Our friends at Knickerblogger (via True Hoop)are debating which pu-pu platter they'd like to see Isiah Thomas offer the Kings for the services of Ron Artest. The options? Quentin Richardson, Jamal Crawford, or Jared Jeffries + Nate Robinson. (The topic of David Lee is not broached, which is probably for the best because I think the Knickerblogger family would burn down Madison Square Garden if Zeke traded Lee for Artest.)
My thoughts:
- You have to be kidding with the Jeffries&Robinson talk. Geoff Petrie would hesitate on a Lee&Jeffries package -- and Lee has to be considered a Kevin Martin/Monta Ellis/Al Jefferson level prospect given his two seasons of performance. Robinson is a plucky point guard prospect, but he's hardly sweet enough to mask Jeffries' poisonous contract.
- Quentin Richardson would be preferable to Jamal Crawford, but he's still not the right fit. (Why Q over Crawford? Q has some semblance of a conscience. Jamal does not. His usage rate was 3% higher than Martin's last year... and Martin scored five more points per 40 minutes. If you're going to toss up a 40% field goal percentage, your three-point percentage better be high. 32% is not high. The 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica has an entry on 'volume scorer.' Jamal's great-granddad is pictured.) Why is Q not the right fit? He's (essentially) signed for $26.3 million over the next three years. (Petrie wants fiscal solvency in two years.) Q does not play a 'need' position (which would be point guard). Most of all, he has been hurt frequently the past two seasons. Petrie's in the business of exporting damaged goods, not buying them.
- What is the non-Lee deal which doesn't involve a bigger contract unloading by Sacramento which could work? Artest for Fred Jones, Dan Dickau and either Robinson or Renaldo Balkman. The Knicks have a bloated roster -- 16 players under contract for 2007-08. They need an asymetric trade or they'll be cutting an expiring contract (read: trade chip) like Dickau anyways. The Kings get expiring contracts and either a prospect at a need position or a really nice little prospect (Balkman). Also, the chance to unite Mikki Moore and Balkman should not be slept on.