Ron Artest clarified comments he made regarding his drinking.

Artest was a guest Thursday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000 Chicago, and he said he was trying to portray himself as an example of how not to handle pressure.

"The whole point of it was to let people know I was not proud of how I was as a youngster, and how immature I was," Artest said. "I think the guy released the part of the story that was going to sell the newspapers.

"I think when the story comes out, it will show how I was not proud of how I was during my younger days in the NBA. But I think in order to get everybody interested in actually buying the paper, I think they just released all these power points, so to speak."

Artest said Thursday during the interview that the drinking took place "a lot of times before the game. It probably lasted for about a couple weeks, or maybe a month. I can't exactly remember."

Artest didn't elaborate about drinking during halftimes of games.

"I know before games, sometimes, I would take some sips before games," he said. "Most of the time it would be like when I would drive to the game with one my drivers, it would be right before the game."