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.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
I just think that Artest is a timebomb waiting to explode. A lot of the Lakers' success can be attributed to their last season's great chemistry and with Turiaf potentially gone now, bringing in Artest is a huge risk for the team, it's like getting two minuses. If coach Phil Jackson is able to control Artest the way he controlled Dennis Rodman, then this would be a good deal, however it's hard to say who has a more unpredictable attitude between Rodman and Artest. My two cents.
Since Odom's contract is so much what about this trade - Odom, Ariza, and C. Mihm ( plus a draft pick if Kings wont budge ) for Artest and Brad Miller. Let me know what you think.....
I wouldn't pull the trigger on that trade. The Lakers already have a big man/mid range shooter in the person of Pau Gasol plus B. Miller has a history of nagging injuries. T. Ariza's defensive prowess and room for offensive growth is currently indispensible. Lastly, since C. Mihm's injury, no other team might show great interest in his services. A deal involving V. Radmanovic is more favorable as he is more inconsistent and errant than Odom. I wonder why no one brings that up.
Great move if they could do it. Artest is an All-Star caliber guy, Odom is not even close
http://www.collegefastbreak.com/
I wouldn't pull the trigger on that trade. The Lakers already have a big man/mid range shooter in the person of Pau Gasol plus B. Miller has a history of nagging injuries. T. Ariza's defensive prowess and room for offensive growth is currently indispensible. Lastly, since C. Mihm's injury, no other team might show great interest in his services. A deal involving V. Radmanovic is more favorable as he is more inconsistent and errant than Odom. I wonder why no one brings that up.
I would prefer a small forward who can guard the other teams best perimeter defender AND consistently hit the outside shot to spread the defense. I think Josh Childress is a perfect fit even though Odom is a better player than Josh. And although I like Odom as a player for his rebounding, passing ability and toughness, Artest is an upgrade worth the risk.
If i could get rid of Lamar Odom for a quality player i'd do it in a second. He's soft and he talks alot of mess out on the floor when he's done nothing. He needs to find the Wizard of Oz and ask for a heart and some courage if he ever wants to become an elite player.
The problem is that Odom's ability to hit the outside shot, for whatever reason, has dropped the last couple of years. Two years ago, he made over 37 % of his three point attempts. The last two years, that percentage has been below 30%. With Bynum and Gasol down low, the small forward is going to need a good outside shot to keep the defenders honest.
The last two years, Artest has substantially improved his long distance accuracy, making 38% of his 3-point attempts last year. And, of course, Artest is known for his defense.
The big question is whether Artest gets along with his teammates. If he does, the Lakers should make the deal. But if he has a reputation for creating problems in the locker room, the Lakers should pass, as their chemistry this year was a major reason that they played so well.
I don't like this move one bit, 'Artest' is too erratic and emotionally unstable. Chemistry means a lot in professional sports and I see him as someone that could potentially destroy the Lakers. Yes, he's a good player, but the baggage outweighs anything he brings to the court basketball wise. Besides, I think 'Gasol' is a lot softer than 'Odom.'
wow i have always thought that before we got pau he was a soft PF but since the finals i thought he could get backed down by jkidd so if we want to help rebounding and d we should move pau for artest and jason thompson and a pick,this way we keep theversatile odom at his best spot,dont stop bynums production ,get a defensive stopper at 1-4, and keep a able bodied defender at each position cause odom can gaurd better at 4 than gasol
1 FISHER 2 BRYANT 3 ARTEST 4 ODOM 5 BYNUM
with age on our side ,tell me we couldent beat the celts
If the Kings are looking for a bunch of salary relief from the Lakers in an Artest/Odom swap, I don't think they're going to get it. The Lakers don't want to add Reef or K. Thomas because they're not any good. Just like TZ stated, they'd prefer Moore. So, if the Kings don't want to add Moore to any Artest deal but want to deal with the Lakers, I think they're going to have to take a contract back that they may not want, but a player that may help them more than Reef or Thomas. Here's a deal that exchanges Artest and Odom while also giving both sides something that they may not want, but can live with:
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=3251~617~1016~3~25~3040&teams=23~23~23~13~13~13&te=&cash=
as much as i would love artest to be a laker, i'm too big of an odom fan.
i agree with comment 10, trade gasol instead. he's great for the regular season, but come playoff time, he might as well be chris mihm.
I never read such stupid comments;
Hey m ? and kate ? do you know why LA was in the finals???
LA and Spurs ? without Gasol ? no go !
In game 5 vs Boston, Gasol blocked Ray Allen and KG clean, plus 14 boards and slow down Pierce ?
Game 6 ? Boston from the get go double and triple team Gasol and why because boston finally got it if they nullified Gasol not Kobe they were in control of the game;
In fact they send in P.J. Brown to hurt Gasol ala Horry with Spurs and Hornets and why ?
If Gasol get hooked up with Lebron or someone of his caliber they will be champions, in a rush;
B4 Gasol LA was the 6th seed in the Western conference after Gasol they were #1 seed and beat with ease the Spurs, trust me if not Gasol the Spurs would be facing Boston in the finals instead of LA, guarantee!
frank - Your facts are a little faulty. The day Bynum got injured, the Lakers were the number one team in the Western Conference. After his injury, they dropped a couple of games back in the standings. They then picked up Gasol and made up those couple of games to barely beat out New Orleans for the top seed. And most importantly, the real reason for this was because their second half schedule was easier than their first half schedule.
Gasol was not the reason that the Lakers beat the Spurs. The Lakers beat the Spurs despite the poor play of Gasol because Ginobili was injured and not playing well. Gasol looked terrible against Duncan, requiring the Lakers to double team Duncan and opening up the easy threes for the Spurs. But as bad as Gasol looked against the Spurs, he looked far worse against the Celtics, making turnover after turnover and missing numerous chippies because he couldn't dunk, but rather had to rely on weak little hook shots. As Phil Jackson said "Meow". And he couldn't defend Garnett any better than he defended Duncan. So you continue to live in your little "Gasol is great" world and the rest of us will live in the real world.
Well; at first; I didn't think it would be a good idea to get
Artest...but alot of Laker fans like the idea alot...especially
the Laker owners....even my husband think it's great...so now;
yes...I want Artest too...they obviously know something that
I don't know....!!!
Frank....so you think that the Celtics figured out how to
nullify Gasol ?.....HAAAA......! Are you insane ?
They didn't figure it out...you big giant DOPE ! It's was
obvious the Celtics were going to win the championship...
regardless...because it was rigged from the get go !
Did you not see game 1 ? The calls were so lopsided...so
much so; it made me sick to my stomach !!!!!!!
dear mitch,
keep this lakers team together. Artest is a trouble maker and as a laker fan would never root for someone i felt should have been banned for life from the nba. That idiot didn't even punch the right guy when he went into the stands. I'm sick off all these pampered athletes claiming how "hard" the are and how the were raised on the "streets". Any young athlete with any ability has had his ass kissed by everyone since day one. Have you ever seen a player in the nba land a punch during a "mele"? No; and there's a reason for that. Marion is a moody
bitch and kobe is moody enough for a whole team. Odom, on the other hand, wants to retire a laker and is going to be in a contract year; so he's bound to play a hellafalot better. Besides, if this whole 3 7-footer front court doesn't work you can always trade him mid season and you won't have to take on kenny thomas's albatrose contract.
sincerily,
lifetime laker fan
ps- why the hell didn't you drop redmonovic's worthless ass when he violated his contract snowboarding. I bet you, like everyone else wishes we had that space cadet off the books!
pps- oh ya! sure the celticas won, but at least the lakers took their punishment like men instead of acting like they were filming a gatorade comercial (aaaaaaahhhhhh every other play) and didn't fake an injury like a drama queen being carried off the court in a wheel chair. Hey Pierce, come back to inglewood and pull thaT INFRONT OF THE BROTHERS. I WILL PERSONALLY WHOOP THAT ASS!
I love the Laker fans taking about stealing Artest for an airhead like Odom. Yeah, Odom has immense talent........but. Petrie is one the best if not best GM in the league. I have not seen him make a bad trade or draft choice yet. I'd be surprised as anyone if that trade goes down. Mikki Moore has heart and is a workhorse that we like and need. Petrie generally deals players to the east and out of the division when moving talent. Artest has matured, although we all know there can be issues.
HELL NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE LAKERS CANT BE THINKING ABOUT THIS TRADE. ODOM 4 ARTEST. NO WAY.