Ron Artest News

"OK, so maybe I'm crazy. But I'm going to miss the guy. Ron Artest found a pulse in Arco Arena, infused a locker room with his emotional energy, and for the better part of three seasons, both earned and commanded attention. He was the Kings' best player, most consistent performer, most dynamic figure. But there is such a thing as overstaying your visit, and for the sake of the Kings - and Geoff Petrie's sanity - this was the time to say goodbye. At 6-foot-7 and 250 pounds, Artest always will be a load. He leaves bruises here, just as he did in Chicago and Indiana. He is mercurial and enigmatic, and can charm and infuriate within a matter of minutes, but he is totally exhausting. This is the ..."

"Not far from the spot where Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie discussed the formalizing of the Ron Artest trade to Houston on Thursday, brooms, resurfacing machines, hammers and garbage bags lay scattered on the team's refurbished practice facility court. The glossy spots were bright but few, surrounded by a sea of rough surface that made it clear the finished product would take some time. The rebuilding continues. While the Kings had taken significant steps away from their previous era, the Artest epoch was an illusionary diversion for a team choosing a simpler road to success by continuing the youth movement. Petrie - who long sought the right mixture of an expiring contract, a ..."

"The Rockets had waited 18 days to speak publicly of their trade for Ron Artest, forced to wait even to make Thursday’s announcement that the deal had been completed. Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, however, has had his patience tested for more than a decade since the Rockets’ last playoff series win, and for 13 seasons since the second of the back-to-back championships. It was not just the trade that he was ready to announce. This, he said, losing his battle with restraint, would herald the Rockets’ return to contender status. “So far the biggest trade (was for) Clyde (Drexler) because we won a championship,” Alexander said, considering his history of blockbuster deals. “Tracy (McGrady) ..."

"Today is the day Kings fans either have been anticipating or dreading. All indications are that Ron Artest-to-Houston deal will be become official now that Donte Greene's contract is one month old. As it stands, the deal basically will be Artest for Greene, Bobby Jackson and a draft pick, but it will have big ramifications for the Kings. Over the past month, when word of the deal first surfaced, the reaction was all over the board. Some fans said the Brothers Maloof and Kings basketball guru Geoff Petrie were already dumping the upcoming season while others were glad to see Artest go. Let's look at the bigger picture: To move forward, you often have to take a step back. Rarely in sports ..."

"The Kings added two Ron Artest reunion dates Wednesday after announcing they will face the Houston Rockets twice in the exhibition season. Artest's departure can't officially be recognized until today, but many fans already have circled the three regular-season games against the Rockets on the Kings' schedule. The first of the Kings' eight exhibition games is in Portland, Ore., against the Trail Blazers on Oct. 7. The Kings face Oklahoma City, formerly the Seattle SuperSonics, Oct. 10 at Arco Arena before traveling to Las Vegas to play the Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 12. The Kings have four home exhibitions, one of which is in Stockton. Sacramento faces the Los Angeles Clippers and their ..."

"Wouldn’t it be refreshing if the Rockets had enough guts to take a stand with Rafer Alston? Don’t hold your breath. Hell will freeze over before a professional sports team holds an athlete accountable for bad behavior. Yes, the Chicago Bears waived Cedric Benson after his second arrest this year, but the fact Benson had been a bust on the field surely made it easier for them to take action regarding his behavior off it. Maybe teams don’t care what kind of people they have in uniform because they know you don’t care. Artest faces scrutiny The Rockets were widely praised for obtaining a guy with baggage ranging from domestic violence to animal cruelty to an assortment of suspensions, fines ..."

"The trade isn't official yet. And it won't be until Aug. 14, or so we've heard. But mark April 9 on your calendar with a big red Sharpie. That's the day Ron Artest returns to Arco Arena as a Houston Rocket. That's about eight months away, and a lot will happen between now and then. But it will be interesting to see how he will be greeted. Will you cheer him for playing hard and lifting the Kings to their last playoff appearance? Or will you jeer him for his off-the-court troubles and selfish demeanor? They say time heals all wounds, but most of the fan anger seems to be at the Kings for trading him and not Artest for being Artest. Between now and then, the Kings will visit Houston ..."

"There is already something conflicting about the Houston Rockets. This is a team that rolled up 22 consecutive victories last season, but managed a 24-20 record just before going on the second-greatest winning streak in league history and finished 11-11 as part of the traditional first-round playoff loss. Ron Artest can't splinter them. He can shake them up, though, and the locker room of the Toyota Center is one of the few places where that might be a good thing, given the personality of the Rockets and their history of annual early postseason exits. If lobbing Artest into this group of good guys creates a concern that a passive roster will get run over by his strong will, especially if ..."

"Ron-Ron is gone-gone, and exactly why no one knows. Exactly is the key word, because Ron Artest was traded not only because the Kings feared a season-long negative attitude after learning he was not in the team's long-term future. There's no way the Kings unload an asset - and regardless of anything connected with his history, Artest remained a coveted player - for Bobby Jackson, a 2009 first-round draft choice and rookie Donte Greene unless there was more to their discontent. Artest played too hard for that to be the case. The Kings could have traded for more established talent,but the team's goal remains creating sizeable cap room for the summer of 2010. Then again, a cap angel could ..."

"At the Rockets’ core were two guys who’d been there for years, both tremendous talents, the faces of the franchise. But after a season in which one of those players suffered a serious injury that cost him much of the season, the team was going nowhere. Even with the duo for more than 20 points a game apiece the previous season, the team was stuck in a rut. They’d gone a decade without any real postseason success. Scenario not unique So in the offseason, the team goes out and adds another veteran who’d eclipsed the 20 point per game mark the season before. But they still hang on to the first two, the faces of the franchise, in an effort to win now with a team packed with veteran stars. ..."

"Ron Artest wanted to be judged by actions, not by anything he had said or was about to say. So when asked how he felt about the trade completed just days ago that will send him to the Rockets, he immediately pointed to something he had already done. “I got my house already,” he said. “About to get settled in and start working out.” Any wariness that he had Wednesday about Yao Ming’s comments was gone, ended by a conversation with Yao that Artest said “was great.” Yao had generally praised Artest and the trade, but had said he was concerned about “chemistry” and made a joking reference to the incident when Artest went into the stands after a fan, inspiring Artest to say he would be happy to ..."

"Don't start selling those Ron Artest jerseys in the Houston red just yet. The small forward is exchanging words with his new teammates even before setting foot in his new locker room. One day after the Kings and Rockets agreed in principle on a trade that would send Artest to Houston and bring Bobby Jackson, Donte Greene and a first-round pick Sacramento's way, Artest went on the defensive by phone to The Bee in response to comments made by Yao Ming. It was a most inauspicious start to this union, one that is no more than a handshake deal at the moment. Because of the nature of Greene's contract, he cannot officially be traded until Aug. 14. In other words, there's plenty of time for the ..."

"Let’s get the basketball stuff out of the way first, because that’s the easy part. Any conversation about next season’s NBA champion will include the Rockets, and when is the last time that was the case? Ron Artest doesn’t just make this team better. He makes it dramatically better. He brings a dimension of mental and physical toughness the Rockets haven’t had. He’s a lock-down defensive player and is coming off a season in which he averaged 20.5 points and 5.8 rebounds. If he behaves himself, the Rockets will have three of the NBA’s 30 best players. Rick Adelman will have all kinds of flexibility in regard to matchups and tempo. The Lakers, Spurs and Hornets may have comparable talent, ..."

"It was tough to tell over the shrieking celebration with noisemakers and streamers, but they'll love the Ron Artest trade in Houston, too. A deal with the framework of Bobby Jackson, Donte Greene and what figures to be a late first-round pick in 2009 for a talented forward, with minor parts likely to be added before becoming official Aug. 14, is an escape route for the Kings and a no-brainer for the Rockets in a way the NBA rarely has no-brainers. Of course, it never has just been about Artest the basketball talent, as you may have heard. It's just that he's a decreasing risk by the day, entering the final season of his contract at a manageable $7.4 million and unable to do any real damage ..."

"The news arrived on 19-year-old Phil Johnson's phone Tuesday. Ron Artest - traded to Houston. As Johnson walked through midtown Sacramento in a Lakers jersey, he was still piecing together the details of the trade but said he could hear Rockets fans cheering. "This is better for Houston," Johnson said. "You have Ron Artest with T-Mac (Tracy McGrady). That's what (McGrady's) been waiting for." But Houston's gain is not to suggest that many Kings fans weren't rooting for the possibility of seeing Artest in something other than purple. "Goodbye, Ron Artest. I won't miss you," said Tom Schmidt, 48, a Kings season ticket holder from Citrus Heights. "I think it's better for the team. Let's move ..."

"Ron-Ron is about to be gone-gone. A source close to the Kings said Tuesday a trade has been agreed upon sending Ron Artest to Houston for former Kings point guard Bobby Jackson, first-round draft pick Donte Greene, next season's first-round pick and cash considerations of approximately $1 million. The deal, the source said, cannot be finalized until Aug. 14 because of the nature of Greene's contract. A Rockets official who requested anonymity because of the private nature of trade talks said of the likely deal: "It feels very done to me." A second source close to the Kings said second-round draft picks Sean Singletary and Patrick Ewing Jr. could be sent to Houston as a means to keep the ..."

"In what had been a quiet offseason, the Rockets are about to make a lot of noise. In a stunning move designed to push them from solid playoff team toward legitimate NBA contender, the Rockets reached agreement Tuesday with the Sacramento Kings to acquire gifted but controversial forward Ron Artest, according to an NBA executive with knowledge of the deal. The Rockets will give up guard Bobby Jackson, a No. 1 draft pick next season and another player whom the individual with knowledge of the trade could not name. Rockets general manager Daryl Morey declined to comment. Rookie forward Donté Greene, whom the Rockets acquired in a series of draft-night trades, will be included in the trade and ..."

"If getting away from the Artest madness is a no-brainer – one rival general manager called it "The Ron Show," considering the imagined contract extensions and the swearing of loyalty to the Kings and then saying he doesn't want to be here – Petrie is the one who has to make sure there's something good on the other side of the escape hatch. So he fits pieces, weighs salaries and factors in the added risk of youth. This is so different than his previous reclamation project. Petrie built those Kings on a foundation of experience, signing Vlade Divac, Scot Pollard, Jon Barry and Bobby Jackson, trading for Chris Webber, Doug Christie and Bibby, and hiring Rick Adelman as coach. Draft ..."

"The Sacramento Kings have expressed interest in acquiring Dallas Mavericks forward/guard Josh Howard in a trade for All-Star forward Ron Artest, but the Mavericks aren't interested, according to an NBA source. The Mavericks reportedly were willing to offer forward Brandon Bass and guard Jerry Stackhouse for Artest. But the Kings wanted Howard included in the deal, halting the discussions. Because the Mavericks won't budge on Howard, a potential trade for Artest is all but dead, the source said."

"Yo, Ron-Ron, my man, do us all – but most of all yourself – a favor and go subterranean. You know, take it on the low-low. Real low. If in fact you want to get traded, you're only hurting the cause with your gum flapping. The media appreciate few things more than an athlete willing to speak as emotionally and bluntly as you do. However, in this case, that's not in your best interests. And although I disagree with your assessment that you've been mistreated or misled by the Kings (unless one or more of your checks bounced or was late), you being frustrated by a perceived snub is understandable."

"Having already shared his regret over not opting out of his contract last month after learning he wasn't in the Kings' long-term plans, Artest expressed a desire to be traded and claimed he was "blinded by friendship" with the Maloof family that owns the Kings. A day later, Kings co-owner Joe Maloof had a message for his conflicted player. "He has to balance the way he acts," Joe Maloof said by phone. "He's got to control his emotions a little better. You've got to try and keep your cool a little bit. "Take a deep breath and quit flying off the handle with comments that don't make sense. I hate to say it that way, but that's how I feel. It doesn't make sense to ..."

"One week after expressing regret over his decision to not opt out of his contract this summer, small forward Ron Artest issued an apology to the Kings and vowed to move on from the situation. "I do apologize for being mistakenly frustrated with the Kings," Artest wrote in an e-mail sent to The Bee and ESPN on Monday morning. "It was a mistake that I made and I will move on from." Artest's emotional response stemmed from a conference call he had with his agent, Mark Stevens, and Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie on July 1."

"Ron Artest remained with the Kings on Monday, when the deadline passed for the small forward to opt out of the final season of his contract and take his skills to free agency. But just as one offseason question was answered for the Kings, another arrived in the form of the official arrival of free agency. Point guard Beno Udrih became a former King at 9 p.m. Monday, when the team was expected to dial his agent, Marc Cornstein, in New York before anyone else in an attempt to bring him back. Numerous sources close to the team said the Kings were prepared to offer Udrih their full midlevel exception (approximately $6 million) in a five-year deal. The Kings' most ardent competition ..."

"The saga will soon be over, with Ron Artest's immediate future decided and the Kings back in control again. Pardon Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie for the audible exhale. By 9 tonight (Pacific Time), Artest either will be in the final season of his contract with the Kings or an intriguing member of the free-agent market. The decision is his until the deadline passes, just as it has been since the season ended. Though the prospect of Artest opting out remains unlikely, the uncertainty remains until it's official. Artest is in the driver's seat for one more day, and Petrie is stuck without a steering wheel."

"He's wearing gold Kings shorts, a black warm- up and ? slippers. On this Friday night inside the KHTK 1140 studios in North Sacramento, the muscle-bound Ron Artest enters at nearly 10 p.m. with an outfit that's so odd that it's fitting all at the same time. After all, he's here to continue his recent radio foray with a co-host who isn't exactly in sync himself. Carmichael Dave, as he's known in his 9 p.m.-midnight slot, is a white, 6-foot-5 funny man with a cushy poker player's build. He is a Kings super fan who grew up in ? hence the name ? the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael, landing an internship after years as a call-in regular and eventually talking his way into his own show in ..."

"The critics are still out on what kind of defensive identity the Knicks will develop under new coach Mike D'Antoni. Perhaps Ron Artest can help. The Knicks may have a chance to sign Artest to a five-year, $30 million mid-level exception, if he opts out of the last year of his contract with the Sacramento Kings and becomes a free agent on July 1. That contract would pay him $7.4 million. It's even a possibility the Knicks could work a sign-and-trade with Sacramento, if the Kings would agree to it. When the Daily News asked the Queensbridge product if he would like to play for the team he grew up watching, Artest flashed a huge grin. "Who wouldn't want to?" Artest said"

"Kings small forward Ron Artest still could opt out of his contract by the June 30 deadline. But according to his agent, he is unlikely to do so considering it could mean taking a pay cut as a free agent. "If he opts out, it's obvious we're looking at a midlevel exception deal (approximately $6 million per season)," Mark Stevens said. "Ron fully understands that if he opts out, he runs the risk of Sacramento saying, OK, opt out, you can leave, and we won't get nothing for you, or we can do a sign and trade."