Im just starting to realize the type of defensive player Artest is. Its hard for me to comprehend the Kings now having an elite defensive stopper. Now every guard that is notorious for killing the Kings( theres alot of them) will have Ron freaking Artest on them. If Artest can atleast be respectful to Sacramento it should be a fun year and a half to be a kings fan. In My opinion the Starting 5 NEEDS to look like this; Bibby Martin Artest Thomas Miller With Shareef and Bonzi getting significant minutes off the bench. That lineup is a pretty unselfish group of players to put around Artest and should allow him to thrive while maintaining the teams offensive balance.
I would definitely start Bonzi ahead of Martin, but I like Thomas ahead of SAR. I think Bonzi is going to be one of the players who benefits most from Artest. He will feed off of Artest's energy and you'll see a more aggressive Bonzi. I remember watching him in Portland, and he would feed off of Sheed's energy on the court. With Bonzi and Artest, the Kings have two of the best post up wing players in the league on the court at the same time. They are going to give a lot of teams match up problems. Plus it allows Miller to play the Webber/Divac role in the high post. Artest mentioned in one interview he needs at least a month to get back his conditioning. He keeps in great shape, so I think it will take two weeks at most. The key for the Kings making a run will be how fast he can gel with this team. Could the Kings be this year's version of the Denver Nuggets of last season?
Ill start by saying I still dont like this trade... never have... It does settle a few issues for both sides, Kings get defense and Pacers get rid of Artest. And both of them play about the same amount of time... </sarchasm> Shape, I dont think this is the spark that is going to lead the Kings to the promised land. I think its more about positioning themselves for good trades next year. I said at the beginning of the season that the Kings were rebuilding and everyone thought I was crazy. Look at the roster now Bibby is the only remaining player from the 04 WCF team and he joines Miller as the only remianing player from the start of last years team... sure sounds like rebuilding to me. As will all years that a team is in the middle of making major changes to their roster, the Kings are not going to be that great this year. You cant be a top 5 team forever and every team is going to have a bad year here & there... this is just going to be one of them for the Kings. I had thought initially they were going to be a 55 win team this year.... I think they will be lucky to get a 55% year at this point. The rest of this year for me will be dedicated to watching good games... they dont have to win.. but I want to see the effort be there and watch some good matchups.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting harbingerofdoom:</div><div class="quote_post">Ill start by saying I still dont like this trade... never have... It does settle a few issues for both sides, Kings get defense and Pacers get rid of Artest. And both of them play about the same amount of time... </sarchasm> Shape, I dont think this is the spark that is going to lead the Kings to the promised land. I think its more about positioning themselves for good trades next year. I said at the beginning of the season that the Kings were rebuilding and everyone thought I was crazy. Look at the roster now Bibby is the only remaining player from the 04 WCF team and he joines Miller as the only remianing player from the start of last years team... sure sounds like rebuilding to me. As will all years that a team is in the middle of making major changes to their roster, the Kings are not going to be that great this year. You cant be a top 5 team forever and every team is going to have a bad year here & there... this is just going to be one of them for the Kings. I had thought initially they were going to be a 55 win team this year.... I think they will be lucky to get a 55% year at this point. The rest of this year for me will be dedicated to watching good games... they dont have to win.. but I want to see the effort be there and watch some good matchups.</div> I agree on this aspect of the trade aswell. Obviously there were a lot of suitors for Ron Artest, and being able to package him with Skinner, Thomas, or Williamson sweetens any deal. I think the Maloofs and Petrie will wait and see how Artest fits in first. No matter what the outcome the Kings are going to benefit from this deal. Artest could be the spark, or Artest could be the main trade piece in helping the Kings rebuild. The Pacers were reluctant to ship Artest to an Eastern Conference team, but it won't stop Sacramento from doing it. The Heat were one of the teams who really wanted Artest. They have a lot of young talent and Riley will let "potential" go for "proven" everytime. I'm sure any combination ofDorrell Wright, James Posey, Wayne Simien could be acquired. Then of course you have the Knicks who I mentioned earlier, Isiah easily overpays for players he wants. Artest certainly fits the description.
