The idea of starting Matt Barnes and bringing the disruptive play of Metta World Peace off the bench makes some sense, you can see why Lakers coach Mike Brown wants to try it.
The question was always, how would World Peace react? (Yes, I get how weirdly that sentence reads, but I refuse to just to go with “we have to give Peace a chance.”)
Turns out, Peace is cool with it, as reported in the Daily News.‘It’s going to be good. I get a chance to come in and have more responsibility, which is good. It’s going to make the other team off balance. Kobe, Pau and Bynum are going to be out and you’re still going to have to double-team me. You can’t leave me alone on the block by myself.”
Brown used an old Phil Jackson trick and made his point to Artest in front of the media, just to make the promise public.
Brown: “If that second unit ain’t rolling, who’s fault is it going to be?”
World Peace: “Me.”
Brown: “It’s on you. We’ve had this discussion a couple of times. If the second unit ain’t rolling, who am I going to come to first?”
World Peace: “Right here.”