LA Times - Artest Deal Could be Done Soon

[Bballkingsrock]

Artest deal could be done soon
By Jason Reid, Times Staff Writer
December 27, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY — Under normal circumstances, trades rarely occur between teams in the same division.

Don't risk helping an opponent finish ahead of you, the thinking goes, but these are difficult times for the Clippers and Sacramento Kings.

The Clippers are last in the five-team Pacific Division and the Kings are fourth, only one game ahead of the Clippers.

The Kings apparently are having problems with swingman Ron Artest, and Corey Maggette is eager to play elsewhere because of his poor relationship with Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy.

An Artest-Maggette trade could be just what each team needs, and sources said the Clippers and Kings are motivated to move quickly.

The players have similar contracts, so there aren't salary-cap problems to complete a deal.

Artest is owed the remainder of his $7.5-million salary this season, is guaranteed $7.4 million next season and has a player option for $7.4 million in the 2008-09 season.

Maggette makes $7 million this season, $7 million next season and also has a player option for $7 million in 2008-09.

The Clippers hope to complete a trade before Friday's game against Sacramento at Staples Center, or in time for a six-game, 10-day Eastern trip that begins Monday.

Although General Manager Elgin Baylor is close with Maggette, Baylor wants to make a deal with Sacramento, sources said.

Baylor is resigned to trading Maggette because of the situation, and Artest is considered a better player than Maggette.

Maggette is among owner Donald T. Sterling's favorite players, and Andy Roeser, executive vice president, has been reluctant to trade the productive scorer in previous seasons.

Link here:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-cliprep27dec27,1,2214369.story?coll=la-headlines-sports

 

[piksi]

You know what - at this point I would do it if and only if we can include KT in that deal somehow.

Will be interesting to see what kind of pathetic excuse Maloofs will have this time. They will lose their underwear gambling and I will lose my nerves.

Anyone still believes that Ron is really injured ?

 

[SacTownKid]

I just realized what is going on here. Last year those trade rumors in the Sac Bee supposedly prompted Ron Artest to demand a trade thinking they were true. Now the LA papers think they can get Ron Artest to want out of Sac if he believes this crap. Nice try LA Times!

 

[BMiller52]

I can't do anything but shake my head at this. We are going to trade Ron Artest for FREAKING COREY MAGGETTE!? Are you kidding me? Petrie has lost his god damn mind. Either rebuild or try to contend, don't keep getting these 1 dimensional 2nd/3rd tier 1 dimensional offensive players with long contracts!!! We are taking on one of the most injury prone players in the NBA, signed for 2 more years after this, and he can't help us at all. We can't atleast get an expiring from Orlando and Trevor Ariza? This doesn't do anything and we are still a team with no damn direction, only we've lost the 1 guy we had who could make this team dangerous. Not only that, now he's in the same division for probably the next 2+ years to pound and smash our mediocre team.

Petrie is insane! No more 1 dimensional offensive players who don't play D!!!!!!!!!!

 

[hoops4kings]

I wouldn't trade Ron unless he wants out (which he said he didn't). That's all this team needs is less of a defensive presense.

I hope that problems behind the scenes can be worked out. If not then rebuild, but don't try to re-tool at this point.

 

[rockeastwood]

Trade

Ya man, sounds like the LA Times trying to stir the pot. It's a BS story. Artest IS the better player. Don't get me wrong, Maggette is no slouch, but unless we are getting more than just Cory, I don't buy it.

 

[Heuge]

Ya man, sounds like the LA Times trying to stir the pot. It's a BS story. Artest IS the better player. Don't get me wrong, Maggette is no slouch, but unless we are getting more than just Cory, I don't buy it.

Artest may be a better but his trade value is about even with Cory. Maybe Petrie can squeeze a first rounder or Ross out of the Clips.

 

[SLAB]

As I said in another thread, the only way Im trading Artest to the Clips is if they include Livingston.

If not, don't even answer the phone.

If and when Artest says "I want out" then we can go to the fallbakc deal that is the apparently very available Artest for Maggette.

 

[slugking50]

Artest deal could be done soon
By Jason Reid, Times Staff Writer
December 27, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY — Under normal circumstances, trades rarely occur between teams in the same division.

Don't risk helping an opponent finish ahead of you, the thinking goes, but these are difficult times for the Clippers and Sacramento Kings.

The Clippers are last in the five-team Pacific Division and the Kings are fourth, only one game ahead of the Clippers.

The Kings apparently are having problems with swingman Ron Artest, and Corey Maggette is eager to play elsewhere because of his poor relationship with Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy.

An Artest-Maggette trade could be just what each team needs, and sources said the Clippers and Kings are motivated to move quickly.

The players have similar contracts, so there aren't salary-cap problems to complete a deal.

Artest is owed the remainder of his $7.5-million salary this season, is guaranteed $7.4 million next season and has a player option for $7.4 million in the 2008-09 season.

Maggette makes $7 million this season, $7 million next season and also has a player option for $7 million in 2008-09.

The Clippers hope to complete a trade before Friday's game against Sacramento at Staples Center, or in time for a six-game, 10-day Eastern trip that begins Monday.

Although General Manager Elgin Baylor is close with Maggette, Baylor wants to make a deal with Sacramento, sources said.

Baylor is resigned to trading Maggette because of the situation, and Artest is considered a better player than Maggette.

Maggette is among owner Donald T. Sterling's favorite players, and Andy Roeser, executive vice president, has been reluctant to trade the productive scorer in previous seasons.

Link here:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-cliprep27dec27,1,2214369.story?coll=la-headlines-sports

THe mighty rumour mill continues to churn without any aide of water...

 

[Tha rizzock]

forget that artest needs to stay a king and if that happend we would be insane.

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

Artest may be a better but his trade value is about even with Cory. Maybe Petrie can squeeze a first rounder or Ross out of the Clips.

I doubt it...only because both player's contracts match up so well. More than likely it will be 1 for 1, unfortunately. This deal sucks, but oh well...tis' the life of being a Kings fan.

 

[chelle]

Something needs to be done ith this team. Obviously, it isn't working. Ron is great for our defense, IF HE PLAYS. I am not saying that he is not really hurt, but all signs do seem to be pointing that way. I have NO USE for players who sit when times get hard - NONE AT ALL. I
If he is simply pouting instead of playing, I say trade him for whatever you can get. At best it helps team chemisty on the court and produces more wins. At worst, we get a better draft pick. The way things are going this season, both results will benefit us.

 

[SactownRoyalty]

Here's a question: Would any of you have traded Peja for Maggette straight up last season?

Bottom line: This team will not be a good defensive team with Mike Bibby and Brad Miller playing prominent roles. Those guys will seemingly be playing prominent roles for the foreseeable future. (Miller for a few more seasons, I would think, and Bibby likely the rest of this season, as Philly was the most sensible trade partner and they're out of the picture.)

Artest is hurting the offense. Maggette isn't just a little better than Ron on offense, he's a ton better. Maggs is a better shooter/scorer than Bibby has ever been, and Ron is worse than average. Seems like a net gain, right? And if there have been problems between Ron and Mike (as every damn NBA reporter has implied at this point - where there's smoke...), wouldn't losing Ron possibly help Mike, too? It would certainly do a lot to get the ball back in his and Brad's hands, which should make Mike more comfortable.

Furthermore, how exactly has Ron helped the team the past week? He's a timebomb, folks. Go ahead, ignore the ticking. Just don't complain about your burns when the team's 10 games under .500 and Artest is demanding a trade to a city he wants to go to. (See: Indiana, 2005-06.)

 

[Cal-Kings]

This is silly.

Can anyone honestly see Petrie doing such a trade? It's silly.

Nice try LA.

 

[chelle]

I think it all depends on Ron. IF wants out, he needs out. Otherwise, he will become even more of a distration and face it, things are hard enough now as it is. If he does not want to be traded, then I do not see Petrie making the deal. If things stay this quiet about the trade possibility on the Kings' side, to me, it signals that things are brewing. Nobody here is saying anyting. That is telling in its self.

 

[G_M]

I think it all depends on Ron

That's the key. If he goes "RON" on the organization I just don't see the team getting anyone better than Maggette.

 

[Kingsin07]

Ron don't want to be here no more. Period! It couldn't be any more obvious.

Maggette isn't a great player, but he is a player who Kings fans will like and will be a better compliment to the existing scorers. He plays some D, not like Ron, but he is perfectly capable.

The experiment is over with Artest and as much I want it to work, it is not going to. Getting Maggette gives the Kings a scorer who can play in the flow of the offense, unlike Ron who demands the ball and slows the whole thing down.

With or without Artest the Kings have lost their identity, so why try to hang on to something that is just going to plummet? Next to go is Mike Bibby and I welcome that as well, be it at the trade deadline or next season.

 

[ezekielbear]

Trading Ron, is one thing. That's fine.

Trading him to a YOUNG team in your division? Uh, no thanks.

Trading him for Maggette? Uh, no thanks.

Those are two awful moves. Petrie is smarter then that.

Unless he can move salary and get a good, young player in return, it's a moronic deal for the Kings.

 

[tyrant]

package ron and thomas and send corey and kaman. thank you.

 

[jcassio]

I think a lot of you guys have inflated the trade value of Artest, which is natural because, when his head is on straight, he can be one of the best players in the NBA. But that's for his defense. His offense is erratic at best and he's a ball-hog. He can be strong in the paint, but he prefers to launch 3s despite hitting them for a low percentage. And we all know about him being a head-case.

I'm totally convinced that we have to deal either Bibby or Artest (if not both). With Bibby's opt-out after this season, and with his shooting problems this year, his trade value and big contract are problematic. At least by getting Maggette (if there really is a deal here), we've got a valuable player with a decent contract. On the defensive end, Maggette's pretty good, though not a stopper like Artest can be. Offensively, he will be a big help, though he's a slasher type and not a high percentage shooter.

The question is... Martin is and will remain our starting shooting guard, so can Maggette be our starting small forward? He doesn't want to be a sixth-man, so this deal only makes sense if he can start at SF without being a liability. But he's not as big as most small forwards, so we'll have to see how he matches up. With him at SF and K9 at PF, we're giving up lots if inches to most teams. Can we PLEASE trade K9 (and whoever) for a PF who can block shots and rebound?

 

[Jechtsphere]

Most of you say no to trading him for Maggs but watch there will come a time when Rons does really blow up and no one will want him and you'll be begging we could of had maggette just to get rid of him.

We're going nowhere anyway so I don't care.

 

[Bricklayer]

I really don't think Kaman is going anywhere -- that's pipe dream stuff there (and a pipe with funny smelling weed to boot ).

As for the overall trade...

1) somebody mentioned Peja for Maggette, and that is essentially what it is with a one year Ron rental in between. And so fine, we tread water from the Peja era to the Maggette era, and get a little younger. But no better. And we sucked before Ron lifted us up briefly last year. Another way to look at it: we were a bad team to start the season last year, now if we had traded Peja and Bonzi to get back Maggette and Salmons, would we have been any better? I submit the answer is no.

2) On the other hand, the one thing such a trade would do for us would be to finally establish a "style", or at least start to. And that is so critical for a team looking for identity. We blew the style thing this summer when Bonzi slipped away -- Bonzi and Ron were going to be the style we saw in the Spurs series -- big strong tough bashers inside. Then actually make a bleeping move to change the frontcourt rather than sit on our ***, and maybe that's who we are -- we regain our sense of self. Well, that went away. And instead we got another amateurish mishmash of illfitting pieces. But now trade Ron for Maggette, and there may be a new opportuniy for a style to be established -- built around Kevin, Maggette, and Salmons. Slashers to the rim. Not much shooting, but athletic long players like a New Jersey west. Try to entertain the remaining fans with much exciting running and jumping if not necessarily many victories. It could tip the scales, and then just leave the Brad/Bibby shooting duo as the odd men out. Of course also the only men who have ever shown they can win anything, but still, thing of the past. So then we would presumably move forward looking for long athletic bigs who like to run, and pursue Geoff's 2 or 3 year goal of becoming the J.V. version of the Suns.

3) Ron is better than Maggette or Peja, or anybody else on the Kings actually. He is the lone impact player in all of the discussion. But that said, he is just too high maintencance, too dangerous to your own team, to carry the sort of trade value he should. And if he goes critical and blows up like he did in Indiana, his trade value sinks though the floor, and every team gets to twist our arm behind our back knowing we have no choice.

4) This whole thing actually reminds me a bit of the Peja for Ron talk that went on for a solid year before it appeared the Maloofs trussed Geoff up, tossed him in the closet, and made the executive call to bring Ron to town. Just made so much logical sense and contract sense that everybody in the country expected it to go down at any point. Everybody except Geoff I think. Could be the same thing here, although there is no way to know.

5) In any case, Maggette is young enough to be part of a rebuilding effort, but old enough to not be ideal for one. He's also good enough to help keep us out of the Top 10 draft pick we so desperately need in this draft. End result = more water treading.

 

[ezekielbear]

Again, trading Ron is fine. If they want to do that, then, more power to them.

However, you don't pair him with Elton Brand (two guys in their mid 20's) and a team in your own division.

Along with that fact, you are getting Corey Maggette. How in the world does he help us? The guy's cried the past two years in LA...demanded a trade...thrown tantrums in the locker room...says he wants to go back to Orlando...and pretty much will refuse to come off the bench.

Trading Ron for Corey is just doing it for the sake of making a trade. Let Ron's contract run out, or get something of future value. Another rent-a-player with nothing to build on the future makes zero sense to me. I'd rather just move him for an expiring deal then Maggette.

 

[Bricklayer]

Well now that's taking it to extremes -- 20ppg scorer, also still in his mid-20's = just a tad greater than capspace.

Now if somebody were to offer the capspace along with a pick or two, or a cheap kid -- sure, that's the true rebuilding approach which I favor. But we simply can NOT have Ron Artest walk away and get nothing in return. It would be not only the end of us int eh short term, it might well be the end of the Sacramento era for the Kings franchise. Far far too much talent has already walked on this franchise. It can't happen again, even if the returns aren't ideal.

Still amuses me how for years we used to talk about getting Maggette ont his board with anticipation, and now its some sort of stroke of doom. Treading water, same stupid refusal to rebuild, but the guy is a serious scorer when unleashed. Every bit as potent as Kevin, and more aggressive with the ball.

 

[nbrans]

This doesn't happen often, but I agree with everything Bricklayer has said in this thread.

 

[ezekielbear]

Well now that's taking it to extremes -- 20ppg scorer, also still in his mid-20's = just a tad greater than capspace.

Now if somebody were to offer the capspace along with a pick or two, or a cheap kid -- sure, that's the true rebuilding approach which I favor. But we simply can NOT have Ron Artest walk away and get nothing in return. It would be not only the end of us int eh short term, it might well be the end of the Sacramento era for the Kings franchise. Far far too much talent has already walked on this franchise. It can't happen again, even if the returns aren't ideal.

Still amuses me how for years we used to talk about getting Maggette ont his board with anticipation, and now its some sort of stroke of doom. Treading water, same stupid refusal to rebuild, but the guy is a serious scorer when unleashed. Every bit as potent as Kevin, and more aggressive with the ball.

Living down here, watching him on a daily basis, I've just come to not value him very much. He's not a piece I want to rebuild with, nor is he a piece I'd want on my team unless he would be willing to come off the bench. Add in his crappy attitude (he comes off as a decent guy, but...he stirs the pot in the locker room), and I just really have zero desire to see him in a Kings uniform at the expense of Ron. He solves little of our problems....and it's just another attempt at rebuilding on the fly.

If the Kings are going to sit there, and trade for him, I'd rather them just do a typical rebuild and move Ron for a young talent, pick, and expiring contract.

 

[starks]

Perfect (unreal) scenario for me:
1. Trade artest for milicic and hedo
2. Bring RA back
3. Bring c-webb back (there are some rumors about the contract buyout)
4. Play Princeton offense again (no more iso bleep)

 

[BawLa]

1. You don't trade Ron now unless you can get rid of Kenny as well.
2. You don't trade Ron for Maggette straight up.
3. You don't trade Ron to the Clipps.


I know Mags can score, but the last thing we need is an injury prone scorer to get injured. This team was supposed to be making a movement towards defense. We got a coach that was supposed to bring us defense. And if we had anything bigger than our current frontcourt then we might just have it. So it makes absolutely no sense to trade your best defensive player for an offensive one after you just dumped the best offensive coach in franchise history. Someone who would know how to utilize Maggette's strengths.

I must be oblivious because I just don't see how Ron is blowing the team up. I know that pacers fans have been through this before or what we would like to label as "this". But I just don't see it. All I see is a man who wants one of these secondary players on our team to become a primary. And Kevin is desperately trying to be a #1 but it just takes time to develop. Anyway I just think people are over-reacting about this whole thing and are actually buying into the idea that if we don't trade Ron now that we will blow up. And furthermore a Ron Artest blow up would only put us in better contention to get Oden. I'm not secretly rooting for a blow up but we could always sit on trading Ron if a blowup were to occur...we wouldn't need to trade him right away just because this is the Oden draft. I know it sounds sad but someone like Oden would give fans more hope than hanging on to the false idea that we still have something going.

I maintain my previous stance that you only trade Ron if you can get a guaranteed first round draft pick OR if you can find a way to dump KT's contract and get a big man in return.

There are many teams that would like to have Ron on their lineup. So if you have to trade him then send him to New York or something. And if you can do a 3 team deal with the clipps then you can still get Maggette if you really want him without sending the best defensive SF to a division rival.

Just my 1/50th of a dollar.

 

[kennadog]

In my opinion, GP wouldn't even consider trading Ron, if things were okay with Ron. IF this trade actually happens, then I think it is entirely due to Ron wanting out of Sacramento. If Ron is going to suffer, pout and sit out games from mysterious aches and pains, then no matter how talented a player he is, he doesn't help this team.

IF he has said he wants out, then I don't think we are going to get a lot of great trade offers. Indiana shopped him for quite a while, before trading to Sac last year. If he has such high value in the league, would you have taken a one-for-one trade for Peja? Also, if such a talented player is, in fact, being shopped mid-season by the Kings, then other teams will know that it is because of problems with Ron, making his value even lower.

 

[Freakout]

One thing everyone needs to remember. Ron said after the Indy trade that had he been able to do it over he would have not went public with his trade demand. He took a lot of unnesscary heat over the way he handled the situation before.

As for him going to the Clippers, well it wouldn't worry me if I was a King fan. Everyone knows Ron brings problems anywhere he goes and it will take a certain type of environment to keep the guy satisfied. Dunleavy hasn't proven that he can keep the nuts in the crazy house happy.