Artest is back.
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In the 2003-04 season, Ron Artest made his first All-Star game, was voted to the All-NBA Third Team and was named the Defensive Player of the Year. He started 2004-05 season strong, leading his team with 24.6 points per game. On November 19th though, Artest got into an altercation with Detroit's Ben Wallace, was provoked by a beer throwing fan and ran into the stands, starting a brawl that resulted in nine players being suspended for a total of 130 games. Artest was suspended for the remainder of the season. Now, he's back. He's bigger, stronger and he hasn't lost a step. But has he learned his lesson? Before his first preseason game against the Nets, Artest said "I'm going to continue playing hard and out of control, like a wild animal that needs to be caged in." No one really knows how he will behave. If he can stay in line, the Pacers are again a favorite in the Eastern Conference. There's seemingly no middle ground on Artest. You either love him or you hate him. We took the pulse of the media and talked to some of the people around him to see what they think.

The President and CEO:

I believe Ronnie is one of the 10 best players in the NBA, and certainly is if you take both sides of the ball into consideration. Obviously, when you bring a player like that back, he has a gigantic effect on your team. He has worked really hard since he's been off. He's obviously hungry to play because he didn't play last year. I think he has learned his lesson and he understands now that there can't be anymore incidents. I think he feels bad about the fact that he was suspended and it put our team in a very awkward position. So he really wants to come back and be a great teammate and he wants to win very badly. He has always been like that. That may be part of his problem. He wants to win too much. --Donnie Walsh

The Coach:
	We're really excited. He's obviously missed a lot of time and worked very hard to get back to this point. Both he and our franchise have looked forward to this for a long time. He's one of the top players in the league so that's going to make any coach's job easier to do. There are a lot of reasons that we're glad he's back. That's one of many. --Rick Carlisle

The Teammates:
	He means a lot to our team. He's a big piece of this machine and we need him to make this run for a championship. Having him back makes a lot of people's jobs a lot easier. This year's been a little bit different. He's been talking a lot more this year. That's been the biggest difference. Normally he's pretty quiet. This year he's been more open and more vocal about things that he's feeling or what the team should be doing and that's what we need him to do. We need him to voice his opinion about stuff and we need to understand how he feels. I think the changes that he made this year are going to speak volumes throughout the season. I think being away from the game for that period of time gave him the opportunity to step back and evaluate the whole situation. He saw some things that he needed to improve on and that we all need to improve on. He's brought a lot back to the table. His physical ability was never a question. He seems to be really at peace. He seems to be happier and he's going to be one of the reasons we reach the championship this year. --Jermaine O'Neal
	We lost our best defensive stopper last year. We'd score enough points to win, but we couldn't stop them. Our defense is based around Ron. You can put him on 1 through 5 and he's going to play as hard as he can and he's going to do a good job on both ends. Before he got suspended, he was the leading scorer on our team, so you lose a lot when you lose a player like Ron. It's great to have him back. He's not a bad person. Everytime somebody says that stuff about him, it's kind of irritating because nobody knows him. You just see what you see on the court, but off the court he's a great person. --David Harrison
	When Ron's in there with Jermaine and I, he's the heaviest guy on the court. That's an anomaly in this league to have a small forward that weighs 255-260 and does such a great job of taking up space like no other player in the league can. Overall, offensively and defensively he's one of the top 5 players in the league in my opinion. --Jeff Foster

The Opponent:
	He's strong. He's physical. Strong, physical guys are tough. You can have guys who are just physical and guys who are just strong. He's both. He's a smart defender, so you have to attack and whenever you get a chance or a step, you have to take advantage of it. There's no playing with the ball around him. The guy could play two or three positions, 2, 3 and 4. --Vince Carter

The Broadcaster:

He's always accessable. He's very easy to get along with. What people who see him from afar don't understand is that whatever problems he's had and whatever issues he deals with, he's a good-hearted guy. Whenever we need him for anything, he's always available. Whenever we ask him to do something, he's always willing to cooperate. He's just a nice guy. He's been with us long enough now that you start to get to know a guy a little bit, and I don't have anything to say about him other than good things. I think he's a great guy. --Mark Boyle (Pacers play-by-play announcer)

The Media:

It's a shame Artest hasn't learned his lesson and toned down his demeanor. The NBA and the world of sports do not need his wild antics anymore. Celebrating a touchdown or taunting a pitcher after a home run is one thing, but pulling a Mike Tyson and trying to physically deform an already chubby and uncoordinated man is not entertainment. It's downright scary. --John Cantalupi - The Georgetown Voice We forgive just about everyone who apologizes, but the truth is, people don't change overnight. Athletes, politicians and celebrities see remorse as their ticket to public-relations rejuvenation. And so they lie. Not Artest, though. He still has problems with his temper. He's still a head case. And he's still an example of so many things that are wrong with professional sports. But at least he's honest. --San Antonio Express-News Artest is an immensely talented power forward who plays hard every game. He rarely shortchanges himself, his teammates or the fans. That’s to be admired, and no one wants to see him become a wallflower on a basketball court. But he also has issues, and even if his colorful comments can be dismissed as so much bravado, they should raise a red flag in the commissioner’s office, as well as for Pacers officials. --Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Finally, we wanted to let the man speak for himself. What did Artest say when asked if there was anything he'd like to tell NBA fans?

"I got an album coming out in late January, early February. It's nice."

There you have it.