<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> July 10, 2007 -- LAS VEGAS - In a stunning reversal, the flaky Ron Artest told The Post yesterday he wants to retire a Sacramento King and isn?t advocating a trade to the Knicks. Artest, a Queens native who played for St. John?s, had been baking in the scorching Las Vegas sun poolside at the Palms Hotel for several hours before he made the unpredictable remarks. On multiple occasions, Artest had said his dream was to play for the Knicks. ?I really want to finish my career in Sacramento because of my relationship with some of the players,? Artest said. ?I want to finish with Sacramento. I feel attached to Sacramento. I want to be their franchise player. Artest claims Kings GM Geoff Petrie told him a couple of weeks ago he would not deal him, and Artest told Petrie he probably would not opt out after next season. ?They?re not going to trade me,? Artest said. ?I had a good talk with [Petrie]. That?s what he told me. That?s the only thing I can go on. He?s happy to have me.? Petrie backed up Artest?s claim. </div> Source Hopefully QR is fully recovered as it looks like we will be using him as our Small Forward. We will desperately need his D and that 3 won't hurt us either. Anyway forget about Artest!!!
Artest is more of a luxury than he is a necessity, IMO. He will bring a lot to the table, especially on defense, but I don't know how he'll fit offensively, to be honest. And of course he has an extensive list of on and off court shenanigans. I don't buy 'I want to be a king for life!' stuff. He said the same thing in Indiana and many other players (Iverson, Kobe, to name a few) have said they want to end their careers on their respective teams. Granted, Kobe seems to have retracted his trade request, but it just goes to show you can't put too much stock into these types of comments, much less a player who has publicly demanded a trade in the past. We shouldn't be worrying about Artest now, we should be making a decision on who makes our roster, which currently consists of 18 players.
I think QR is not the standard of Artest on the court. If the Knicks could of got Artest, and Q-Rich back, it would be great for them, but that won't happen.
