^^^ I agree, and there is no way that we get Artest without giving up Shard. The Pacers want to make a push for at least eastern conference finals this year to negate last year.
I'm sure the Pacers could find room for him, but they already have a poor man's Shard in Steven Jackson... I read that Jermaine wants either Al Harrington (his buddy) or Bonzi Wells...
Since I was offline when this thread was made, I might bump it and givemy $0.02. Let me start by saying when a player like Artest does become available, I think you'd be silly not to at least look, because this calibre of player doesn't come around every day. Especially a team like Seattle in which our defense this season has just been atrocious. When he is playing at the top of his game, I'd probably have Artest in the top five most influential players in the league given what he brings at both ends of the court. However I don't think I could give up Rashard for him with the way Lew has been playing this season, and with all the question marks on Ron that have been mentioned in this thread, it's too big a risk. Can anyone really see Artest sticking around in Seattle? And it seems people are resigned to Rashard leaving, when he still has another season before he can opt out, and he's played his entire career here. If we're giving up Vlad then it's a different story, and you make room for a player like Artest if you're not giving up a key piece, rather than worry about who will play where, but when it's Rashard? That's a different kettle of fish. I am surprised we would show any interest though, given management has made it pretty well known in the past they place a lot of stock in character (although Fortson was an exception, we gave up next to nothing for him). I have to say though, Indiana could lose Ron for nothing and still have Granger on the bench to develop behind Jackson and Jones. That's a fair bit of depth at the 2/3.
