But even if there was a better “player” it wouldn’t have been much better. Besides cap relief is very hard to come by as the Nuggets are proving by trading Camby to the Clippers. There is more than one way to skin a cat, but if you have no roster or cap flexibility to do anything it makes little difference.

He’s trying to put that team together, but if he doesn’t dump a certain amount of salary, it will end up putting the team in the red with luxury tax. That’s one reason I don’t think bringing back a talent like Josh Howard or Lamar Odom is so wise. Howard is better than almost everyone on the roster minus K-Mart (some would say hands down but I wouldn’t), but that being said, Howard is also making 10 million a year for a SF. I think the KIngs have better options in the long term by holding out for taking Thomas and Artest off the roster for a 1st round pick and an expiring deal like Wally’s World.

I disagree about the team needing a defensive beast though. I think Shawes. Thompson and Williams can do enough of that as a trio. I might be wrong, but I find them fairly exciting as a group with Garcia in the mix providing his type of defensive intangibles. I like this group for the most part overall, and it needs a chance to grow together. i think pushing this team before it’s ready is a mistake too. But young guys need time on the same token, and committment to playing young players is something Reggie Theus needs to have. He has no problem playing Garcia, but neither did Adelman for that matter.

I totally agree that this team hasn’t had the best route to try and change the roster given the veterans and the choices made by the franchise to re-tool why attempting to stay competitive. But it is what it is, and I think the yonug talent on this roster is good enough to compete in the playoffs at one point. Beyond that it’s hard to believe anything else, other than injury, is going to stop Petrie in doing what he wants.

It’s hard to say whether the Kings “lost” or “won” the Webber trade. Even if it was the best option at the time, that doesn’t necessarily make it a good trade. I don’t mean to bag on Petrie, because I still think he’s one of the best GMs in the League; however, he got absolute garbage for a guy that was an MVP-calliber player two seasons earlier. You guys both mentioned that Webb’s contract was becoming increasingly difficult to move, but obviously it was Petrie’s prerogative to ink that contract in the first place and to choose when to deal it. Of course Petrie can’t be blamed for Mayce’s injuries and I’m sure he was being pulled in a million different directions the whole time, but I think that it is at least fair to say that he held on to Webber for too long. Hindsight may be 20/20, but I think Geoff’s foresight failed us in that instance. So forgive me if I sound sour, but I don’t feel “damn lucky” to have K9 or the memories that Skinner and Williamson provided.

All that said, I do look forward to a bright future with the young core that Petrie is putting together and I hope that he can pull the trigger if/when he has the chance to make the Kings a contender again.

Things I did not intend to suggest:
Howard is better than Artest
Howard is a steal at $10.5M

Things I tried to explain:
Howard is not overpaid at $10.5M
Howard might be a better fit for the Kings than Artest

On this last point I was hoping to spur conversation, because I’m curious to know where others stand. To that end, thanks for your input!

Howard us good, but not that good. He is the player that was good enough to be underrated, only for everyone to notice and him to become overrated. I would rather go with the LA or Miami options, but am ok with Howard.

that’s not much of an argument. It’s kind of like saying Paul Pierce wouldn’t be all that if Kevin Garnett wasn’t so tough to handle.

You can count on one hand the NBA players who, on a given night, can single handedly carry a team on their back. Howard isn’t that kind of stud, but neither is Artest or any of the other names being thrown around in this trade talk.

Bottom line: the Kings are deficient in the young talent department and Josh Howard is relatively young and has talent. Quite a lot of it, in fact.

He won a bunch of national College Player of the Year awards. He was the unanimous ACC Player of the Year. He was an NBA All Star. He not only averaged 20 points and 7 rebounds, but is a very good one-on-one defensive player, which has little or anything to do with Dirk.

In short, he’d be a good NBA player in whatever uniform he’s given.

Now, if it’s an expiring contract we’d rather get, fine. I can understand that as a strategy. But if we’re looking to add a player on the rise with both offensive and defensive skills that’ll still be in his prime three years from now, it’d be pretty hard to get better than Josh Howard for Ron-Ron.

Anyway, this is all probably a moot point because I doubt very much that the Mavericks would trade their second best player, but because of his recent weed comments there is a slight chance they could push the panic button. You gotta be willing to swoop in if an opposing GM makes a mistake like that.

It doesn’t quite work that way.

As it is, Artest comes off the books next year anyway, so trading him for their Trade Exception does nothing for the Kings (financially) after this season.

We don’t need to argue about that. The question is how patient should the Kings remain with their various young pieces.

The Kings would never have signed Mikki Moore or Shareef if Webber was still here, so it’s silly to think the roster would have stayed the same. The Maloofs were certainly not going to pay the luxury tax on a mediocre team.