and his all-around camera-smashing, referee-goading je ne sais quoi. "I'm still ghetto," Artest has been known to shout. "I'm a gangster, so fuck everything." But tonight Artest—taking a long sip from the cup of green tea steeping next to him—seems anything but gangster. "Ron! Ron!" a guy says, really excited. "Bless my cup so when I drink out of this I can play ball!" "No problem," Artest says. "What's your name?" "James. You all are gonna do it again! I got high hopes, high hopes." Those hopes are for a third straight championship for the Lakers this season, hopes that they will retain their position as the most dominant team in basketball today. The season is set to start less than 72 hours from now, but here sits Artest. At his elbow rests the glowing gold-plated championship trophy, and the fans tonight are jazzed, reliving that game all over again. Artest made the clinching ...

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