[Dirkenstien]

Outgoing
Erick Dampier
6-11 C from Mississippi State
5.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 0.6 apg in 24.8 minutes

Incoming
Ron Artest
6-7 SF from St. John's
19.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.2 apg in 37.8 minutes
Eddie Gill
6-0 PG from Weber State
0.8 ppg, 0.3 rpg, 0.2 apg in 3.0 minutes
Change in team outlook: +14.6 ppg, -2.4 rpg, and +1.8 apg.

Here's a trade worth considering. Jermain O'Neal really wanted Dampier as a free agent and Indiana could use another big body to take some pressure off of O'Neal down low while also giving them a decent center to match up with Shaq in the East. I would do this in a heartbeat. Gill's contract comes off the books at the end of the season as well. It's too bad Mark Cuban has said he doesn't want Artest on the Steven A. Smith show, however. Perhaps he was bluffing?

Worst case scenario here would be Artest goes crazy and quits, but we still have Damp's contract off of the books. I say pull the trigger on this deal...seems as though Indiana would be interested also.

Our potential lineup:
Diop / Benga
Dirk / KVH
Artest / Stackhouse / Griffin
Howard / Daniels / Griffin
Terry / Harris

That looks like a terriffic defensive minded team with incredible energy off of the bench. A little weak at the C position but we could address that with a signing in the offseason.