This is good news to me because hopefully Artest’s headcaseyness would become a malignant tumor on the Lkers team and destroy them from the inside out. Also, Odom hurt the Blazers too with his versatility. I just can’t see Artest and Bryant cooperating nearly as well as Odom and Bryant managed too. If Artest can cope with being demoted to third fiddle, then that might help the Lkers, but otherwise it can only hurt them, chemistry-wise.

Forum Blue and Gold for why this is not a good trade for the Laker. Also, just check out this site in general as they have really good content.

Also we only play LAL 3 times since they are not in our division

How does this guy keep getting work. One of the most infamous players in the history of the game and still every one is tripping all over themselves to get him. If this were the real business world he would not get hired by anyone.

This would be a disaster for the Fakers. I agree totally with Forum Blue/Gold’s assessment. You can count down the games until Kobe blows up at Artest for phoning it in or screwing up a play or something.

Artest would poison them..so, I say, pull the trigger Kupcake!

Forum B/gold has some pretty intelligent discussions there, BTW..for a L*kers site..not that I visit there, because, you know..you all would pull my Blazer fan membership card.

I’ve seen Artest stymie both Roy and Aldridge and was a huge part of why the Kings beat us last year. BUT he is a first rate chucker on offense and that has the potential to absolutely rip the L#kers apart, as he shoots rather poor percentages.

As I recall those “down” games Roy had were still OK numbers wise, BUT almost none of it was against Artest. RonRon would check out, Roy would get a layup, hit a jumper, and then get an assist as the defense started to collapse on him…then POW Artest comes back in and it suddenly stops.

And I wouldn’t be so sure that Artest poisons LA, if the coaching staff gets him to take smarter shots and he differs to K#be (nobody cares if he differs to Gasol/Bynum), then they could really start rolling. If they need shooting in any circumstance they can bring it off the bench very easily as well.

He is an amazing player when his head is on straight and he’s just so big and strong. NOOOOO.

And if he became a Laker, I’d bet dollars to donuts his head suddenly gets on straight and Phil Jackson awakens the sleeper within. Artest becomes the lockdown, physical beast the Lakers need, he defers to Kobe on offense (as he should), and Artest’s defense, post game, and virtuosity destroys teams nightly.

Especially in the playoffs.

Yikes. No Artest to LA please.

The Maloofs, in the past, have refused to deal with the Lakers as they see them as their rival still, and I hope this holds true. I can’t remember the deal, but they traded someone for a worse offer than what the Lakers offered, and were criticized for it because they said they wouldn’t deal with their rivals… but since the Kings weren’t as good anymore, they weren’t “rivals” anymore. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Mortimer

Hope this isn’t too off topic.

Living in Sacto, I am continually impressed by the dichotomy of the futures of the Blazers and the Kings. The Blazers seem to have everything going in the right direction, and the Kings seem to continue their slide in Clipperland obscurity. Ron Arrest going to FauxCal isn’t going to happen. Its not in Sacto’s fate, or rather kharma is catching up to them. RonRon will be in a Kings jersey for the rest of the year, and will play just hard enough to get a decent offer during the next summer with another team.

I think Odom would be a good fit with Sacramento; not enough to get them in the playoffs, but a morale booster for the fans and for the team. I think we may see more of an offensive minded team, and this would sell more tickets and energize the arena with a combo of Odom and KMart. I just can’t see this happening.

I truly believe that the Kings are suffering from the Clay Bennett Blues. I belief the Maloofs have taken over the reigns from Petrie and have subverted the plans he has created just to move the team to Vegas now that OKC is no longer available. It would have been a difficult sell to the other owners if they wanted to move to Vegas if the proven success of OKC was overlooked. Now that’s no longer a problem. I anticipate seeing the Kings continue to decline in talent and performance over the next year until their new arena proposal is shot down because of the Maloofs’ excessive demands which will result in a league approval to move the team.

I don’t want this to happen, and hope that it doesn’t, but it just has that feeling every time the Kings do anything lately. I want to be able to drive 10 minutes to see NBA basketball, and I want Sacramento to have a professional sports franchise, because I believe the fans in this town are deserving of one. The outlook doesn’t look good though.

On a brighter note, this is good news for the Blazers though, as I’m looking forward to seeing 2 Portland blow-outs at Arco this year, and converting more people to Blazers fans once the team jets out of town. I hope to see more Black and Red at the games than I have ever before.

Link.