Ron Artest finally got what he wanted: He’s no longer a Pacer. And for now, at least, Sacramento is happy to have him.
The troubled forward, who has been suspended for much of the last two seasons, was traded to the Kings yesterday for the struggling Peja Stojakovic. Despite Artest’s problems, his new teammates and owners seem eager for his arrival.
“We’re willing to take a chance,” said Gavin Maloof, one of the owners. “We’ve got a home in Vegas. We’re gamblers, so we’re used to taking chances.”
A phone conversation yesterday between Maloof, Maloof’s brother Joe and Artest helped turn the tide.
“I talked to him today and he was excited about playing and coming to Sacramento,” Gavin Maloof said from his courtside seat at the Garden last night before the Kings beat the Knicks, 106-102, in OT. Maloof said the trade was resurrected after he spoke with Artest for 15 minutes while the player was still in Indiana. “He was adamant about wanting to come.”
If that’s true, it’s a far different story than the one his agent told on Tuesday, when it appeared the trade between the two teams had died.
“Ron Artest did not want to be traded to Sacramento weeks ago, and he does not want to be traded to Sacramento now,” Artest’s agent, Mark Stevens, told a Web site Tuesday.
“We’ve been discussing this for a while,” Joe Maloof said. “But we didn’t know if he wanted to come here. That was the big question.”
While both Maloof brothers are confident that he has changed his mind about that, even they admitted the risk they are taking by bringing in the Queens native and former St. John’s star. Artest missed 73 games a year ago after charging into the stands in Detroit and has been inactive for most of this season since publicly requesting a trade. Those are just the latest infractions that have marred Artest’s career, which has been brilliant at times when his emotions have not gotten the best of him.
“There’s always a risk when you bring someone in,” Joe Maloof said. “Time will tell if this was worth it. We’ll see.”
Mike Bibby is optimistic.
“It looks to me like he comes to play every night,” said Bibby. “I’m not worried about anything else.”
Actually, Artest has hardly come to play at all in his final year-and-a-half as a Pacer, and Sacramento head coach Rick Adelman figures to have a stiff challenge.
“Obviously, he’s had problems,” Adelman said. “I know all the stuff that has happened, but I’ve coached and gotten along with a lot of people. Hopefully, we can make this work.”
The defensive stalwart nearly single-handedly destroyed the Pacers’ hopes of a title over the past two years. While no one could point to a specific reason as to why Artest would behave himself in a Kings uniform when he couldn’t in Indiana, they seemed sure that he would.
“He’s going to bring an attitude to this ball club,” said Brian Skinner.
Given his history, that attitude might not be a good thing for the Kings.
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TALE OF THE TAPE
How career averages of Ron Artest and Peja Stojakovic measure up:
Artest — Stojakovic
52.6 G 51.8
33.1 MIN 34.2
12.3 FGA/G 14.0
42.1 FG% 46.1
4.7 FTA/G 3.7
71.6 FT% 89.3
2.8 3ptA/G 5.2
31.7 3pt% 39.8
4.7 REB 5.0
14.6 PTS 18.3
