BREAKING NEWS: Ron Artest Traded to the Rockets
Welcome to H-Town, Ron-RonAll along, Rockets GM Daryl Morey kept promising that something was in the works in Houston. He’s finally delivered on that, bringing in Ron Artest in exchange for Bobby Jackson, the Rockets No. 1 pick next season and another player to be named later. The early rumors are that the unnamed player is wing Donte Greene.
With Artest in the fold, the Rockets could have one of the most tenacious perimeter defending tandems along with Shane Battier. Could the Rockets feasibly put T-Mac, Battier and Artest on the floor at the same time late in games?
Because of contract considerations, the trade will not be announced until Aug. 14, though that would indicate the deal could include Rockets’ first round draft pick Donte’ Greene. Greene is not permitted to be traded until then, one month from when he signed with the Rockets.
How do you think Ron-Ron will fit in in Houston?
Source: Houston Chronicle
July 29th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Franchise Baller says:
first!!! to bad greene left i really liked him and now hes in sac-town? too bad……..
July 29th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Ludakris says:
Holy crap! where did the rockets come from they will have the fiercest D in the league!
July 29th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
jl90 says:
im wondering about this trade.. we’ll have to see how ron-ron fits in. but it looks great on paper i guess
July 29th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Dime Magazine says:
suddenly they’re serious - T-Mac, Ron-Ron, SoftServe (Yao), Battier, etc. if they’re healthy and keep it together, that’s a solid squad.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
weezy f says:
soft serve ugh you guys are cold for that one
July 29th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
E$ says:
Yao will have you kissing azz like Charles Barkley, was it any surprise Rick Alderman would pull this off?
July 29th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Ferdiberdi says:
Wonder if Battier will get traded? He plays the same SF spot with Artest. He can be the glue guy off the bench hehe.
Still don’t think this takes them over the hump. They look solid though, but with all their history of injuries, it’s still something to be seen if they could put it all together.
At least Houston would be great in NBA 2K9!
July 29th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Jonny Drama says:
I think it could work for Houston. Have Battier come off the bench strictly for D and 3’s, kind of what Posey did for the Celtics last year. Or does Houston already do that with Battier?
July 29th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
B says:
Barring injuries I think they def can compete for the top spot in the West. That D is gonna be tenacious. Hope this gets T-Mac out of the 1st round.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Luigi says:
what?? Donte Green was a lean PF n a good SF. but now H-Town ballers have the Defense wins championships mentality. suddenly the rockets are LA/BOS caliber
PG. Francis/Brooks
SG. T-Mac/Head/Artest/Battier
SF. Artest/Battier/T-Mac
PF. Scola/Landry/Hayes/Dorsey/
C. Yao/Deke/Scola
PLENTY OF DEPTH dude. thats scary
you can have any type of combo in anytime of the game
you can run
Franchise at the 1
T-Mac at the 2
Ron at the 3
Shane at the 4
Yao at the 5
July 29th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
kobeef says:
I think SacTown got ripped off.
There was a lot of interest in Artest and they certainly could have got a better combo of young talent and expiring contracts than Jax and Greene (who is over rated)
July 29th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
solomon says:
on the contrary, i see artest playing the 4… he’s strong enough to push em out of the paint, and bang with em bigs…(he’s freakin 260 or 280)
skip @ 1
t-mac @ 2
shane @ 3
tru warrior @ 4
yao @ 5
franchise can’t be more motivated to get his all-star self back into circulation…
fuck, the rockets just became beantown-legit…
July 29th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
GEE...Dang they tryna stick me fo my paper says:
how bout some young cat tried to break into ya boi’s crib today. so this is good news i need right now. i think ron will be straight he is not as crazy as he used to be. i do hate to give up donte cause he can score on his own, but so can ron plus you got a vet and he can d. now dm the gm will really be the shiznit if he can keep greene and still bring ron and give marty or someone else up.
anyway ron hopefully wont get that injury to the stars bug un houston. the rocket starting five has potential to be plain nassssty. gotta say Houston up on that news!
July 29th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
solomon says:
sactown has plenty of good pieces to rebuild at…
brad @ 5
hawes / thompson @ 5
donte @ 3
kevmart @ 2
ricky rubio @ 1 (lol, coz they aint winning today, they’d bottom out and get pick# 1 next year, LOL)
July 29th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
hahns says:
wow, here i thought rox were lottery bound next season….but this definitely makes them legit contenders. artest and battier guarding the wings…plus the defense they already have, they’ll be in great shapw. not to mention tmac gets a guy who can create his own shot now.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Eric says:
Bigtime scorers (bron, kobe, dwade, pierce, melo, ai) better watch out bc they will be on lock by the rockets.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Ace says:
this came outta nowhere. it caught me completely off guard
July 29th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
David_Brandon says:
i’ll be damn.. my kings are tankin again. i mean, i like bobby. i like the fact we get a 1st round pick. i’m kinda eh about donte. but maaaaan, we got rid of ron. you kinda had to see it comin tho. when peja ran his mouth, he got the boot too. so i guess they kinda had to pull the trigger on this one…but man, can we not get bobby back? if that dude gets hurt again this year, i’m go bananas man. earlier on, there was a post about who’s the man on teams…this team isn’t really kevin’s. not really brad’s. not beno’s. its bout to be another ROUGH year in sac….i see portland rebuilding and its like..yo!! what are the kings doin?? there’s other teams like that too tho. cleveland’s guilty. dont let lebron fool you. even the bucks made moves. just…..yeah.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Luigi says:
nahh the kings arnt takin they’re just rebuildin. dey have a good nucleus
have Beno ball
K-Mart
Salmons
Garcia
Green
Hawes
draft picks. chances at Ricky Rubio and BJ Mullens. the kid from OK griffin i think is his last name. Thabeet. there gonna be a playoff team in about 3-4 yrs
July 29th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
daquest?on says:
i dnt think steve francis will play let alone start
July 29th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
daquest?on says:
as each day passes i feel denver’s playoffs hopes die slowly, if i was iverson i would be crying, every one in the west is getting extremely better and denver is gettins extremely worse
July 29th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
rangerjohn (McCain in '08) says:
shane is going to go next, he and ron are the same size, and play the same positions. the rockets still have to many pf/sf types and not enough at the point. losing jackson at the point is not bad but they didnt get any leader back.
if they can get a pg they will be in great shape, shane or no shane.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
nick says:
no way battier goes anywhere. artest is fa next season and ya never know with him. but deal looks good on paper. now they have two players who can create their own shot and artest can guard 1-4. gonna be very interesting out west.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Truth says:
You guys often forget the monetary aspect of these trades. Bobby Jackson is an expiring 7 million dollar contract.Donte Greene is a scoring machine!! And a 1st round pick. That’s a pretty good return for ron-ron considering he was in the last year of his contract anyway!!! This is good for houston too!! Shane Battier has plenty of years left on his contract and Ron-Ron has 1, so if Artest doesn’t work out, no harm no foul!! If the chemistry works, then you re-up.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Blue says:
Yo Gee…
i was wondering why your name wasn’t all over this post earlier. did you beat the kids down? haha
the d will be tough, no doubt. if they can get by shane and ron-ron on the perimeter, they’ll have to deal with Ming holding down the fort in the middle. considering this team had enough chemistry to put together 22 in a row, this is a very good deal for them.
i’m just glad the lakers didn’t get ron-ron…LAKER HATERS UNITE!!! hahaha
July 29th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Ding Dong We Got Big Snacks says:
Good deal. Hardly any risk for Rockets. They look deep (they need it too with their injury history). The one year rental nut case likes playing for Adelman too. They’ll be also glad that some other team (like LA) did not get their meathooks on him. Where does this leave the lakers? (I don’t really care, but I know alot of you out there do).
July 30th, 2008 at 12:14 am
bill says:
Good (toughens up team with ming) but what about point guard and power forward.
What would be the best point and pf for
1: (shooter, does not need ball once ball over half court say …..?)
2: mcgrady
3: artest
4: (a worker like haslem?)
5: Ming
(I know battier and Scola are good players but maybe not in the mix?)
July 30th, 2008 at 12:21 am
Sith Lord 24 says:
playing the 4 maybe at times.. but when did Ron Artest become 260 or 280???
July 30th, 2008 at 12:55 am
J-Dot says:
interesting how cats think Steve Francis still exists in the realm of NBA relevance. Jeez, Artest is only 28? I mean I GUESS that makes sense, but dang I thought he was about 3 years older! Houston just might F around and go small with Skip, Tracy, Shane, Ron, Yao. It would be great to watch that lineup. Kinda madd I moved away from H-town a few months ago now. All I have now is Derrick Rose and his old man knees. Is it college football season yet??
July 30th, 2008 at 1:01 am
johnsacrimoni says:
Sith Lord 24,
Have you SEEN Ron Artest? He’s fucking huge. He’s at least 260. I see him splitting his time between the 3 and 4.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:03 am
daquest?on says:
yo dime how come u guys dint put the team puerto rico hyperdunks???????
July 30th, 2008 at 1:39 am
GEE...Dang they tryna stick me fo my paper says:
Blue naw its ill cause i wasnt there. else somebody’s child would have got a straight belt. i woulda took it old skool like my pops used too lol. anyway the lil numb nuts must have been loony cause lil dude kicks in the back door and the alarm goes off lol ………and dude runs.
mind you i had stickers and signs saying i got an alarm. its a blessing though cause dude didnt take anything. but really all that work to break my back door then leave empty handed lol. works for me though i still got my stuff.
a dude i played ball with before got robbed once and they too dudes blender with the drink in it i think lol. some cats robbed my wife before we got married and took her bottled water. criminals just wierd these days lol.
anyway man i am elated. Tracy didnt go to the pistons, they got barry and now ron ron. now if yao can just stay healthy through the games they scraight. funny cause of course you want a championship but just for Tracy and houston to go past first round is going to be worth a parade to many.
should i get a gun?…..nah.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:51 am
marvin says:
hopefully they’ll get past the 1st rd this year assuming all are healthy.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:00 am
Three Stacks says:
Gee, you don’t have a gun? I thought you were from Texas.
I feel you on the weird taste of criminals, though. I had my car broken into once, they broke the damn window for the change in my ashtray, the pack of cigarettes I left on the dashboard, and a granola bar I hadn’t eaten yet. No joke, that’s all they took. Messed up part was the passenger door wasn’t even locked.
Damn, I was hoping the Lakers would get Artest at the trade deadline. With this, I’d probably say Houston is having the best offseason for a team w/ no cap space. They really didn’t give up that much, I guess no one else was pursuing Ron as hard as I’d thought.
If Barry and Shane can drain those 3’s off the bench and Deke still blocks a shot every 5 min he plays, Rockets are solid.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:03 am
isotope says:
At first i hated the deal when I heard it mostly because of Greene and next year’s 1st rounder. But if Artest bolts then we have $$ to pick up a solid FA, that makes up for losing out on the draft pick. It doesnt make sense to keep Battier and Artest on the same squad (one of them would have to go to the bench).
And I still think we need young instant offense that we lose in Donte. Rotation is:
Alston/Brooks
TMac/Barry
Artest/Battier
Scola/Dorsey
Yao/Mutombo
Need some healthy youth.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:03 am
Three Stacks says:
Dime, where’s the post about Paul Pierce saying he’s the best player in the world? Basically calls out Kobe, saying KB is “conceited” while referring to himself as “confident.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Paul-Pierce-says-he-s-the-best-player-in-the-wor?urn=nba,96670
July 30th, 2008 at 2:31 am
solomon says:
funny how it looks, but the name “Mutombo” followed a couple of spaces by “need some healthy youth” is totally ROFL…
July 30th, 2008 at 5:30 am
karan says:
i think this is a stupid trade for both teams
kings couldve gotten a lot more for ron ron’s value… wtf were they thinking? just wasted away their best talent.
and how are rockets planning to fit him in? they have always been a great defensive team, and i think a big reason for that is battier (and i’m speaking here as a huge ron ron fan).
ron ron should’ve been a knick
July 30th, 2008 at 8:53 am
CHEE says:
if ray allen, paul pierce, and posey can play late in gm why not tmac, battier, and artest?
July 30th, 2008 at 10:43 am
the mamba says:
All three guys can play late in games, but I think it will be either a combo of
Pg tmac
Sg ron ron
Sf battier
Pf scola
C yao
Im sorry guys, but scola has to be in. He plays the hardest and has the most experience winning big games.
Or…
Alston
Tmac
Ron
Shane
Scola
U will see that lineup sometimes w/ yao out. I think the rockets still need an upgrade over alston, but I was impressed the way he ran the team this past yr. Plus I don’t really see any other options at this point
July 30th, 2008 at 11:09 am
doc says:
Tracey aint got no excuses this year.Watch he hurt his back now.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
LakeShow84 says:
I dont think this makes Houston all that much better.. I think it gets them out of the first round (maybe) but doesnt get them into being Contenders.. You have to feel some things out and this certainly doesnt FEEL right.. Houston already has a Ron Artest in Battier except Ron has more offense and can guard bigger players but the D was never their problem.. its their stars.. and BET Ron is going to start something, dudes going to be the THIRD option on a team NOT destined to get to the finals.. you think he is going to eat that??
He is almost as talented offensively as T-Mac and can defend better than anyone on that team.. his ego will start to erode everything and Rick Adelman hasnt dont TOO well with egos.. Second round?? Maybe.. Title?? Lakers or Hornets!!
July 30th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
LakeShow84 says:
S#$t Ron to the Hornets, Clippers, Lakers, Spurs, Suns, and anyone else would have felt right lol this trade seems funny to me.. Oh well we will see but SAC knows what they are doing.. which leads me to my next question..
So where is T-Mac on the losers list?? is that the finale or what Dime??
July 30th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
the mamba says:
I guess that puts yao on the loser list too. He’s only a yr younger than tmac, right? And hasn’t one anything ouside of china. This yr that should change lakers/rockets in west conf finals
July 31st, 2008 at 1:19 pm
MSkittle says:
They will still lose in the first round. They need a PF
August 4th, 2008 at 2:41 am
rock boy says:
Um, ya’ll do realize that Landry is still a rocket right (those of you who are barking about the PF spot). The only place that Houston is obviously lacking is PG but between skip, brooks, and (I pray) the franchise they’ll have a solid rotation.
skip/brooks/francis
tmac/barry/artest
artest/battier
scola/landry/artest/dorsey
yao/mutumbo/dorsey
you have about 80 points average output in that starting line up. defensively they give up about 90 points. you have a bench that will easily average 11+ a game. a recipe for success.
October 26th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
that boy says:
that is a killa team yo with t-mac and ron and you just cant forget yao. I think they can go all the way with this team. just hope no injuries this season and hope t-mac get betta.