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Odom for Artest? By Christopher Sells
07.10.2008 - Updated on 07.10.2008
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There’s a rumor floating around out on the West Coast that the Lakers have contacted the Kings about a possible trade. The trade could involve Lamar Odom relocating to Sacramento while Ron Artest and Kenny Thomas head south to Los Angeles.
Please let this happen.
I want this to go through for my own selfish reasons, but it actually makes sense for both teams. Sacramento would get a player who is multi-skilled, but probably needs the ball in his hands more than he does in Los Angeles. The Lakers would get one of the league’s premier defensive talents in Artest and add some toughness that the team appears to lack.
There are drawbacks for each side, of course. Odom seems to disappear when it matters, while Artest is certifiably crazy and Thomas is probably as overpaid as they come.
But imagine the possibilities. Odom could allow Sacramento to institute a more free flowing offense with his passing skills and ball-handling ability. With an inexperienced Beno Udrih running the show for the Kings, how valuable could a forward who can rebound, push the ball up and hit the open man be? And how great would it be to not have Artest’s ballstopping and general unhappiness out of the locker room and Thomas’ contract off the books?
Artest could check the opposing team’s best perimeter player and not allow them to go nuts in the Finals. He’s even strong enough to log some minutes at the four, if the Lakers want to go small. The triangle offense (and the amount of time that Kobe Bryant spends with the ball in his hands) would minimize his tendency to hold on to the ball for too long. He’s definitely not going to let any oncourt adversity push him towards disappearance. And Phil Jackson has plenty of experience coaching the mentally insane. And, if it doesn’t work out, Artest only has one year left on his contract, meaning you can get rid of him pretty quickly.
I don’t see any reason this shouldn’t go down. Make it happen. Yeah, you’re in the same division and you’d have to face the player(s) you just traded four times a year and maybe more if you meet in the playoffs. But what other choices do you have? Odom will probably not fit too well with Pau Gasol and a presumably healthy Andrew Bynum in the frontcourt. Artest just finished talking about how upset he was about not exercising his opt-out clause a week ago. Clearly, a change of scenery would benefit both players and both teams.
[image:http://www.flickr.com/photos/vaguelyartistic] |
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Posted by
butterbuns-kobe’s daddy
on 07.16.2008 | No, I’m saying you are all latent homosexuals. . | Posted by
bwill
on 07.15.2008 | That would be a good three way trade. Kobe and Artest would win about 3 titles together. . | Posted by
G
on 07.14.2008 | how about a 3 way deal: (NY gets - Lamar Odom) (LA gets - Ron Artest n Kenny Thomas) (Sac gets - Zach Randolph) (why for NY - they get an expiring contract. Odom could thrive in D’Antoni’s Run n Gun Offense.) (why for LA - Ron Artest is the missing piece to a championship. Kenny will replace Turriaf.) (why for Sac - they replace Kenny and Ron with Zbo who is basically a 20-10 man and Zbo is still young (26) they can have a devastating 1-2 punch in Kevin Martin and Zach Randolph) . | Posted by
ronh
on 07.13.2008 | artest needs to go to the lakers. so they can win about 3 titles. . | Posted by
Tony da Hawaii 50
on 07.13.2008 | Artest is a very good defender and the Lakers need one real bad, Paul Pierce took Vladimir Radmanovic and the rest of the Lakers to the cleaner in the final, Lakers should keep Odom and look into other possibilty to get Artest to strengthen their defense . | Posted by
on 07.12.2008 | i say they trade chris mihm,luke,rad,newble for artest . | Posted by
ronh
on 07.12.2008 | If the lakers get ron artest. kobe and the lakers will win about 3 tiltles. artest and kobe will lock down any team’s best guard and small foward. . | Posted by
YoungStunna
on 07.12.2008 | phil jackson will NEVER let luke walton go, as long as he is coach of the lakers  . | Posted by
sickhopz
on 07.12.2008 | i think if the lakers could get artest for other players besides lamar, then it would be a good move... Messing up the team chemistry by trading one starter isn’t such a good move for a young team who just made it to the finals.. maybe they can trade mihm,radmonavic or walton.... . | Posted by
on 07.12.2008 | how about chris mihm for roy hibbert.... then trade luke and newble and another guy for artest.... . | Posted by
laker4lyf
on 07.12.2008 | What are u guys talkin bout lamar is one of the best pf ever played the game being long and 6 foot 10 that can move that quick he’s so versitile one of the best and ur gonna trade for whoo?? Artest u guys r out of ur mind he might be gud at defense but I bet u all hes gonna mess up the team he suckss..lamar,gasol,bynum the best frontline in the west..and lamar is not selfish a teamplayer artest is a ballhog if they make this trade its gonna be matter of time that kobe and artest will get problems and the team will get messed up..cmon guys lamar or artest??s---ill take lamar in a heartbeat yall know that.. . | Posted by
laker4lyf
on 07.12.2008 | What are u guys talkin bout lamar is one of the best pf ever played the game being long and 6 foot 10 that can move that quick he’s so versitile one of the best and ur gonna trade for whoo?? Artest u guys r out of ur mind he might be gud at defense but I bet u all hes gonna mess up the team he suckss..lamar,gasol,bynum the best frontline in the west.. . | Posted by
on 07.11.2008 | i agree with the last guy. think about it, lamor or artest staring and the other ready to come in and be a sub! genius!! . | Posted by
omillbro
on 07.11.2008 | Hey why L.O.?Try to get the Kings to take Walton & VLAD Rag, for Artest. Walton and VLAD both make a ton of money, which they are not worth, offer the Kings both player for Artest and see if they go for it, If they do not then the Lakers offer to take their other salary probelm of their hands, Kenny Thomas. The fans in Sac would love a guy like Luke Walton. Make the offer and see how bad they want get rid of Artest. Hey we would love to have him and crazy toughness. . | Posted by
LA Fan
on 07.11.2008 | Butterbuns, I dont understand your point. Are you being sarcastic when you say good for both teams? 1 grunt for yes, 2 grunts for no. . | Posted by
on 07.11.2008 | second post on 7.10I wrote:Think about Lamars rebounds when Gasol came aboard. Have you followed the Lakers? If you have then you’d realize that when Gasol came onboard, Lamar benefitted! So who said Lamar isnt a good fit, I don’t get it. . | Posted by
on 07.11.2008 | Butterbuns ur so dumb freakin hater . | Posted by
Butterbuns
on 07.11.2008 | Get the hell outta here!!!!!!!!! Good for both teams. your sick in the head. Why don’t the kings just give you kevin martin for jordan farmar as well. Stupid laker fans. . | Posted by
LakerMike
on 07.11.2008 | I tend to believe this would be a good trade, we just witnessed in the Finals what this particular Laker squad (minus a healthy Bynum who woulda been a big factor probably) could do. However we have to remember that the Lakers would have been tied 2-2 making this a whole new series had they not blown that 24 pt (I STILL can’t believe that?!) lead. The Gasol / Odom tandem showed that they can play together and I’m sure that Odom will have no problem moving down to SF (& #4 option) since his game is so versatile. I think PJ was outcoached and he should have rested Gasol out because he was clearly wearing down during the playoffs. Bynum would have made the difference, but he wasn’t there and Phil overworked Gasol.Back to the trade though, I agree that PJ has proven to be a good handler of bizarre players and Artest would thrive as a #2,3 or 4 option. He loves Kobe (as he said when interviewing Kobe on BDSSP) and would absolutely love getting traded to the Lakers. I would hate to lose Lamar who is such a big facilitator in the triangle and who’s personality fits real well as 3rd or 4th option. He is versatile and long, a Bynum-Gasol-Odom front court would be lots of fun to watch. However we just witnessed how important defense is and how lacking the Lakers are at ’D’ these last finals, so as hard as it would be to see Odom go, I’d probably make the trade... . | Posted by
on 07.11.2008 | its a good trade cuz lamar odom is inconsistent at times . |
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