Yeah, if I were the Hawks, I wouldn't offer Hedo either, since he's not on my squad. ;)

artest is the real deal and with bibby and martin shooting the way they do we will soon realize that, because his true beef with bibby is that he isn't shooting that well to make up for the poor defense

It is unfortunate that the trade with the Clippers fell through.  IMO, the Kings desperately want to trade Artest but he will be extremely difficult to move. I believe he sat out app. two months last year prior to coming to the Kings.  Not many teams wish to gamble on a player with behavior problems.

In the last game, Artest played l2 min. and had zero points.  In the last three games, he is 6 - 25 FG, and 0 - 8 three pointers and 4 steals. Musselman stated that Artest played a limited no. of min. because of the way the game flowed and the matchups--anyone out there believe this?

Prediction:  Disruptions by Artest have been increasing in scope and frequency.  Within weeks, if not traded, he will be suspended just as he was in Indy.  I've heard nothing positive about Artest from anyone in the Kings' organization recently.  I believe they're completely fed up with his antics and are taking steps to prevent him from sinking the ship.

I thought they, Clippers, said they waited for a response from us and didn't get one.

Will everyone please wake up?  The deal is dead because there was never a deal!  The Clippers have been trying to pawn off Maggette for 2 years, and his name always pops up in trade talks.  Get a clue, Clippers: no one wants him, at least not at the price you ask.  Ron Artest, as poorly as he has played this season, is a special player.  His ability on defense and the boards makes him unique; Maggette, while talented, is a dime a dozen player.  You can't trade a special player for an ordinary player, unless you are trying to clear cap space or deliberately make your team worse.  Artest for Maggette?  That would be like trading C-Webb for Kenny Thomas, Brian Skinner, and Corliss Williamson, and then spending the next 2 years insisting that those are "tradeable pieces".  Oh wait...THAT FREAKIN' HAPPENED!!!!  It's time for the Kings to stop reshuffling bad contracts and get an actual plan.  Artest should be part of those plans.

The only mistake the Kings made in the deal with the Sixers is not getting a draft pick back.  Other than that, the Kings are in a better position now than they were with Webber.  Webber is clearly on the decline and has been for some time.  Kudos to Petrie for recognizing that when he traded him two years ago.

The Kings actually have a player on the roster that can help (Kenny Thomas) and has more value right now than Webber.  Corliss has more value than Webber right now because of his expiring contract and how well he has played this season.   Mind you, Vitaly's contract comes off the books this year so I'm not sure what bad contract you're talking about.

Thomas has value and I think we would have less difficulty finding a taker for him (I honestly think exploring a deal with the Nets would be good right now because they're clearly looking for a big man and KT fits in their system more than he does ours) than the Sixers would finding a taker for Webber right now; especially with the Sixers only willing to take back expiring contracts/young players.  

But yeah, the only mistake Petrie made was not getting a draft pick from the Sixers.  Otherwise, honestly, it was a good move for the Kings.  And that's coming from a Webber fan.