Following up on the Josh Howard for Ron Artest rumors, allow me to submit one of my own design. I toss this out more to gauge your feelings as it pertains to Ron-Ron's value.

T.J. Ford has to leave Toronto. The town ain't big enough for him and Jose Calderon, and I'm betting the Raptors keep Calderon. For what it's worth, Ford was 6th in Hollinger's PER rankings for point guards this year (Calderon was 5th, Beno Udrih 30th).

Ford has two years plus and option year (his). The three years total $25.8 million, which probably makes him about $2-3 million a year more expensive than Udrih. Ford is due to make $8.275 million this year, so an Artest for Ford deal would work from a dollars standpoint. And though Ford has had a couple of significant injuries in his brief career, he has still played in a higher percentage of his team's games than Artest (though the percentages are almost identical if you back out Ron's Detroit brawl suspension).

Toronto does have Jamario Moon at small forward, but you would have to think the Raptors could be at least a little interested in a guy with Artest's unique skill set, especially with division rivals like Paul Pierce, Richard Jefferson and/or Vince Carter, and Andre Iguodala.

So -