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Hold on to your drink cups (please)... Ron Artest is heading south to Clutch City.
According to multiple reports, the Rockets and Kings have agreed on a deal that will send Bobby Jackson, Donte Greene and a 2009 first round pick to Sacramento and bring Artest to Houston.
The deal can not be finalized until August 14th, 30 days after Greene signed his Rockets contract.
"Yes, it has been tentatively agreed upon," said Artest's agent, Mark Stevens. "Now it has to be confirmed by the league office and until that is done, it's not official."
The four words that come to mind: Are you kidding me?
This is the sequel to the Pau Gasol trade. This would never pass the Gregg Popovich trade committee and if I were the GM of another team I'd be asking for criminal charges to be filed.
The Rockets simply added a 20-point scorer who plays elite-level defense and they did not have to give up Shane Battier to pull it off. Houston did not lose a single significant piece from a returning 55-win basketball team.
In the short term, they gave up nothing. Yes, Greene has a ton of potential, but just the same he was the 28th pick of the draft. In total, the Rockets gave up a purely expendable piece in Jackson and two very late first rounders (which have proven to be acquirable for straight cash) for an in-his-prime legitimate third star.
It's looking more and more like Rockets GM Daryl Morey is playing in a fantasy league with Kevin Pritchard and 28 stiffs.
The 6-foot-7, 245-pound Artest has been a bruising defender since he came into the league in 1999, but his offense has had to progress each season. He scored 20.5 points a night on 45.3% shooting to go with 5.8 boards and 2.3 steals with the Kings last season in just over 38 minutes per. For his career, Artest does not shoot a high percentage from three ball (32.9%), but he nailed 38% from downtown last season.
Yes, Artest is crazier than a sack of weasels. He's Heath Ledger's Joker in Otis Thorpe's body, but he's toned it down since the infamous meltdown in Detroit and a friend who works for the Kings reiterated Tuesday night that Artest has really worked on changing for the better.
Still, there is some risk involved that he might bail for a month to hunt whales in Antarctica, but that's the beauty of the trade: Artest's deal is up next summer. He's in a contract year and the Rockets don't have to commit long-term just yet. Something goes wrong? They have a bigger expiring contract ($8.5M) to play with at the February trading deadline than the Jackson pact ($6.1M) they just traded away.
Rockets coach Rick Adelman coached Ron Ron for half a season in 2005-06 with the Kings and Artest enjoyed the highest assist output (4.2 per game) of his career that year. So the newest Rocket should feel comfortable in Adelman's system, but more importantly, Adelman aquiring him again shows that the Rockets head man is not concerned about supervising a second tour of duty for the enigmatic star.
The defensive possibilities with this team are just downright scary. Adelman can now throw out two defensive stoppers on the wing in Artest and Battier, giving the team more punch against the likes of Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom.
The bigger impact may be felt offensively. The Rockets needed a guy who could get his own shot. They needed a guy who could attack the basket. They needed a guy -- any guy -- who could take the scoring pressure off of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady when defenses double.
Stromile Swift. Bonzi Wells. Mike James. Steve Francis. The Rockets have had some terrible luck trying to find that guy to put next to their dynamic duo.
This time it feels different.
As always it's a requirement to cross your fingers for good health, but after adding Artest, the Rockets may have just blasted their way to the top of the preseason projection pile in the West.
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