From a professional standpoint, two of the people who may lose the most with Ron Artest leaving town could be Sam Amick & Carmichael Dave.

Both have had boosts in awareness (popularity?) because of their access to/connections with Ron, especially considering the fact that he’s always a story (even when he’s not).

We’ll have the Good Ron story tomorrow.

That Sam-I-Am, I do not like that Sam-I-Am.

Your summary is brilliant and spot-on. Second, I agree that Amick was stirring up the crap here and I wish he would just leave well enough alone.

The interview and the article set 2 different tones. Something is up, but I doubt it’s the Rockets pulling out of this trade.

He makes Artest almost look sane. Artest hasn’t yet said, “The Kings didn’t deserve me.” Then again, give him time.

Amick responds to some of the heat he’s received today:

As for the venom spewed my way this morning, I’ll say only that it’s predictable in every way. Killing the messenger is no new practice. And for the umpteenth time, writers don’t write headlines in the paper (or on online stories).

I had the exact opposite reaction when I read the article. To me, this is some of Sam’s best work as a journalist. You have to remember, he isn’t a Kings fan by trade, he is a journalist and his job is to get the story. The amount of unbelievable quotes he got out of Artest is just awesome. He didn’t even use some of the worst in the story, namely “I’m probably the ghetto-ist guy in the league”. Great work Sam, we are lucky to have you in Sacramento, please don’t move on to espn.

The guy has a family to feed. He’s going to do the best job he can, and if he gets a better job offer because of it, he’s gone.

He’s already figured controversy sells, and he’s two weeks away from losing his main meal ticket and on his way to covering a 30-win team. He has to move fast, or he may get lost in the shuffle.

As a journalist, which of these questions would you not have asked Ron Artest if you were given the opportunity? I mean, I can understand why they would make a Kings fan cringe, becauese they made me cringe. But Amick is not a Kings fan. He is a journalist. And I envy him for having the balls to ask questions that I would not have been bold enough to ask. As fans we yearn for the truth. And yet can we not handle the truth?

(By the way, this question is not levied directly at CC, I just happen to posting after him/her. This is a question for the masses.)

If Mr. Amick reads fanposts on StR, I guess my question to him would be: What message did you intend to deliver with that piece, exactly?

If the message was that Ron Artest expects a new contract ASAP, it seems a bit redundant to those of us that are paying attention (read: reading Sam Amick’s Kings Blog in July)

If the message is that some of Artest’s new teammates in Houston are “wary” about what result his joining the team will have on the Rockets, it hardly seems an appropriate topic, considering how many exciting things are happening with our team.

Maybe Amick is not a Kings fan, but he is reporting about the Kings to Kings fans. To me, Amick hitting his readership with a barrage of moderately controversial responses to deliberately provocative hypothetical questions (“You don’t technically have any say (in the trade), but if you decided you didn’t want to go there then they might think twice about this.” [not even a question], “I’ve got to ask you – you didn’t mention Yao and I’m sure you’ve heard of some of the stuff he said back in China. Did that catch you off guard?”) is both uninteresting and meretricious. I understand that this may be a matter of taste, but, ultimately, I think that I would be more interested in the take of someone who is a Kings fan in the wake of this trade. For instance, I would be much more interested to read about how Bobby Jackson feels about returning to the Kings than to read for the “umpteenth time” that Ron Artest is looking for a team to commit to him.

Frankly, I see this piece as a failure because I know that Amick can provide unique insight into the Kings organization, not just the fragile psyche of Ron Artest. I hope that he recognizes the former as his special talent, rather than the latter.

I think it represents how I feel myself concerning this trade, as in DONT “F” IT UP!
The conspiracy theorist in me wonders why the trade was made public so long before it can actually be completed, as this is not Petrie’s style…
Are the Kings hoping it allows Houston a chance to back out and show L.A( or others) that they are serious about trading Ron and therefore prompting L.A to accept K9 with Ron-Ron for L.O?
I mean really its brilliant if Houston does or does not accept the terms because it could easily allow someone else to feel a need to snatch Ron up in an effort to not allow another team to do so. Look at all the trades that went down this past year just because everyone was trying to scramble to stay ahead of the next guy. I think we are going to get the better end of this deal wherever he goes. For Ron’s sake I hope it is Houston!