YESSSS!!!! Defense wins championships, now we've upped the ante, and we will make it out the first round. WOW!
We seem to not be loosing anything of great value in this trade. I wonder if there is a wink wink deal to let Sac sign Carl to a mle deal and we wont match. If Carl ends up going to the kings and we dont match you know what happened.
Artest to be traded to Rockets By CHRIS DUNCAN, AP Sports Writer 11 minutes ago HOUSTON (AP)—The Houston Rockets are close to an agreement to acquire Ron Artest from the Sacramento Kings, two people familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. The Rockets will give up guard Bobby Jackson, who played for the Kings from 2000-05, and another player—likely rookie forward Donte Greene, according to two NBA people who confirmed the deal, but spoke on condition of anonymity because no official announcement had been made. The Houston Chronicle first reported details of the trade on its Web site on Tuesday night. Artest’s long-anticipated move out of Sacramento probably can’t be announced yet because Greene, acquired by the Rockets on draft night last month, signed a contract with Houston on July 14. A player can’t be traded within 30 days of signing a contract, according to league rules. ADVERTISEMENT Rockets general manager Daryl Morey did not immediately return a phone message. Rockets spokesman Nelson Luis said Morey was traveling out of the country and unavailable for comment. Morey planned to attend the Olympics next month. The Kings confirmed that the teams had spoken about Artest. “We have had some very positive discussions with Houston involving Ron, but no trade is imminent at this time,” said Geoff Petrie, the Kings’ president of basketball operations. The 6-foot-7, 248-pound Artest averaged 20.5 points last season, his highest since 2004-05, when he averaged 24.5 for Indiana. He also grabbed 5.8 rebounds per game for Sacramento last season. The 28-year-old Artest is as well known for his volatile personality as his basketball skills. While playing for the Indiana Pacers, he was the central figure in the 2004-05 brawl with fans at The Palace of Auburn Hills during a road game against the Detroit Pistons. He was suspended for 73 games, the NBA’s harshest punishment for a fight. In December, two civil lawsuits against Artest that stemmed from the fight were dismissed. Artest had surgery on his left thumb in April and was expected to take 8-to-10 weeks to recover. His summer has been just as turbulent as most of his NBA career. After wavering for more than two months, Artest elected not to opt out of the final year of his contract for $7.4 million by July 1. But the forward immediately announced he regretted his decision, saying the Kings had misled him on their interest in a long-term contract extension. Artest also said he couldn’t see himself playing in Sacramento beyond next season. Artest apologized to the Kings a few days later after a long discussion with Petrie—but one week after that, Artest demanded a trade, claiming he had been blinded to his career well-being by his friendship with the Maloof family, which owns the Kings. Joe Maloof responded sharply to Artest, warning the forward to muzzle himself. Two weeks later, the Kings apparently found a taker for Artest’s defensive skills and high-maintenance personality. The trade will reunite Artest with Rick Adelman, who coached Sacramento when Artest was acquired by the Kings in a trade with Indiana during the 2005-06 season. Artest played 40 games for Adelman and averaged 16.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and a career-high 4.2 assists. He was also named to the NBA All-Defensive first team. Mark Stevens, Artest’s agent, said the relationship Artest had with Adelman helped make the deal possible. “Ron has a great relationship with Rick Adelman,” Stevens told Houston television station KRIV. “He never wanted to leave Sacramento, but because of business he has to. “Ron is grateful Adelman wants him to play for him again. It’s a wish come true.” The Rockets went 55-27 last season, but failed to get past the first round for the fourth time in five seasons. The Kings, meanwhile, would be thrilled to get their hands on Greene, a 6-foot-11 forward from Syracuse who impressed the club in pre-draft workouts. Greene was drafted by Memphis with the 28th overall pick and traded to Houston in a three-team deal on draft night. Although Greene played just one college season, he proved to be a versatile scorer who could fit well into Sacramento coach Reggie Theus’ uptempo game plans. AP Sports Writer Greg Beacham contributed to this report from Sacramento. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...vLYF?slug=ap-rockets-artest&prov=ap&type=lgns Morey's not even in the country......nice
I wonder how critical Donte Green was in Sacramento's decision. If it was, this makes Morey look even more brilliant.
kings must really see something in greene, or they are just too eager to rid themselves of artest this trade prob. moves brooks as backup PG
Battier + Artest = Some nasty defense. Who would've thought we would end up with both of them? That is assuming there isn't another deal coming.
So, Morey got us RON FREAKING ARTEST for a pick, an unproven rook, and an over-the-hill bench player? Dear God, I'm amazed. I can't WAIT until the home opener!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
F the big 3. starting (aka big) 5: PG: rafer SG: Tmac SF: artest/battier PF: scola/artest C: yao championship.
This is a f*ing awesome trade. Its true Artest is a nut job but he's a legit star in the NBA. The Rockets have the right locker room to absorb him since they dont have any other crazy guys. As Hubie Brown once said, its ok to have one donkey on the team. You just cant have two because then they will breed. Its probably since Yao was drafted that I was this fired up about basketball in July. Can you imagine the defensive potential of a Alston/Battier/Artest/Hayes or Dorsey/Mutombo lineup. And they said Adelman wasnt a defensive coach. We're contenders boys, legitimate contenders!!!!
I read the news today, oh boy about a Rocket man who made the trade, he sent out scraps for Ron Artest, the Celtics won this year, now we are the BEST, I'd love to wiiiiiiiiiinnnnnn it all...
holy s**t....OMG...i don't even know what to say..i've been waiting for this kind of trade to happen...i remember this guy exploded for 30 pts against the rockets and they almost won until novak sank that 3, great game...but anyway, this guy is another scorer that we really needed..just hope they dont trade scola or battier away
