PFFFT!!
Starter
Taken from the Sacramento Bee just now....
BOSTON - The opening act of the Ron Artest show - Kings' style - may not begin tonight.
While the forward who was traded to Sacramento from Indiana for small forward Peja Stojakovic joined the Kings Thursday, Stojakovic has yet to report to the Pacers in Indiana. He was scheduled to board a private plane sent by the Pacers to Sacramento on Friday, with an estimated time of arrival around 5 p.m. Eastern time. The Pacers are facing Cleveland at home in a 7 p.m. Eastern time tipoff. If Stojakovic doesn't reach the team by the time the Kings face the Boston Celtics at 7:30 p.m. Eastern - or if Artests' former bosses don't' phone the league office quickly to say Stojakovic has reported - Artest can not play.
Artest missed the Kings' shootaround this morning, but he was fully involved a day before. He joined the Kings in New York City, walking on the team bus headed for Boston before most of the other players. He greeted each one, then went to dinner with point guard Mike Bibby and a few others later that evening. No one could blame the Pacers for not doing Artest any favors, perhaps taking their time with the call to the league office so as to delay Artest's new beginning. The six-year veteran has been incredibly destructive to their past two seasons. He was suspended for 73 games for his part in the Nov. 19, 2004 brawl in Detroit, and deactivated from the team this season after making a trade demand on Dec. 10. After his request, the Pacers played through six-plus weeks of distraction and added media attention until Artest finally landed in Sacramento. Intentional or not, a delay may occur that would prolong Artest's debut until Sunday in Toronto.
BOSTON - The opening act of the Ron Artest show - Kings' style - may not begin tonight.
While the forward who was traded to Sacramento from Indiana for small forward Peja Stojakovic joined the Kings Thursday, Stojakovic has yet to report to the Pacers in Indiana. He was scheduled to board a private plane sent by the Pacers to Sacramento on Friday, with an estimated time of arrival around 5 p.m. Eastern time. The Pacers are facing Cleveland at home in a 7 p.m. Eastern time tipoff. If Stojakovic doesn't reach the team by the time the Kings face the Boston Celtics at 7:30 p.m. Eastern - or if Artests' former bosses don't' phone the league office quickly to say Stojakovic has reported - Artest can not play.
Artest missed the Kings' shootaround this morning, but he was fully involved a day before. He joined the Kings in New York City, walking on the team bus headed for Boston before most of the other players. He greeted each one, then went to dinner with point guard Mike Bibby and a few others later that evening. No one could blame the Pacers for not doing Artest any favors, perhaps taking their time with the call to the league office so as to delay Artest's new beginning. The six-year veteran has been incredibly destructive to their past two seasons. He was suspended for 73 games for his part in the Nov. 19, 2004 brawl in Detroit, and deactivated from the team this season after making a trade demand on Dec. 10. After his request, the Pacers played through six-plus weeks of distraction and added media attention until Artest finally landed in Sacramento. Intentional or not, a delay may occur that would prolong Artest's debut until Sunday in Toronto.