Statistics will tell you that Metta World Peace is nearing the end of his career. Last season, he averaged 8.5 points per game — more than two less than any other year of his career. He also posted career lows in rebounds (3.2) and played less than 30 minutes a game for the first time since the 2001-2002 season. Now, the artist formerly known as Artest is dealing with a coach that frustrates him and a team that may be tired of his antics.

“He’s always talking about how he should be playing no matter how bad he’s shooting, but he can’t figure out that when he takes bad shots and misses eight in a row it puts us in a hole,” one anonymous Laker told FoxSportsWest.com.

“There are a lot of guys in here who’d just like to see him gone,” added another player. “I think we’d definitely be a better team if everyone didn’t have to walk on eggshells when he’s around.”

A third anonymous player said that the team is “just waiting for him to go off.” Not go off as in go on a scoring binge — go off as in go off the deep end. Not surprisingly, the report also says that Brown would be open to trading World Peace because he has played so poorly. I’m sure it hasn’t helped matters that he continues to question Brown’s coaching style and refer to him as a “stats guy.”

World Peace is shooting just over 50 percent from the free throw line and 19 percent from beyond the arc. He is clearly either too old or too distracted to contribute to the Lakers at this point. If they hope to make another run in the postseason this year with their aging superstars and questionable bench, L.A. will have to shed some baggage before things get out of hand. From the sound of it, peace could be achieved by getting rid of Peace.

H/T I Am a GM

When we posted our story last week about Metta World Peace saying he got bored on defense because he was too good, we took a lot of crap for calling him by his former name, Ron Artest. Turns out our decision wasn’t too disrespectful — Metta isn’t even at the point where he’s signing autographs by his new name.

Metta’s personal assistant arrived at the team’s practice facility recently to pick up autographed basketballs but realized they said “Ron Artest” on them. Metta explained that his new signature isn’t ready yet.

“I don’t like the signature yet,” World Peace later explained. “It’s not how I want it yet. I’m trying to figure out how to sign it.”

My vote goes for a fancy M and the peace sign. That’s fast, simple, and sweet. How can Ron Ron complain about that?

Ron Artest has been known as one of the better defensive players in the NBA throughout most of his career. Teams bring in Artest — oops, Metta World Peace — to prevent points, not score them. World Peace almost always draws the assignment of defending an opponent’s best offensive player, but this year his defense has slipped a bit. Some say it’s simply age taking its course, but World Peace has a more interesting theory.

“The defense, I got to bring it back,” World Peace said Thursday according to ESPNLosAngeles.com. “I got bored with defense because it was so easy for me to stop people over the years. I got real bored with it. When you’re playing against guys and you’re stopping guys every single time, what else are you going to do (but get bored)? It caught up to me, but this year I’m doing better. This year I’m almost back to where I want to be.”

Hate when that happens.  You would think the Lakers’ mediocre 11-8 record would keep him somewhat interested, and perhaps it has.  World Peace played well defensively during a 96-91 victory over the Clippers Wednesday night.  As far as getting bored is concerned, World Peace’s teammates aren’t upset with him.  In fact, Kobe Bryant can relate.

“That’s happened to me before as well,” Bryant said. “That’s human nature sometimes. You have to have (and) you have to find challenges that kind of get you going and keep your energy. ”

World Peace said that some of the Clippers were talking trash during Wednesday’s game, which woke him up.  The bottom line is the Lakers aren’t exactly breezing through the Western Conference.  If they want to make another run in the postseason this year, they’ll have to do their best to limit the boredom.  Maybe giving World Peace a Red Bull or something before the game would help.