Throw a Drink on Me, We’ll See What Happens

About a month ago, I said I’d break up with the NBA for a while if it didn’t happen. It may just come to that.

Everyone said the window had already closed by the beginning of last season, but they scrapped their way to fifty wins and kept that window cracked. It’s been clear since the first weeks of the 2005-2006, though, that these Kings would not seriously compete for a title anytime soon unless something changed. Something almost changed in a big way today.

Peja Stojakovic for Ron Artest seemed like the ideal deal for everyone involved. I’ve loved and defended Peja. At some point, though, the faults became too much to take. Whether it was his reluctance to rebound or his outright refusal to defend or his inability to create his own shot or flashbacks to his tendency to disappear during the postseason or his tendency to miss several games at a stretch for something like a sprained pinky, something snapped and I was just finished with Peja.

I don’t hate the guy by any means, which is why the possibility of him going to Indiana of all places pleased me. Back when he made a brief MVP run in 2003-2004, a lot of people, foolishly or not, compared him to Larry Bird. Maybe being around Mr. Legend, plus having the privilege/duty of filling the long-range-shooter position Reggie Miller left behind might make those flashes of greatness Peja gave us during his time in Sacramento more than just flashes.

Then there was the tantalizing possibilities of bringing someone as talented and as totally fucking insane as the illustrious Ron Artest into the Capitol City. He has the scoring ability to hang with Peja (whose scoring, his one dimension, has fallen way off this year), plus Ron Ron gives you rebounds, three-plus steals a game and lockdown defense, something Sacramento simply hasn’t seen in years.

Of course, there’s also the fact that he’s crazy. Now, the shenanigans at the Palace last year cannot be condoned– that’s obvious– but I implore you to take a look at this timeline of Artest craziness (which happens to be one of the most entertaining documents I’ve read in a long time). You’ll see that Artest is fun crazy, not dangerous crazy.

If you follow the Kings, you’ve seen how eighteen months took them from being one of the most fun-to-watch, winningest teams in the league to a group of dudes who occasionally, for 48 minutes at a stretch, do something completely joyless that someone somewhere might call basketball. Top-twenty talent and an injection of entertaining crazy might just right the ship.

He’s been called a cancer before and, well, there’s considerable evidence to support that. People have said the same thing about Bonzi Wells, but he’s been a model citizen during his time in Sacramento. Plus, before the groin injury, he was one of the most productive and exciting Kings. There is a chance that, when paired, Ron Ron and Arthur Bonzarelli could turn into some sort of uber-cancer. If that were to happen, the team should just go with it and start plundering other teams for their cancers and change the name of the team to The Tumors. What’s scarier than a tumor? They’d surely top a basketball mascot power ranking poll.

But something happened. Either Ron or his agent decided he wouldn’t be interested in playing in Sacramento, so Petrie nixed the whole thing. Done. Finito. Maybe.

There are rumblings that Ron might be convinced to reconsider, but if he doesn’t, the Kings are screwed even worse than they would be if Peja walks at the end of the season without giving allowing the team to work out a sign-and-trade.

If Peja comes back to the Kings, there’s no way he plays at full capacity. The trade rumors wore on him just as much as all his aches and pains. You don’t think he’s going to be a little off after the team tried to get rid of him, especially since the Maloofs were apparently somewhat indelicate when they informed him of the deal?

Basically, they’re going to have to trade him quickly, which means they will get, at best, fifty cents on the dollar for him—certainly not someone as talented or insane as Ron Artest.

And what if the trade does go through? Fans here might be somewhat hostile to a crazy dude who apparently doesn’t want to be in Sacramento, whose refusal to play in Sacramento might permanently damage the franchise. Add in the fact that he hasn’t played in six weeks, that it might take him some time to play into game shape, that he won’t be The Complete Ron right away and he’s going to get savaged. That sellout streak at Arco (which I think is a sham anyway) might come to an end. We might see Kings fans’ breaking point, which could either mean empty seats and lower ticket prices (not likely) or the team gets more encouragement to move to Anaheim or Vegas (pretty damned likely).

So, either way, things don’t look too promising for the Kings right now, but at least change is on the way, which might just be exciting. Maybe I’ll stick around to see how things unfold.

Download: 4-ize - “Ron Artest”

2 Comments »

This can’t be worse than the last three months have been, right?

Comment by Tom
January 25, 2006 @ 4:20 pm
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good trade…i’m definitely happy with it. yeah, he’s a little crazy, but haven’t we all done something to spark a riot.

Comment by rodney
January 28, 2006 @ 4:15 pm
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