Really?? I always thought battier was better, I haven't seen a lot artest except for games against the rockets, and T-Mac has held a pretty good average against the Kings so it doesn't seem that way. Do you think he can guard the perimeter guys like battier does?
If we get Artest, we'll definitely need to take out some insurance. And I don't mean for injuries to himself.
I absolutely love the idea of getting Artest and KT for Battier and Howard. Both upgrades for us. They get character, we get toughness. Add new coach Rick Adelman, who got a good performance from Artest and Wells. Keep Wells. With luck, add SF3. Place on ground, light fuse, run away quick . Seriously, that would a major talent upgrade, a major upgrade in grit and toughness and fire, to go with our somewhat soft star duo. We are going to have to take a big risk, before blowing this whole thing up, when Tmac's back goes, his lift goes, and we're stuck with him in a max contract.
Getting Artest would be great - it would shore up the sg position, and we could slide t-mac down to the 3. Shane could be a bench player as he should be. We'd need to pick up an upgrade at the pg and make a move for a pf.
1. why would you want to have another lock down type of SF? we have it in Shane. 2. Play Artest as PF is the same as play Shane as PF, it is such a waste. Their biggest strength is play lock down defense on opponent's SG/SF, it's around the 3pt line. 3. If you want to keep Artest as a SF, then he will have to come off from the bench, I don't think he takes that very well. And he is a very expensive bench player, I'd rather spend that money to get a starting PF.
Perimeter players don't win DPOTY by mistake. NYer - What would you think of playing Artest at the 4? Similar to what we were planning on doing with Shane at the beginning of the year, except Artest is meaner/stronger? I'm dreamcasting here, but imagine if Wells sticks around, and Francis gets bought out and returns as well... surrounding Mac/Yao with Francis, Wells, and Artest adds a lot of talent, craziness, and toughness. Will - Do you think this is the type of "guns blazing" move if we want to give the TMac/Yao era one more shot?
Even if they trade him for "no value" we'd have to have to a contract that matches to trade....do we have a contract like that we can trade? Would Howard match?
I'd probably do this trade, but I wouldn't jump on it as quickly as some. Artest is definitely a better player than Battier. But Shane shot nearly 0.6% better from the 3 point line, a fairly considerable difference, and an important factor on this team. What's more, while we get improved athleticism overall, Ron doesn't really bring increased speed. In fact, whereas with Battier you know you get either the open shot or swinging the ball, with Artest, at least from watching him against the Rockets, he was great, but tended to dominate possessions. If he could be persuaded to play more within whatever offense is installed, and take pride in being the Shane Battier hustle-guy, with offensive skills to boot, than great, but I haven't seen enough of him to know if he can do that. KT sucks. Shareef would be an improvement over Howard, but not that much of one. I think the deal definitely helps us get past Utah, but does it get us past teams like Phoenix, or GS, or Dallas? And how long before Artest blows up, and Shareef's contract becomes an albatross? So if this is the only move for improvement available, I probably do it. But I'd explore other options first.
Dude I think maybe your just not getting it Artest has won the defensive player of the year. He is by far the best perimeter defender in the league and has an unbelievable ability to lock down premier players. He is huge but still way faster than Battier. Just watch a game where he plays Kobe dude is unbelievable saying Battier is better than him is like saying Tmac is better than Michael Jeffrey Jordan. Ron Ron is one of the best defenders I have ever seen when he is on.
They will not trade him for no value. Trading for Howard only only shaves the smallest amount off their cap, and Howard is a lot worse than Artest, and extremely duplicative on that Sacramento team. Adding in a draft pick helps, but not if its the 26th pick in the draft. If I'm the Kings GM and all I can get for Artest is Juwan Howard, then I'm waiting until the trade deadline when something better will pop up...or till next offseason. If nothing better ever pops up, oh well, at least you weren't stuck with Juwan Howard for 2 years.
you are right about howard not being enough. but throw in a player like head or snyder with a small contract and the ability to flourish in their system and you make them think twice. especially if the other offer on the table is kwame brown...yikes... who knows...maybe his buddy bonzi can show him all the fine dining houston has to offer and he can bulk up for some serious PF minutes..
Agreed. Howard + Snyder would be a no brainer...and so, probably not enough for Sacramento. Howard + Head might make them think about it, though. I'd do that deal, as much as I like Head (no pun intended!)
