Mike Brown has been around the NBA. Metta World Peace — formerly known as Ron Artest — has been around the NBA, too.
They crossed paths back in the early 2000s in Indiana.
And as the young and fiery Artest did with many a coach, they clashed. Almost coming to blows.
In a story about why Mike Brown has quickly been accepted with the Warriors (where he sits at Steve Kerr’s right hand), Anthony Slater of the San Jose Mercury News got Brown to tell the story. It started when Brown was running practice for a day and ordered a starters vs. bench scrimmage.The starters lost. Brown told the losers to run. A fuming Artest booted the basketball to the rafters. Brown confronted him.
“I yelled, ‘Ron, don’t kick that ball!’”
“I’ll do what the (bleep) I want,” Artest yelled back.
“Don’t you kick that ball again,” Brown demanded.
Artest didn’t. He instead charged toward Brown.
“I’m thinking, ‘Oh my god, I’m gonna have to fight him,’” Brown said. “Please somebody help me. Michael Smith – Michael ‘The Animal’ Smith – stepped in and stopped the thing.”How does this tie into respect?
“One thing I love about Mike, he was never afraid to confront me,” World Peace said. “Although I wouldn’t listen at times – I was very, very controversial, in my own world – but Mike always confronted me. I loved it. Because he never let me do wrong. He never, ever let me do wrong.”
Insert your own “Draymond Green could use that” comments here. Brown will fit in just fine in Golden State.