Maybe you figured it out from my title. I'm not pleased with the deadline day results for your Sacramento Kings. Ben Wallace got traded. Shaq got traded. Gasol got traded. Kidd got traded. Bibby got traded to the Atlanta Hawks; a place that most people didn't think even existed anymore. And here the Kings are stuck in 500 gears arguing that teams low-balled them (and rightfully so) for Artest and that isn't appropriate to make a trade. Well, and this is of course my opinion, but that's wrong. There's a reason team's wouldn't break the bank for Artest. He isn't WORTH it. You don't trade a player of that talent in his PRIME unless there are serious issues. That's just the bottom line.

A matter of Amick

Quite a brilliant article by Amick that popped up later in the day. Some choice quotes from Mark Stevens to kick this capsule of cyanide off:

"Of course (Artest not being traded) changes a lot of about your perspective; a lot of things change," said Stevens, whose client will earn $7.4 million next season if he doesn't opt out. "Exercising our option at this point is possible, but not likely.

"It's possible, but it's not likely to happen at this point."

Umm, okay now. Wasn't this the same client, who just all of 2 weeks ago, advocated trading him to open up time for John Salmons? Wasn't this the same guy whose maintained for years that his previous actions cost him dollars on this contract? Wasn't this the same agent that popped off about Artest's contractual worth to a Denver TV station? Mark Stevens, you're a friggin numb skull. Thanks for helping destroy my day even further, as if it couldn't have gotten (it has) any worse.

Conspiracy theory time

Nor does Joe Maloof, although the Kings co-owner indicated that it could certainly involve Artest for the long term.

"It's a great possibility that he will stay with us, and that we will be able to have him for the future," Maloof said. "My advice to him would be 'Go out, play the rest of this season as hard as you can. Stay a good teammate, and at the end of the season we'll sit down and talk about a future.' It's impossible right now to decide what the future is until we see what happens in the next two months."

Although, I think most of the decision was Petrie's, at this point anyway, I think the Maloof's weren't savvy enough to see the benifit of dumping Artest's contract for cap room and a draft pick. I wonder if they realize they're going to pay luxury tax if they want to keep Artest and Beno Udrih next season. Either way, and I hope this isn't true, as I really want to slam Petrie for senility, but if they interfered to the point that dumping Artest's contract was un-acceptable I'd be like huh? What are you guys thinking? Does throwing money away, while you've been publicly stumping for a new arena, make fiscal sense for a roster than isn't even anything close, with or without Artest, to championship contention? What's wrong with the picture? As I said this is just a consipiracy theory, and would rather find that this was Petrie's deal all the way.

Then there is the "In Petrie we trust" part of this deal

Geoff Petrie has largely spent his time as GM, or President of Basketball Operations, highly regarded because of his many stellar moves. Whether it was taking quality players with middle to low draft picks, or making incredible trades, or making just incredible trades on the whole, Petrie has largely done an incredible job getting to this franchise where it needed to be. Having just said all that, if you subscribe to the theory you're only as good as your last game or deal, then Petrie screwed the pooch worse than Michael Jackson lust's after boys. How can you possibly consider Artest long term given the knowledge, and difficulty, he's given you in his 2 year stay already? What possibility is running through your head, and if Petrie's got alzheimers I certainly apologize, but if he has alzheimers, that makes keeping Artest plausible? It's not that Artest isn't talented. He's a great talent. He's also a complete pain in the ass who says everything from "I'm going to sign with the Knicks for the Mid Level" to "I'm a 14 million dollar player". This is not a guy you can honestly believe, and expect this fan, to actually follow you under the line of thinking that it's reasonable to build this franchise around a player whose best season might be currently happening as I write this. Look at some of those stats. He's shooting 45% from the floor. That's incredible given his absolutely atrocious shot selection at times. This is not a guy whose a scrub and can't make an impact. He's also not a guy whom you would be shocked to found he arrives to games with a chicken's head in his pocket. He's so un-predictable, and teams have enough problems with enough players in that vein, which makes me wonder why Petrie's insistence on that level of return for a player, who didn't merit it, at that high a priority.

You want some perspective? Go to Pickaxe & Roll, the Nuggets blog on SBN, and check out Jeremy's reaction to the Nuggets. He's mad the Nuggets weren't willing to go all out, and I'm mad that Petrie wasn't willing to dump Artest for cap room and a draft pick. It's almost funny, but Artest could have made a large impact on several other teams (namely Houston I dare say), and no team wanted him because the feeling is he isn't worth it. His negatives are too much to deal with over the long term.

From the mouth of Don Quixote himself:

Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie said his high opinion of Artest as a player hasn't changed. And while the notion of the Kings re-signing Artest once seemed implausible whether it was this summer or the next, the possibility now clearly exists.

"That's Ron's choice to make on his opt out," Petrie said. "(But) we'll work through that when we get there. In the meantime, Ron is in a great space, is playing well. (Kings coach) Reggie (Theus) really enjoys having him. He's got everything in the world to be playing for....I don't know for certain what the future's going to hold.

Wow, what a turnaround. 2 weeks ago Petrie was shopping him and now he wants to sing coombiyah after every GM told him to fuck off. I guess we tend to react reflexively when we get rejected so heartily the way Petrie did. That's the most frank quote I've seen Petrie from in awhile. Where in the world does anybody think the Kings benefit from a sign & trade over the summer? Bringing a long in-flexible contract for Artest makes sense? Does paying luxury tax to keep him make any sense either? Petrie's priorities seem muddled, and sadly, seem to believe that you just don't give up a player of Artest's talent for less than his preferred value. So let's make a list of the guys I wouldn't trade away if Artest was coming in return:

Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, Jeff Green, Kevin Durant, Kevin Martin, Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson (yes that S-Jax), Rip Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, Jose Calderon, Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, LaMarcus Aldridge, Tyrus Thomas, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Dwyane Wade, Shawn Marion, Hedo Turkoglu, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, Chris Paul, David West, Tyson Chandler, Rudy Gay, Mike Conley, Javaris Crittenton, Andrew Bynum, Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Amare Stoudemire, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, Al Jefferson, Corey Brewer, Randy Foye, Michael Redd, Yi Jianlian, Andrew Bogut, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, David Lee, Renaldo Balkman, Andre Miller, Andre Igoudala, Jason Smith, Thaddeus Young, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Gilbert Arenas, Deron Williams, Mehmet Okur, Carlos Boozer, Beno Udrih, Baron Davis, Marvin Williams, Linas Kleiza.

Okay maybe you get the point. I started naming players, many of whom aren't even all-star caliber yet, that I wouldn't trade for Artest because he's such a high risk. There are some great players on that list, and I probably left Jason Kidd off, and Dirk Nowitzki, and Devin Harris, but I didn't think about them and felt by that time I made my point.

if the Kings are going to pursue options for Ron Artest they're going to need help from the following places:

1. Kenny Thomas--if he doesn't opt out they will pay luxury tax
   
2. a team with a trade exception or cap room to take a spare contract off the books
   
3. they make a complicated multiple team deal that nets the team enough space to get away from the luxury tax threshold for at least next season

As for the past, the Kings' potential deal with Denver was the staring contest that ended as the noon deadline arrived. With a standing offer for Nuggets forward Eduardo Najera and a first-round draft pick on the table, Petrie waited for Denver to add third-year small forward Linas Kleiza to the package. Yet in the last two days of possible dealings, a source close to the team said the Nuggets never once called. And suddenly, everything may have changed as it pertains to Artest. I like Amick alot, but there is no way the Kings could have done Najera for Artest straight up. Jr Smith would have been included, and I while I'm perfectly aware Sam knows this, I also think he just made the point that the Kings blinked because they were too afraid of getting low-balled. Fear, and accompanying ego, will probably cost this team dear. And for what? For fucking what?

For a guy who, among other things, once signed up to work at Circuit City to get discounts, all while being a multi-milionaire. He once asked for time off to promote some of the worst sounding rap in the history of the world. He didn't play in a game last season claiming he hurt his back driving a Merccedes he bought, when he was the same exact size when he bought it. (I don't have sympathy for a guy saying he has back problems when he's a multi-millionaire.) Stability is not part of Ron Artest's repertoire, and it's probably not likely to change. And we have a "President of Basketball Operations" who wouldn't trade this guy for 2 expiring contracts and a 1st round pick; which could end up in the 20's range and end up somewhere in the same realm as, say, Kevin Martin? Since Petrie has done an incredible job with his draft picks since coming to Sacramento, shoudln't he have more faith in his own drafting abilities? This whole non-move makes no sense from every angle.

Whether you believe that John Salmons isn't worth keeping because he doesn't make the team elite, and that's certainly a fair point to consider, it's hard to believe that you would let Salmons get in the way from dealing Artest. If you're rebuilding that's kind of the point. To transistion your team from players who aren't as high caliber to players who are. I think this team had a great chance to gel if it hadn't been shackled from the constraints of Ron Artest down the stretch. This isn't about whether Artest goes out and whips the Bobcats all by his lonesome. Or the next 29 opponents after that. This isn't about whether Kevin Martin isn't losing shots because of Ron; I think Mike Bibby is a bigger factor in that department. This is about priorities, and the logic that goes into developing those priorities, and why this team insists to use faulty logic towards building this team. The continued use of the MLE, the keeping of Artest, and perhaps the best example, the dealing for Artest in the first place. Artest is good enough to keep a team mediocre, He has never shown a proclivity to propel a team, for say more than 40 games at a time, to a team above a 550 record. 40 games at a time is not a high benchmark for a guy considered, in some respects, the best 2 way player in the game.

I leave with this. If Petrie thinks his options improve over the summer in sign & trades he's obviously mis-reading the market. That's entirely inept to believe Artest's value will raise over the last 30 games because he will play well or whatever. It's also equally faulty logic to assume that Petrie's vision of losing Artest for anything less than premium value is a sound strategy, unless he's absolutely mandated by the Brothers/family, to shed salary in avoiding luxury tax. If you consider re-signing Beno Udrih, a priority for me, then why would you put it at risk by not allowing the team to have certain distance from luxury tax next season by not trading Ron Artest? The fact Petrie didn't trade Artest was not only stupid, but it's entirely deceitful to loyal fans of the EC who come out to watch a mediocre, uneven, talented, but ultimately dis-jointed basketball team keep spinning it's wheels. That isn't fair, it isn't right, and it's extremely insulting to me, who as a fan over the last 15 years have endured through some things, and if I've been a fan for longer I'd be even more insulted, that I have to live through this. I understand that Petrie has cleaned up messes before, but unlike 1994, he's created this mess. And regardless of the outcome, good or bad, or indifferent, it won't matter to me unless he does something truly extraordinary beyond dumping enough salary to avoid the luxury tax next season along with keeping Beno Udrih. This is why the title has a reference of ineptitude comparable to a guy who spent his time slapping a donkey on the ass, and looking up at the sky for flying crosses, to find the meaning of life.