James,bonzi and landry. Rox have to give up something of value if they want to get a top notch player like Artest.
I thought James and Battier had value but since you want to throw in top notch players, throw in Alston and add Beno Udrih to the mix.
The Nuggets will be active. I'd say there's a 75% chance they make a deal, and it could come soon. It might not be Artest either.
Get Artest, get Artest, i will take any good player right now. Snyder and T-mac can go imo, so Artest can start at SG or let him start at SF and get another SG like Szczerbiak for Mike James and Hayes.
Sacramento probably wouldn't want to take on any extra salary in giving up Artest. But that might depend, too, on whether they can move Mike Bibby and/or Brad Miller for expirings. They've been playing pretty well lately overall. A problem in trying to deal with Sacramento is the Maloofs are probably trying to throw Kenny Thomas' deal on top of Artest's. Which will kill any trade. A unique problem for the Rox is the Maloofs and Adelman didn't part on the best of terms. To get Artest, you might have to swing a deal through Miami to fetch one of their expiring contracts (Ricky D?), and offer Sacramento a draft pick along with that contract.
IF the Rockets want Artest at all, they're best chance is to wait out until this summer. Right now the Kings want long term good players in return for Artest. They'll take Landry with any player combination but I'm not giving Landry if I'm DM.
In an Artest trade, if they want Landy, they get Landry. Teams don't take our "unwanted" players just because we no longer are in love with them. An example is "No O" Hayes. He is revered by Rockets fans but by no one else in the league. If they saddle us with Kenny Thomas' contract along with Artest, so be it. KT, the original "Junkyard Dog" Rocket, isn't worth his contract but he is not a complete "Man Boobs" Amache. But Artest in the Rockets system would be worth his contract as long as we had an "agreement" with Artest for his next contract. I would try to get a promising player like Beno Udrih, who would be a great backup for Aaron Brooks (I'd bet the Kings would go for Landry). In return, I would offer Shane Battier (reasonable contract, tradeable and somewhat of a replacement for Artest); Carl Landry or Aaron Brooks (whichever the Kings craved -- but not both); Snyder (expiring contract or keeper for $3.3M team option next year) and Rafer Alston (a solid backup for Bibby as well as an experienced PG who reduces the risk in trading Bibby). Having said all this, I doubt the Kings would do this trade.
Agree on Scola. Disagree on Battier, especially in an Artest trade. Artest takes Battier's place (or T-Mc but we're not going to trade T-Mc until summertime IMO). Battier has value, and you can't get something for nothing. Battier is the glue that often leaves us feeling blue because he lacks an offensive mindset or ability. Artest would give us better defense and much more offense.
Landry is nice and all but if the Kings are giving us Artest for him then you have absolutely got to do that deal. Anybody outside Yao, McGrady and Scola to an extent is expendable.
