...I wouldn't do it in a heartbeat. Not really even close, Artest is a nutcase. Still, in just about 2 minutes, I've been turned a bit. Too bad the cost is a bit steep; fact is, if this happens, it virtually ruins our chances of getting Rashard...which weren't that high anyways, but they're still not zero yet. And the trade pretty much deepens our 1 and 4 hole.
I'd do this in a heartbeat, even though Artest is a mental case. CHI had Rodman, and Artest brings a similar element ... toughness. It would be hard to get more talent for trading those assets, and Artest could not only be our top defender, but also a 3rd option scoring. That would probably mean the Rockets are looking to trade Battier ... The biggest problem with Artest, IMHO, is if there is a vacuum of leadership, as we have now. Rodman only worked for CHI because Jordan ran that team, and was the undisputed leader. I'd think we'd need other leader types that we brought into the mix, such as Francis and James. Too bad Sura is out of the mix ... lol
Sure-- I realized that I wasn't completely right after I said it. However, I see Rashard's game and offense coming merely because of the way seattle plays ball; his stats won't easily be replicated on a squad including Yao and Tmac. Artest's abilities are numbers are generated from scrappy broken plays; he's going to generate no matter which team he plays on. I think the sickest part of his game is that he was averaging nearly 3 steals per game at one point this season.
with all due respect to Battier(because of his defense) we havent got any players here... since Tmac arrived at the level of a Artest... we desperatley need to get these type of players atleast to get some sort of respect back... thankfully atleast we are putting feelers out for guys like Artest and Lewis...
Heat do not have more to offer. Haslem is probably their best valuable piece, but he duplicates Shareef and Kenny Thomas... the three of them collectively makes too much money. SAC is reported to not be interested in Heat's offer. The point of the Rockets package is young talent and salary dumping.
If the HEat are Shopping Haslem . . .well The rockets should be calling them as well Battier for Haslem . .. YES! I WOULD DO IT Rocket River
i understand but again, kings might not want to trade him to a western foe, esp. to a houston team that is easily just one piece away from winning the whole thing. i would love for it to happen b/c him and tmac are cool and artest respects tmac so im sure it would work. bonzi never played w/ tmac much so we never saw how it could have gone down. we only used bonzi when tmac was injured primarily.
I like that lineup too, but without Sura's expiring, I'm not sure how we could meet the financial end of a Lewis trade and make it attractive to Seattle. I know it's a long shot to begin with, but in looking at those scenarios, I don't think we could even meet the financial end of a Lewis deal if they made Artest-for-crap package and Mike James-for-Howard swaps. Maybe Battier ($5.8M), Luther Head ($1.12M), Steve Novak ($700K) for Rashard? That would only get you to a starting salary of about $9.5M for Lewis.
get artest w/ that deal. then deal battier + howard for haslem/wright PG - mike james hopefully or rafer SG - tmac SF - artest PF - haslem c - yao we are now officially the best team on the planet
What would be so so funny is that Vspan agrees to stay for another year, then gets shipped off to Sac, then JVG becomes their new coach. I'd do that deal in a second, but I don't know if we can play with battier, artest and t-mac on the floor at the same time.
As for this Artest rumor .... I think Artest is a huge risk -- it's fairly certain he will flake out at some point. I also hate when we talk about trading our first rounder AS we get closer to the draft and we get a better look at the potentials (just my personal preference since I like the draft). But, that proposal Ford put up there is not much of a loss at all for the Rockets. V-Span is the great unknown. Snyder may prove to be a dime-a-dozen type player. Sura's expiring needs to be used in a trade, so it's just the opportunity cost of what other trade options you could make. I look at it basically like our first rounder for Artest. It would make Artest fairly low-risk because it didn't cost a lot.
Good point. On every team Artest has played at, he's been the top (or tied) player on the team, with no one else to 'respect'. At least in Houston he'd have to save face w/ guys like Tmac and Yao. (Although I have a hunch Artest wouldn't have much respect for Yao, don't know why.) But has there been a headcase besides Rodman who has actually turned it around and been a solid player? Seriously? I can't think of one. Recently we've had Swift and Bonzi, and I can't imagine going through this crap again. I just randomly checked his wiki, funny quote here: In regards to Bonzi Wells' free agent status and re-signing with the Sacramento Kings, Ron said, "[Bonzi] called me last week. I told him if he leaves, then I'm going to kill him. Unless he wants to die, he's got to stay (with the Kings)." I have no idea what the context of the quote is (joking/serious?). We're great at defense but we seriously need an injection on offense or else we are really going to live and die by 3's and Tmac/Yao can never have a bad day. My head says 'hell no' to Artest. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited to see what happens next season if we got him.
exactly, i think this tells me the organization is obviously happy w/ battier, but they're not ecstatic w/ him. he can't create his own shot; he gives us no mismatch, and some games he misses wide open shots like alston. and his defense is still not on the level of artest. so i think if we do pull this off, we're not gonna keep battier. just doesn't make sense since we can use him to fill other needs. we can get mike james for cheap. then we can use battier to fill our PF need. but its all speculation. right now, getting mike james is an upgrade.
