Artest has no beef with Kings New Rocket's immediate goal remains meshing with teammates By JONATHAN FEIGEN Had the Rockets wanted to pump up ticket sales for the last home game of the preseason tonight against the Sacramento Kings, Ron Artest could have feigned contempt for the opponent, his most recent former team. In time for his first meeting with the team that dealt him to the Rockets, he could have depicted offense at having been traded. Artest could have let imaginations wander at the idea of seeking vengeance. Instead, Artest showed indifference. He was too happy with the move to Houston to work up distaste for the team that sent him here and too concerned with making it work with his new team to concern himself with his previous team. “It won’t be like anything,” Artest, 28, said of ending the preseason with two games against the Kings. “It will just be basketball. The most important thing is Houston.” Things were not perfect in Sacramento, but Artest held no ill feelings for the Kings because he enjoyed his 2½ seasons in Sacramento and appreciated the trade. “It was cool,” Artest said. “The fans are cool. I had a chance to help take them off a slide that was happening. It probably would have happened a year earlier. We still slid off the map, but I had a chance to be a part of something special there, and then they broke it up. They broke it up when they got rid of (Rick) Adelman and Bonzi (Wells).” Adelman, who became the Rockets coach last season, was fired after the 2005-06 season, Artest’s first in Sacramento. That offseason, Wells turned down a $37.5 million offer to return to the Kings. The Kings then rescinded the offer to Wells and signed John Salmons. Wells signed with the Rockets and was traded last season. Artest, a 6-7 forward/guard, chose not to opt out of his contract after last season, but with the Kings rebuilding he regretted that decision when the free-agency period began without him. Unable to get an established star, the Kings sent Artest to the Rockets for the potential of first-round pick Donté Greene, next year’s Rockets first-round pick and Sacramento fan favorite Bobby Jackson. Days after the trade, Artest said he wanted to thank Kings general manager Geoff Petrie and owners Joe and Gavin Maloof. “I think it worked out,” Artest said. “I would have been in a bad situation if I would have stayed there this year. It worked out for me because if they kept me I would have been in a bad situation next summer (as a free agent). It was good I got a chance to get out.” Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said Oct. 2 he was confident that if the season goes well the Rockets will be able to sign Artest. Artest and his agent, David Bauman, have told the Rockets they would not want to talk about a contract until after the season. “We’ve always signed everybody we wanted to sign,” Alexander said. “We never lost anybody we really didn’t want to lose. And everybody’s loved playing here, so I assume if Ron has a good season, we’ll sign him, too.” The Kings were far less confident of that, so when Artest returns Thursday to Arco Arena, it will be as an opponent. Return to Sacramento Adelman’s return to Sacramento last season produced awkward moments when the Kings refused to acknowledge him in any way even as he received a warm ovation from the fans. Though Artest was not in Sacramento as long and the Kings did not enjoy anything like the success in Artest’s time as they had in Adelman’s years as the franchise’s most successful coach, Adelman expects Artest to receive a similar greeting. “I probably will talk to him, but I think he will be OK,” Adelman said. “His experience in Sacramento wasn’t all bad. It wasn’t like he had the Detroit incident and that stuff going on. So I think he has to remember it’s an exhibition, don’t get caught up in it and the most important thing is what is going on with our team. I will probably say, ‘Don’t get all wrapped up in these two games.’ ” Doesn’t mind the boos Artest is unconcerned with how he will be greeted in Sacramento. He was booed in the Rockets’ first preseason road game, against the Boston Celtics last week, saying that was because “I always play (Paul Pierce) tough.” “It’s like that everywhere I go,” Artest said. “Everywhere I go, I get booed. It’s cool. I love it. I always loved it. I want to be booed or cheered, one or the other. I don’t want to have my name announced and have nobody say anything. To have my name announced and everybody boo, that’s great. That means they know me.” They know him well in Sacramento, but the Kings are his third former team. It might not be the best way to hype a game, but Artest insisted that to him, the opponent tonight does not matter. “The only thing that is important is playing with my team and getting that chemistry down,” he said. ------------------ link
Oh, les, I really appreciate that. But, will you open your pocket and give ron a contract worth 10m/yr after the season ends? I bet you will have to pay no less than 10m/yr if you want to retain him, and it will definitely push you farther past the luxtax line, are you afraid of it? Les always intends to build a competive team with less money, less effort, less expense, and he also wants to down his rosters' salaries as less as possible(just what he had morey do on landry). I know the US economy is not pretty dynamic recently, but everyone knows how much money Yao brings you every year. I just suggest you allocate more money on our team's construction and arrange morey a little bit more dollars to sign a good center backing up Yao.
