Posts tagged RonArtest at FanHouse

Want a wild rumor, even worse than some photos of Josh Childress in a Greek airport? Enjoy this bomb from the Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick: the Detroit Pistons might be trying to trade for Ron Artest.

[F]rom what I was told from one source close to the Pistons, they [the Pistons] are [interested]. I've yet to get this info from more than one person, so stay tuned. But much like the Mavs' situation, this could be one of those where the player the Kings want (perhaps Tayshaun Prince) would be different than the one offered (Jason Maxiell, anyone?).

Sacramento would do backflips for Prince or Amir Johnson; Mad Max might be an opening-day starter at the power forward, but then again so might Wayman Tisdale. But alas, you skeezy non-Sacramentans: Artest at home in the Palace is the hook.

Last year, Ron-Ron was mercilessly booed in Detroit. Artest actually had a decent game, feeding off the negative energy, turning it into bombast and exhilaration. But the level of hatred coursing through the air that night seemed (at least on TV) borderline serious, borderline violent.

Could Detroit fans actually embrace The Ron? I'll defer to our resident Pistons fan on that query, though I do surely anticipate a Tourette's-like outburst and some throwing of items.

As had become apparent over the past few days, the Lakers were not interested in paying hyphy superstar Ronny Turiaf $17 million over four years. Thus, the Frenchman has relocated to the Bay Area and will suit up as a key cog in Don Nelson's big-man rotation for Golden State. Andris Biedrins expects to remain the starting center in Oakland (if he ever re-signs) and Al Harrington should be the default power forward (if he doesn't get traded). But Turiaf certainly isn't light years behind either on total basketball offerings -- it wouldn't surprise me to see any of them starting 50+ games and Golden State still have a decent season.

Meanwhile, we haven't really addressed what the Turiaf exit does to the Lakers. It was believed by several pundits/reporters that the Turiaf exit would create the necessary cushion in payroll to allow the addition of an albatross contract in trading for Ron Artest. While missing Turiaf's $4 million makes Kenny Thomas' $8 million functionally easier to swallow, it sure doesn't make the poison pill any more palatable.

And as Scott Howard-Cooper notes, losing Turiaf leaves L.A. a bit understaffed in the frontcourt. Behind Andrew Bynum (who happens to be coming off a serious-enough injury), there's Chris Mihm (who happens to be coming off a string of serious-enough injuries). Beyond those two, there's Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, the prospective trade bait for Artest (or any other stud small forward L.A. seeks). If Bynum's not ready, and Odom's gone -- that's a weak frontcourt (even with the addition of Thomas or Mikki Moore). Turiaf averaged almost 19 minutes a game. Who picks those up?

As it is, Odom can expect to play plenty of backup power forward to go along with his possible starting role at the three. A three-man big rotation excluding Mihm seems most likely, unless Mitch Kupchak can find a suitable sub this summer.

The Mavericks are said to be the latest team interested in acquiring Ron Artest, but so far, their offer to trade for the mercurial (I love that word) star is a little light. Dallas is said to be offering up Jerry Stackhouse (decent player, veteran grit, solid scorer) and Brandon Bass (young, inexpensive, and possibly a Jason Maxiell-light) for Artest, but the Kings are holding out for more: like Josh Howard, perhaps.

The Bee's Sam Amick doesn't see the Kings making the deal as is, and he also doesn't see the Mavericks going so far as to include Howard:

I can't even come close to seeing Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie doing this deal, not unless Josh Howard is involved. And from what I'm told, that's not going to happen. As the Mavs see it, the perceived risk of taking Artest is acceptable so long as the price of getting him is Bass and Stackhouse. Lose Howard to get Artest, though, and the gamble is too great.

That makes sense, because after all, you never know what you're going to get from Ron-Ron. But that was also largely the case with Josh Howard last season. J-Ho (really, kid needs a better nickname) was inconsistent all year, brought up his previously admitted marijuana use for absolutely no reason, and threw a birthday party during the playoffs that went specifically against the wishes of his head coach.

If I'm Dallas, I don't hesitate to trade Howard for Artest. I would not, however, include Brandon Bass in any deal. He just has too much upside being so young at the power forward spot -- a position where Dallas has been historically weak. Howard for Artest seems about right to me; a change of scenery might do both of them a lot of good.

Ron Artest isn't long for Sacramento, that much seems clear. Whether he ends up in Los Angeles or Miami or someplace else entirely remains to be seen, but it's probably safe to cross Denver off that list. In a cryptic email to Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News, Artest revealed that somewhere along the line he developed a grudge against the Nuggets:

"I cannot play in Denver because they question my drive to finish my career off strong and not embarrass my family,'' Artest wrote Sunday night. "Any player wants to win a championship is low risk.''

When asked to clarify, Artest refused to go into details:

"That's not even an option to be a Nugget,'' he wrote. "They let me know how they felt about me already.''

He did go on to say that he enjoyed watching the Nuggets play and in particular praised the play of Linas Kleiza and J.R. Smith, which makes you think his problem isn't with the players but the front office. The Nuggets and Kings were rumored to be in serious talks at the deadline but never found a common ground.

Connecting the dots, it seems possible that Artest has reason to believe talks broke down because the Nuggets questioned his desire to win. (Unless, of course, Artest's anger is once again misguided after receiving "wrong info" ...) But whatever the case is, Denver need not concern itself with joining the fray for his services, now or next summer when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Several important developments for the United Mercurial Forwards, Local #77 this morning. First, in his already-discussed story on an episodic MALOOF SMASH!, Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee tossed out a mention that Miami is believed to be interested in Ron Artest and willing to part with Shawn Marion to make it happen.

Shoals of The Sporting Blog relays Dwyane Wade's forlorn heartache over old pal Lamar Odom, though Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel holds back from suggesting any sort of franchise interest in a reunion.

Meanwhile, a prospective Odom-Artest swap remains plausible as it ever was.

Can't we work out an agreement which suits everyone here? Artest and Kenny Thomas (or Mikki Moore, see if I care) to Los Angeles, L.O. to Miami, Marion to Sacramento. Or flip it: Artest and KT (or Moore; I still don't care!) to Miami, Marion to L.A., Odom to Sacramento. The Kings will assume any expiring contract who can rebound, I'd guess. L.A. needs a defender in short-term; Artest and Marion both fits the qualifications. Miami should prefer Odom but the syntax of adding Artest would be much cleaner.

I don't know, can't we draw straws to get something done here?

The Kings organization has always remained mostly mum during the adventures of Ron Artest. Geoff Petrie and the Maloofs typically support Ron-Ron, noting how damn good of a ballplayer he has been and injecting some understanding and context into his consistent e-mail blasts to the media. But the patience has dried up, apparently.

A few days after Artest lit into the Maloof family -- basically calling them disloyal, uncommitted promise-breakers -- one of the billionaire playboys fired back in comments to the Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick.

"He has to balance the way he acts," Joe Maloof said by phone. "He's got to control his emotions a little better. You've got to try and keep your cool a little bit. "

"Take a deep breath and quit flying off the handle with comments that don't make sense. I hate to say it that way, but that's how I feel. It doesn't make sense to me."

The depth to which the Maloofs welcomed Artest to Sacramento is famous. The best vignette is the story of when the brothers visited Ron's neighborhood in Queensbridge during an offseason. Coach Reggie Theus has been a part of the mattress-soft kowtowing to Ron-Ron too, insisting Artest is the only dependable scorer and best player on the team (alienating the real future of the franchise) just to keep Ron's head straight.

They have all forgiven a lot. But you just don't talk about someone's mom, man, and Ron apparently finally crossed a line. There's no flippin' way Artest is still wearing a Kings jersey in October. No flippin' way.

If you're a disgruntled player entering a contract year with a team that has made absolutely clear it will not sign you to a long-term deal next summer, and you decide you want to be traded, what's the logical next step? Tell the media you're firing your agent, of course! Ron Artest, how we love thee.

Marc Stein of ESPN.com has the breathless dialogue.

In a series of e-mails he sent to ESPN.com late Saturday and early Sunday, Artest continued to lament his decision to pass on an opportunity to become a free agent July 1 by announcing that he is now representing himself without an agent and expressing hope that he will soon be traded to "a team out there that can be more committed than Sacramento to me."

It's not really a "trade demand," and the semantic battle between "hopes," "demands" and "requests" can be fought all day without any deeper understanding of the situation. Whatever the depth of Artest's hope, it's a fairly serious statement, even for a man no one should take seriously when he makes statements.

For what it's worth, Artest's agent Mark Stevens indicates he has not been fired in a brief talk with the Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick.

"I haven't heard anything about that," Stevens said by phone. "I don't know anything about it." Asked about his reaction if it proved to be true, he said, "I don't respond to 'ifs.'"

So there you go. Ignore all the idiosyncrasies of the situation, and it really is a logical turn of events. Stevens read Sacramento's intentions with Artest terribly, Artest feels unwell about his long-term security and would prefer to be in a more certain position, Artest blames everyone and fires his agent through the media, and Geoff Petrie chokes down a handful of blood pressure pills. This is exactly how things should work.

Previously on FanHouse:
Lakers Owners Want Artest
Artest-for-Odom Trade in the Pipeline?

Maybe Ron Artest will be connected with the Lakers so regularly this offseason he'll just be acquired by osmosis. As annoying as the microreportage might become, we at FanHouse feel obligated to keep you as knowledgeable as possible about every detail of the Ron-L.A. courtship.

That said: two interesting data points. Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee -- who has owned this story in the traditional press -- apparently went on the radio in Southern California last week to report a lower-level member of the Buss family (owners of the Lakers) told L.A. general manager Mitch Kupchak to get Artest in a Laker jersey.

ESPN.com's Marc Stein backs this up.

Word is L.A. believes that any fears about Artest's reliability can be assuaged by the fact that Phil Jackson would be coaching him and that Kobe Bryant would be his teammate. Kobe and Ron-Ron share a mutual respect that suggests no threat to the Lakers' pecking order.

Insists one source close to the process: "[Lakers owner] Jerry Buss actually likes Ron Artest's game and his personality."

Buss might be the only person in existence who could make that claim. (I kid, sorta. I'm not a hater, Ron!)

To wrap this up, let's go with the truly bizarre from a Bee blog post by Scott Howard-Cooper, in which, for the first time in his career, Artest doesn't say too much in an interview.

There's been chatter about a potential Ron Artest trade to the Lakers for roughly 18 months now; L.A.'s ejection from the Finals thanks in part to Lamar Odom's uneven performance has intensified the talk among fans and reporters. Earlier this week, Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee reported the Lakers called Kings president Geoff Petrie about Artest during the NBA's moratorium. (Petrie wanted to wait until Beno Udrih had officially signed his contract before discussing trades. Also, he wanted to see Stevie Wonder in concert.)

Yesterday on an ESPN Radio show in Los Angeles, Kings co-owner Joe Maloof confirmed the Lakers have called about Artest, and he certainly didn't shy away from speculation Odom was the player on the table according to this fan's transcript. While the Maloofs will (apparently) leave the details to Petrie, you sense there's interest from Sacramento in making something work here. Obviously, the Lakers are interested ... though the $6-8 million player they'd have to take back with Artest is a likely sticking point.

The Lakers would prefer Mikki Moore, an athletic, spirited big man who shoots infrequently but efficiently and is guaranteed only $2 million in 2009-10, if you cut him before opening day. The Kings would much rather give up Kenny Thomas, a dead-weight growler who used to be effective, but now just takes up cap space. Thomas is owed something like $8.5 million in 2009-10, and L.A.'s over the luxury tax limit (unless they don't extend Kobe next summer, hahahaLOLOL).

Judging by Petrie's refusal to give up Artest for little-to-nothing at the deadline, he won't relent if Moore's not the player he wants to lose. It all comes down to how desperate the Lakers are, and how much they believe Artest can help them next spring. (One plugged-in fan doesn't think it is an upgrade.) Based on L.A.'s early overtures, it seems the team isn't waiting to see how things work out with a healthy Andrew Bynum before making a move.

It's not rare to hear old school sportswriters complain about their lack of access to athletes these days. Lately, I'm starting to wonder if that's just because they haven't figured out how to use email. Over the last couple of weeks, Ron Artest has emailed the media near daily updates on his contract status.

That's how he told the world he "probably won't" opt out, and that he'll "never accept a mid-level exception." Days later he hinted he might opt out after all, saying "I never knew so many teams would be coming after me. Just hours after officially deciding to stay put, he emailed ESPN's Marc Stein, saying, "I think I made the biggest mistake by staying in my contract." That last bombshell attracted quite a bit of attention -- it's not often you see a player publicly admit to having cold feet so soon -- and this morning he emailed an explanation to Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee:

"I made the comment about making a mistake on my opt out clause because I really did make a mistake. I had wrong info about extension options and it could have cost me a new deal. I was informed that the kings had me in their long term plans so that's why I decided to stay in contract. I just wanted to show loyalty. However when I spoke to the kings that was not an option and I grew frustrated with my decision immediately. I do apologize for being mistakenly frustrated with the kings. It was a mistake that I made and I will move on from. I dont know my future but I'm still a King Haters:)"

Take that for what you will. That smiley face at the end of the last sentence confounds me (does he hate the Kings or not?), but now we know the backstory: he thought he'd be rewarded for being loyal and he's disappointed that's not the case. Does this mean he'd welcome a trade? Methinks this isn't the last email Artest will send this summer.