Hedo For Artest...Would You Do It?

Thankfully there was a shortage of Orlando Magic news yesterday on the holiday. I say 'thankfully' because lately the news has been streaming out of Darko's agent's mouth and has not been at all positive.

One tasty nugget did pop out yesterday from the Sacramento Bee (which is the hippie-friendly name of the primary Sacramento area newspaper): Sacramento is interested in trading Ron Artest for Hedo Turkoglu.

This answers the longstanding question many Magic fans have had, which is "Who in the world would have a crappy enough franchise that they would willingly take Hedo Turkoglu off of our hands?" The answer creeped into the back of my mind when the Kings named "Hang Time" star Reggie Theus head coach.

Certainly Ron Artest is no prize. The guy is a complete madman who regularly shaves things into his hair and likes to start trouble. He also seems oblivious to how caustic his personality can be and his ridiculous rap career is just a little too important to him for many teams' tastes (remember that he told Rick Carlisle that he was taking time out of the season to promote his album?) With the Magic as a team on the upswing, not only in talent and wins but also in positive press, the question of whether we would want to take a gamble on Artest is a big one. We also have a lot of promising young players whose minds I'm sure Otis Smith would not want corrupted by a player of such questionable mindset.

That being said, my last paragraph reminded me a lot of another player: Dennis Rodman. Like Artest, Dennis had unquestionable talent but a personality that few grew fond of. With the Bulls, Rodman found his niche and helped them win with guts and an affinity to use his detrimental personality on others rather than his own team. I remember Rodman doing an amazing job guarding Karl Malone because Rodman kept touching him in questionable ways when he guarded him and the homophobic Malone just couldn't relax as a result. Artest is starting to realize he can use his insanity for good rather than evil and it showed recently when he began proclaiming that he could shut down Kobe better than anyone. Little stuff like that takes the pressure off of teammates and gets in the other teams' head, something Rodman excelled at.

In my opinion, if we can do a swap of Turkoglu for Artest the first thing you do is consult Dwight Howard...after he signs that extension (never can be too careful). Next, if Dwight deems the idea a good one, you talk to Stan Van Gundy and make sure he is willing to take on a few more white hairs. If Stan thinks he is up to the challenge, you pull the trigger and take that gamble. A lineup of Nelson, Artest, Lewis, Howard, and Battie looks pretty darn good on paper. Couple in the fact that Lewis is known for his poor defense and that is Artest's strength and you have a meaningful reason to take the gamble.

There are other trades that look even prettier:

The Knicks have gone on record as saying they want Artest, apparently because...well...they're the Knicks. As I wrote in a previous article they seem to LOVE gaining thugs as if wins were directly proportional to misdemeanors. Zach Randolph's sex- offending lifestyle would compliment Ron Artest's lack of a stable mind in Isiah Thomas' opinion. After the draft the one guy not smiling on the Knicks was David Lee after they acquired Randolph and drafted a PF. Suddenly Lee is buried on the bench after turning in a great season. Why not do a three team deal where the Knicks get Artest, the Magic get Lee, and the Kings get Turkoglu and a small prospect (like James Augustine or Travis Diener)? A Lee-Howard combo would be wonderful and make losing Darko a complete and utter blessing.

Another possible situation involves us getting Shareef Abdur Rahim from the Kings to pair up with Howard. Since we have a glut of SFs and most likely want to groom JJ for the shooting guard spot (unless he is part of the Sonics sign and trade), getting Lee or Shareef would be a bit more beneficial to our current squad. I know that the Kings are dying to get rid of Artest, but if we can somehow convince them to give up Shareef or convince the Knicks to get involved we could be sitting pretty.

Either way, I'm sorry but if you are Otis Smith you have to do a deal here with the pieces getting offered, including the Artest-Turkoglu swap...IF you cannot get Gerald Wallace. I have to mention that we could have the money for Gerald Wallace and should look his way first before going down the Artest road if we can. If we miss out on Wallace, an Artest for Hedo swap would have the advantage of letting us use a lot of cash on a big man (including Darko if his agent lets his foot out of his mouth).

Almost everyone who has read my words knows that I think Hedo is detrimental to our team and last year was particularly difficult with his year-long phantom sickness. Like Garnett with Wally S. in Minnesota, you can see Dwight getting annoyed frequently with Hedo's constant errors. We stand to use the Kings' desperation to get rid of Artest to our advantage here in bringing in a good athlete in exchange for a piece that we are shopping (and seemingly no one else wants).

If the Magic do take my advice and pull the trigger on an Artest deal, you can bet that the headlines will only be that much bigger around Orlando this offseason. I can't wait to see how it plays out and July 11th can't get here quickly enough.