Early third round is fine. In fact late third round is good too. But not fourth.

I only vote in elections that make sense – like Democratic primaries – and then I vote for the woman.

I am thrilled that Ron is staying! Hopefully Petrie can work something out with him for a reasonable extension. If not, well, he should have an excellent return on the trade market.

Hey! Maybe Ron can convince his good buddy Elton Brand to sign with us for (uuhm) well, whatever we can scrape up!

regarding the Beno offer. Uhhh, I’m starting to think Petrie reads sactown royalty and then just does the exact opposite of what everybody assumes. I like Beno, and I think he could grow into a much better player than he is now. Of course, I have only seen him play live or on tv 2-4 times, so my opinion shouldn’t really matter here.
But, no matter what my opinion, would it have hurt to just wait it out and see what others offer? That is an honest question not a rhetorical one. Would it have hurt his feelings if we weren’t the first to offer? Possibly, I’m not sure.

So Petrie makes the offer, meaning that anyone else that wants Udrih is going to have to go beyond the 5 year MLE. That would mean that the Warriors and Clippers will probably have to spend over and above to fill their needs at PG. If Davis winds up with the Dubs or the Clips, the other team will either need to spend on Udrih, or try to convince Chris Duhon that their MLE smells better than NY’s or Miami’s MLE.

I’m not a big fan of the five years, but maybe it’s not a bad move considering the circumstances.

Ziller, are you saying Kevin is worth $10m and BMiller $11m but Artest isn’t worth something in that range? Thats what I’d offer, plus a bonus mil for this season as a signing incentive.

$7.4m + $1m this yr
$10m 2009
$11m 2010
$11.5m 2011
$12m team option 2012

A nice compromise that leaves the team money to sign others once we unload our bad contracts.
i’m not saying that would be acceptable to Ron and his agent but its fair and it leaves us the room to go for that Championship team Ron wants.

Not exactly poverty either.

Well, I don’t really care about Artest. I love him as a player but his lack of respect and loyalty are huge disadvantaged to have him around. Next season he will probably ask for 10+ mil per year and we’ll hopefully let him leave or snd him.

I don’t think it’s “self-control” that made Ron stay with the Kings. It’s just madness, he probably flipped a coin or something.

this offseason for some young guys, and resign Beno (not a fan of the terms of the offer, but the Kings are better with him than without for the immediate future) we will have a more talented, workable roster than I expected. Mesh that with the fact that the team already got to know eachother next year, and we could be alright. And yes, I realize I change my opinions every five minutes.

Speaking of turnarounds (of the 100-degree sort), I decided I have done a turnaround of my own. With the written word leaving room for interpretation and confusion, it now seems as if the turnaround he wrote of was less directly related to opting out. The point Artest was making, in the end, is that he’s gone from a player so many teams were afraid to touch because of his soiled name to a player whose value is on the serious rise. And he’s right.

Artest will be highly coveted via trade this summer and perhaps this season, because he still plays top-notch defense and can score and has put some distance between himself and all serious controversy. Always unpredictable, but insanely talented too.

Any team that trades LeBron should be demoted to the D League. (I realize that’s the joke and it’s meant to be funny, but I still object to the poll.)

having a 30 something win team and a late lottery pick. grrrreat.

but I think that Ron’s market value should be much greater than the 8.45 million we will pay him next season. sure he’s crazy, sure he takes some ill-advised shots. but most of us agree that he is insanely talented and, unlike many of the other players in the NBA that could be described that way, he is committed to playing defense and winning games. he is the only member of the starting lineup that could be considered tough and he has indicated his dedication to the Kings. Unless it becomes clear during the course of next season that we won’t be able to extend him for a reasonable amount (10-12 mil per year?), I think that we would be utterly batsh*t Ron-Artest-level crazy to let him walk. remember that we are talking about a league in which the poodle is going to make 8 mil next year just for having been on AI’s team. Ron Artest may be a ticking time bomb, but in my estimation he has shown more evidence that he will use his explosiveness to propel the Kings than to sink them. if GP can make a deal to get something overwhelmingly amazing for Ron, so be it. but until then, I think we should count our blessings to have Ron and not Rashard Lewis at twice his price.

Sigh. what exactly is going to blow up? Don’t you Ron Artest hater overexaggerate just a smite too much?

I’ve got a headache already thinking about all the trade possibilities that are going to be thrown out there between now and when Ron’s traded.

None of the free agent PGs are worth the full MLE, unless Boom Dizzle or Gilbert want to take a price cut. Just because he’s one of the better available point guards, doesn’t mean he should get a 5 year deal

to think of all those Knicks and Lakers fans crying right now. They were so sure Artest would opt out and sign with them for the MLE. Now if we can just get the Beno deal done and trade Artest for some valuable pieces, I’ll be happy.