I'd be psyched to have Ron Artest on my team, before he hits his prime.
And for anyone claiming Artest was some offensive wunderkind, he was a 41% career shooter and 34% career from 3. That is not out of reach for Marcus Smart, and Smart could be equal on defense.
In his second season Artest averaged 11.9 points on 40% shooting and 29% 3pt shooting.
3.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists
Smart is at 37% and 34% when he hasn't even been healthy enough to play close to two seasons of games with 10.5, 4.5, 3.5.
Even if you want to back to his injury riddled campaign last year he had 9, 4 and 3 on 35% and 25%
Really not much of a difference. Rinse Lather Repeat. TPs for all that shoot down the madness!
Guess who ever called him a poor mans version doesn't really understand that expression.
Also a final nail in the coffin for this loser of a debate saying Young Ron Artest was more successful than young Marcus Smart.
Smart's similar numbers were on a team winning 48 games. Artest's Bulls won 15 games.
Smart even averaged less turnovers as a guard! Feels good to disprove something so resoundingly with fair numbers.
"Something-something tiers, something-something per 36"
Funny... I used Per-36 for Smart's own benefit. Do straight-up comparison of Artest his first 3 years vs Smart so far and Artest is the hands down winner. Not to mention he was a better defender and had more size on Smart.
Player FG% 3P% FT% TRB AST STL BLK PTS
Marcus Smart .359 .299 .706 3.8 3.1 1.5 0.3 8.6
Metta World Peace .410 .306 .700 4.3 2.7 2.0 0.6 12.3
LOL how can you compare their 3rd season when Smart has played 11 games. By regular statistics Smart's second year was the same or better than second year Artest. By advanced stats second year Smart was superior to second year Artest. Does that upset you?
Artest's 2nd season he averaged 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals with 40%/29%/75% shooting... Smart's 2nd season he averaged 9.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.5 steals with historically bad 35%/25%/77% shooting
In what world was SMart's 2nd season better?
Clay, I wasn't comparing Smart's 3rd season (in which he's been dead last in offensive rating) to Artest's 3rd season. I was comparing Artest through his first 3 years (all 3 years combined) vs Smart through his entire NBA career. Does that upset you?
It does not make sense to include a full season for Artest for an 11 game stretch for Smart and act like it is a fair comparison for smart.
Let's get a couple things straight...
#1 Artest's stats were better by any measure by any length of time you arbitrarily decide to use. Want to compare them over their first 2 season instead?... fine... Artest wins:
Player FG% 3P% FT% TRB AST STL BLK PTS
Marcus Smart .357 .296 .720 3.7 3.1 1.5 0.3 8.4
Metta World Peace .404 .304 .712 4.1 2.9 1.8 0.6 12.0
#2 You can't use offensive rating and defensive rating in that way. You can't compare those numbers from two very different teams of very different levels of success 15 years apart from one another. It's more interesting to note that during that 2nd season you keep referring to, Marcus Smart was 10th on his team in offensive rating... During Artest's 2nd season he was 8th on his team in offensive rating. During Smart's second season he was tied for 9th on his team in defensive rating. Artest was 1st on his team in defensive rating. Consider the impact each had.
I compared them over their second season. Smart just finished his second season. It is his most recent data point. Artest played a complete second season.
You compare those two seasons. This is the fairest comparison you can make. After this season we can compare their 3rd seasons.
Now again, overall, Smart was a little better. You do your favorite per 36 and he averaged more rebounds, assists and less turnovers while shooting a slightly worse percentage and 1.8 points less.
Here they are again
Smart per 36 second season: 12 points, 5.5 rebounds 4 assists, 1.7 turnovers. 35% FG, 27% 3P
Advanced 101ORT 103 DRT, 2.9 WS
Artest per 36 second season : 13.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.4 turnovers 40% fg, 29% 94ORT, 104DRT and 1.9 WS
Smart was a little better. He certainly wasn't a poor man's version like you suggested. This isn't complicated and I am sorry you were wrong.