Artest a Sun? Will Kerr Make A Push

[TASTIC]

Artest would be perfect. I've definitely come round to thinking he should be the #1. He won't try anything stupid with Shaq around cos he'll get his ass beat by an even bigger headcase

He can also initiate the offense and even play some point, which we've lacked from the 3 spot in terms of production since Joe J left. (I don't count Hill cos DA never played him as point-forward; nor Diaw as he was always in the post)

[-SDU-]

my only worry about artest is that we wouldnt have good spacing for our starters

we need 3 3 point shooters to start next to shaq and amare, and artest would kill that

not to mention the fact that artest wouldnt be able to run and combine with shaq and amare we would then lose much of our fast break which maximizes nashs skills

i know this sounds crazy, but artest at PF next to shaq, do the unthinkable and trade amare and Tucker for, um, lets say joe johnson, josh smith and Acie Law then we would have a well rounded lineup

nash / Law
Joe Johnson / Bell
Josh Smith / Hill
Artest / Diaw
Shaq / Skinner




nah, just joking, but seriously, i think artest is a great talent and would love him here, but the answer still is a SF who is a consistent 3 point threat. if we dont fill that void, we will not mesh at all

hill and diaw both arent really the best options for SF

[Smills91]

my only worry about artest is that we wouldnt have good spacing for our starters

we need 3 3 point shooters to start next to shaq and amare, and artest would kill that

not to mention the fact that artest wouldnt be able to run and combine with shaq and amare we would then lose much of our fast break which maximizes nashs skills

i know this sounds crazy, but artest at PF next to shaq, do the unthinkable and trade amare and Tucker for, um, lets say joe johnson, josh smith and Acie Law then we would have a well rounded lineup

nash / Law
Joe Johnson / Bell
Josh Smith / Hill
Artest / Diaw
Shaq / Skinner




nah, just joking, but seriously, i think artest is a great talent and would love him here, but the answer still is a SF who is a consistent 3 point threat. if we dont fill that void, we will not mesh at all

hill and diaw both arent really the best options for SF

I don't know what you're talking about here. Ron shoots 3 three's a game and hit 38% of them. That's over 1/game. That's about normal from the small forward position, maybe even a little high, to get more than one 3 out of your SF EVERY game is solid to say the least.

As a Kings fan, I really do like the pairing of Ron with the Suns. His game would fit perfectl with what you've done now adding Shaq. I think he's give you guys one of the best defensive teams in the league and you'd have a threat for Nash to feed on EVERY possession from any position.

The thing is though, Barbosa does look attractive at first glance, but then you see that we already have Douby on a rookie deal for a couple more years who plays a similar role as that of Barbosa and that Barbosa's deal goes past 2010 and it pretty much kills it as a straight swap from the Kings perspective. Adding Diaw/Thomas does the same exact thing. We'd rather have Thomas than Diaw for contractual purposes.

So something that has Diaw/Barbosa going to a third team with that third team giving the Kings what they want for Artest/Thomas is probably the best bet for the Suns landing Artest(which would be a coup for the Suns).

[Miklo]

Mavs end talks when SAC indicates they want Josh Howard for Artest. Kings are having a lot of difficulty shopping him; I wonder if eventually they start considering offering him at a discount...I guess we may yet see the Suns having the pieces needed to pick up Artest. Question is level of our FO's interest. Just a thought...

from azcentral (dunno if this is new or not I just skimmed it so sorry if its been posted):
You heard that the Suns got mentioned as a potential destination in Ron Artest trade rumors. The hunch here is that this may be one-way interest coming more from Artest’s desire to play for Phoenix. The Kings do have interest in Leandro Barbosa and are known to be shopping John Salmons, the Suns free agency pledge for a day back in the Marcus Banks summer of 2006.

[nevetsov]

Barbs & Diaw for Artest & Salmons.. hmm.

[Rasho Brezec]

Barbs & Diaw for Artest & Salmons.. hmm.

I don't think Kings would be interested in that trade. Salmons is very highly valued with them and I think they want to have capspace for 2010, so both Barbosa and Diaw would kill that plan. I think that they won't be sending Artest away without at least one bad contract (Kenny Thomas or SAR).

[tsherkin]

my only worry about artest is that we wouldnt have good spacing for our starters

we need 3 3 point shooters to start next to shaq and amare, and artest would kill that

Ron Artest 3P% in 07-08, 38% (3.9/g)

In 06-07, 35.6% (3.7/g).

What spacing would he kill again?

Just as Smills said, Artest has been a fine shooter over the last two seasons.

More importantly, he's a brutally effective wing defender, much better than Shawn Marion and he's able to guard 4s in spot minutes so he can help ameliorate the horror that is Amare's man defense (and, good Lord, think of Amare, Artest, Hill, Bell and Nash as a small lineup...).

Artest would be pretty much an ideal fit in Phoenix (much as he would be in L.A., though for different reasons).