Yao, Artest Are Gonna Be Friends

The two biggest names in yesterday’s not-quite-done blockbuster could not be happier. Artest is “going to dance with the stars,” and T-Mac called the trade “what I have been waiting on for 11 years in my career.” But there’s been some consternation over Yao Ming’s reaction, especially these quotes in the The Houston Chronicle:↵↵⇥“We worry about the new attitude to the team. We are adding talent to the team and we need that, but building team chemistry is important. This is not bad. I don’t mean he is not welcome to Houston. But a new player always needs some time.↵⇥
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↵⇥“Also, he was the biggest part of a team in Sacramento. He was a star player. We need more chemistry and more communication . . . Hopefully, he’s not fighting anymore and going after a guy in the stands.”↵↵Artest, for his part, took this pretty well. On KHTK radio, he revealed that he’d called Yao to announce that he’s “a Yao Ming soldier babyyyyyy!.” This even after admitting that Yao’s mention of the brawl, “hit me in the soft spot.”↵
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↵Storm is brewing! Trouble in pre-paradise! Break out the woven bracelets and team unity now! Then again, in The Bee, Artest has implored Yao to respect and learn about his “ghetto culture.” Yao prefaced his cautionary comments with ”“For some reason, I like (Artest). Because in the games we play against him, I hate him.” You know, loopy, almost playful stuff. Seems like Artest and Yao—both endlessly quotable, slightly devious, and full of opinions—are sniffing out each other in a language both can understand. Some see this as a rocky beginning; I see it as the ideal courtship.↵
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↵If you’re going to put Artest and Yao on one team, you might as well let them play off each other in the media. They feed off of it in the same way T-Mac sometimes shirks it, and it’s a large part of what makes them larger-than-life figures. Plus, these off-the-cuff remarks are worlds away from the “all together now” interviews the Celtics gave as soon as the deal was announced. Talk about an all-business bummer.↵