There will be no World Peace coming to England.
The agent for Metta World Peace — aka Ron Artest — has shot down another rumor of the player’s off-season wanderings. After shooting down the Finland rumor last week, this time around David Bauman was shooting down the idea from his client he wanted to play in England if the NBA lockout continues.
ESPNLosAngeles spoke with Bauman.“I told him, ‘Ron, the league over there is not strong enough to really give you the competition that you want,’ ” Bauman said in a phone interview with ESPNLosAngles.com on Monday. “Even though that makes sense from a (convenience standpoint), it doesn’t make sense from a basketball perspective….
“England is probably the 10th or 12th best league in Europe,” Bauman said. “That isn’t going to make sense. If we do Europe, it’s going to be Israel, Russia, Greece, Turkey, Italy or maybe France. ... When we spoke about the lockout, Ron said, ‘Find me the best teams.’ ”So throw Artest in the massive pile of NBA players who are considering going overseas. Again, we have our doubts about this flood of players signing (it makes for public pressure on the owners in negotiations but we don’t see it happening) but Artest is one guy who might be able to adjust to any situation thrown at him.
