NBA Blog

The Pacers’ organization is justifiably pissed off with Ron Artest’s trade request. The team and the players put up with his b.s. for far too long, and they even welcomed him back after he sabotaged their entire season last year. With that said, I would try to figure out a way to get Ron Artest in a trade. One scenario I came up with could possibly help both teams, if they could work it out. The trade would be between Minnesota and Indianapolis. Indianapolis would get Wally Sczerbiak and Michael Olowakandi and Minnesota would get Ron Artest and Scot Pollard. This trade would actually work out under the collective bargaining agreement rules. Indianapolis would bring in a starting small forward who can shoot lights out, and is actually the same height as Artest. With the removal of Artest, the Pacers could actually throw more minutes Danny Granger’s way, who by the way, could easily become the type of defensive stopper that Artest is. The Kandi-man and Pollard are both at the end of their current contracts and would come off the books this summer, so considering they are career underacheivers, I think they are pretty much a wash. I think Indy would get the better end of that part of the deal, but getting Kandi out wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. Besides, by adding Artest, Minnesota would be able to turn around and try to use pieces like Trenton Hassell, their resident defensive stopper, and Troy Hudson, point-per-minute backup point guart, to acquire a big man or another shooter to fill Wally’s shoes off the bench. Just and idea. Let me know what you think.