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. Minnesota Timberwolves

One of the biggest frontrunners in the Ron Artest sweepstakes is also one of the quietest. Minnesota has expressed serious interest in the rogue Pacer but hasn t made any offers. Szczerbiak for Artest seems logical except that Wally makes $4 million more than Artest. To really tip the scales Minnesota might have to take on Austin Chroshere, one of the most overpaid players in NBA history. The Wolves have plenty of people to send, starting with C Michael Olowakandi. Although adding him with Szczerbiak might be a little too much baggage to take on. Plus if Minnesota happens to make the playoffs this year, they won t have a first-round draft pick. Surely they d need to

offer some draft picks for Ron Artest and they presently aren t in position to do that.

2. Denver Nuggets

Ron Artest would fit the best in Denver position-wise because the Nuggets only weak point is SF, where DeMarr Johnson and Greg Buckner are playing. Unfortunately for them, their #1 trade bait Nene is out for the year and is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Earl Watson has been on the trading block since day one but might depart to Seattle before he has a chance to get to Indi. Both Martin and Camby are injured right now and won t be taken by Indiana. Whether it s enough is unlikely. They are seeking 3rd and 4th

teams to take place in the deal and it will be hard to please everybody. They ll have to offer an immediate player to substitute for Artest s position in Indiana, which they can t do at the moment. They ll have to rely on other teams to pick up the slack in a multi-deal.

1. Los Angeles Lakers

Aaah, so after looking at all the teams, this is the one most likely to pick up Artest. Of course LA has never been immune to taking on any kind of controversy. No coach in the NBA is better suited to order Artest than Phil Jackson, whose crazy zen-style could work with Artest. It was Jackson who got Rodman to work in Chicago

after all. The biggest reason the Lakers are opportunity #1 is that Kobe Bryant wants Ron Artest, and as Chucky Atkins put it: Kobe s the GM . Lamar Odom for Artest seemed unlikely at first since Jackson was okay with Odom s production. But after Odom missed key 3 s in their games against Miami and Washington, Phil isn t so high on Odom anymore. Now the biggest negative to this deal would obviously be that Artest wants to be the man wherever he goes and Kobe takes 30 shots a game. But who said Ron Artest and logic ever went together?

Rest assured that like TO, Artest will be good for about a year (if winning

occurs). He will ruin any team he goes to, whether it s LA or Denver. But that s the risk. The teams offering for him have nothing to lose. For LA, they still have to justify letting go of Shaq and would pounce to be a contender again. Even getting Ron Artest isn t as dumb of letting go of Shaq.

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