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Name: Ron Artest
College: St. John's
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 235
Class: Junior
Position: Small Forward
Other Position: Shooting Guard
NBA.com profile
Ron Artest
Stats (Provided by JazzyJ)
                  G  MIN  FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA  REB  PF AST  TO BLK STL  PTS
97-98 St John's  32  870 139  335  34 104  60 114  201  79  62  92  36  52  372
98-99 St John's  37 1265 196  418  58 155  85 132  232  85 156 105  44  76  535
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TOTALS           69 2135 335  753  92 259 145 246  433 164 218 197  80 128  907
                  MIN   FG%   3P%   FT%  RPG  APG  TPG  BPG  SPG   PPG
97-98 St John's  27.2  41.5  32.7  52.6  6.3  1.9  2.9  1.1  1.6  11.6
98-99 St John's  34.2  46.9  37.4  64.4  6.3  4.2  2.8  1.2  2.1  14.5
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TOTALS           30.9  44.5  35.5  58.9  6.3  3.2  2.9  1.2  1.9  13.1

Scouting reports

Scout: Phil Nation

Ron Artest is one of the most versatile players in this draft. He is capable of doing many things at the offensive end of the floor, and he put them on display this past season as the leader of a St. John's team that almost reached the Final Four.

Artest does many things to help a team win. Offensively, he can score in any way possible, be it from outside, going to the basket, or posting up. He is a good passer and involves his teammates like a point guard. He is a solid defensive player and rebounds well.

Artest is not a tremendous athlete, but he knows how to play the game, is a great leader, and defense as good as his is hard to come by in a college player these days. His size may be a question mark, as he'll be smaller than most small forwards a t 6'6" and is more bulky than most as well. The other potential problem for Artest is that he does not do any one thing exceptionally well other than defend.

I look for Artest to be a late lottery pick at best. However, a team picking him early in the lottery might not be making a terrible mistake if they desperately need leadership.

Scout: Jeffrey Burgoyne [burgoyne@ultimate-sports.com]

Artest is one of the more intriguing picks available in the draft. His numbers would seem to indicate he's a PG/SG style player, yet he is a big player (6'6, 235). He's just not quick enough to play PG, and only marginally so for SG. His lack of height would be a concern for guarding other SF's around the league.

Even with these perceived negatives, however, Artest is a very good one on one defender using smarts rather than athletic ability to be effective (in that regard reminds me of Chris Mullin). He compliments his defensive ability with good rebounding and good passing. His average of 4.2 apg last year was impressive, and certainly wasn't that far of from a true PG like Avery (5.0 assists with talented teammates).

Artest will not be a huge scorer at the NBA level. Indeed, 14 ppg in college was low. His scoring was not the most efficient either, although he has decent range on his jumper, but for some reason is a poor FT shooter. If he drops 10 pounds, however, and develops a solid outside game, he could turn into a very solid NBA SG along the lines of a Bobby Phills.

Craig Simpson - Usenet Draft Commissioner

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