No Malice: My Life in Basketball or: How a Kid from Queensbridge Survived the Streets, the Brawls, and Himself to Become an NBA Champion

281 Pages·2018·14.065 MB·English

by  Metta World Peace, Ryan Dempsey

NO MALICE
MY LIFE IN BASKETBALL
OORR
How a Kid from Queensbridge Survived the Streets,
the Brawls, and Himself to Become an NBA Champion
METTA WORLD PEACE
with Ryan Dempsey

NO MALICE
Copyright © 2018 by Metta World Peace and Ryan Dempsey
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher, Triumph Books LLC, 814 North
Franklin, Chicago, Illinois 60610.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: World Peace, Metta, 1979– author. | Dempsey, Ryan,
1977– collaborator.
Title: No malice : my life in basketball, or, how a kid from
Queensbridge survived the streets, the brawls, and himself
to become an NBA champion / Metta World Peace, with
Ryan Dempsey.
Description: Chicago, Illinois : Triumph Books LLC, [2017]
Identifiers: LCCN 2017023037 | ISBN 9781629374031
Subjects: LCSH: World Peace, Metta, 1979– | Basketball
players—United States—Biography. | Basketball—United
States—History—20th century.
Classification: LCC GV884.W6744 A3 2017 | DDC 796.323092
[B] —dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc
.gov/2017023037
This book is available in quantity at special discounts for your group
or organization. For further information, contact:
Triumph Books LLC
814 North Franklin
Chicago, Illinois 60610
[phone]
www.triumphbooks.com
Printed in U.S.A.
ISBN 978-1-62937-403-1
Design by Sue Knopf
Photos courtesy of the author unless otherwise indicated
To my mom, for impressing upon me
the value of making things fun,
and to my dad, for showing me the importance
of doing things right.

Contents
Foreword by Phil Jackson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
QUEENSBRIDGE
Chapter 1 The Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Chapter 2 Streetball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 3 Life on Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Chapter 4 Just Say No . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Chapter 5 A Way Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Chapter 6 Made in Manhattan . . . . . . . . . . 53
Chapter 7 Ballers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Chapter 8 The Kings of New York . . . . . . . . 75
Chapter 9 Ron Artest Goes to College . . . . . 83
CHICAGO
Chapter 10 The Rookie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Chapter 11 Hennessy Has No Place . . . . . . 113
in the Locker Room
INDIANA
Chapter 12 Naptown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Chapter 13 From Pretenders to Contenders. . 131
Chapter 14 The Malice at the Palace . . . . . . 143
SACRAMENTO AND HOUSTON
Chapter 15 Sactown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Chapter 16 Breaking the Cycle. . . . . . . . . . 171
Chapter 17 In Houston, We Had a Problem. . 181
LOS ANGELES
Chapter 18 I Love L.A.!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Chapter 19 Bigger Than Basketball . . . . . . . 215
Chapter 20 Give Peace a Chance . . . . . . . . 223
NEW YORK
Chapter 21 Empire State of Mind . . . . . . . . 239
WORLDWIDE WORLD PEACE
Chapter 22 The Panda’s Friend Goes to China 247
LOS ANGELES
Chapter 23 I Love L.A.! Vol. 2 . . . . . . . . . . 255
Chapter 24 Positivity Not Negativity . . . . . . 265
Foreword
I
had just been named coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in
1999 when we had Ron Artest and three other draft-eligible
players come in to work out with our staff. I sat in on an
interview with Ron after the workout, and I asked him why
he was coming out of St. John’s after only his sophomore year.
He told me he had a responsibility to his family and that he
had a steady girlfriend. What I learned from that interview
was that even though he presented this warrior attitude on
the basketball court, Ron had a naïve, innocent nature about
him that was endearing.
Ron was the 16th pick in the first round by the Chicago
Bulls, a team I had coached through the 1990s. I closely
watched his progress as a professional. He was selected to the
NBA’s All-Rookie Team. He was traded to the Indiana Pacers
a couple years later in a multi-player trade. While he was with
the Pacers, he had success and helped the team. However,
in 2004 he was involved in an ugly situation that ended with
Ron in the stands fighting with a fan and getting suspended
9