[Mavdog]

chum, I have to disagree. yes a player's more than a commodity, yet at the same time they are assets who have value to their employer both in what they can contribute to the team on the court as well as what they can contribute to the team in trade.

as for his about face about returning to the team and being a good soldier for them, "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice and shame on me" is very appropriate. there's absolutely no basis to believe that ron will not return to his petulate self.

he is one of the main causes of the dysfunction of the pacers, and let's not reward his behavior by being sensitive to his "needs".

from today's IndyStar:

bob kravitz
What's the deal here? Absurdity rules
January 25, 2006

What? You thought getting rid of Ron Artest was going to be easy, a simple matter of handing him a one-way ticket out of town? What movie have you been watching these past couple of years?
Here, in a nutshell, is a recap from our latest installment of The Chronicles of Ron-Ron, soon to be a major motion picture:

He supposedly was traded.

Then he supposedly said he wasn't going to Sacramento.

Then the Kings supposedly said, fine, we don't want your goofy, bad self, so never mind.

Then Artest told The Star's Mike Wells he never balked at going to Sacramento, but merely wanted to talk to his prospective employers before signing off on a trade.

Then there were more reports, which were different from the early reports, suggesting there may never have been a deal in the first place, which would have meant the Kings never pulled out of a deal.

Then, finally -- and I only say "finally'' because it was time to go to bed and I have a three-rewrite limit on columns -- there was word that the deal was still pending and Artest might be talking to the Pacers and Kings today in an effort to revive the deal.

Which never existed in the first place.

We think.

Could this be any goofier? Or more appropriate and Artest-ian? How badly are we going to miss these daily dramas and theater-of-the-absurd productions?

By the time this newspaper landed on your doorstep, there could have been several key developments.
Artest could have run for president of Kazakhstan. Artest could have accepted a trade to Sacramento contingent on his being permitted to take time off to produce music CDs. Artest could have retired from the NBA and become the go-to guy for the Indiana Alley Cats.

If nothing else, this whole fiasco has been quite amusing, giving us something to watch besides a dreadful Pacers team that seems to have used the mental Quick Check-Out option.

Two nights ago, they got worked by the Atlanta Hawks, merely the worst team in the NBA. Tuesday night, they got run off the court by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In fact, just five minutes ago, Jamaal Tinsley learned he was actually supposed to guard Hawks point guard Tyronn Lue.

This is an average team that is getting increasingly hard to watch or embrace, and it's desperately in need of a warm body and an emotional pick-me-up. If team CEO Donnie Walsh and team president Larry Bird don't get this thing done soon -- like, in 10 minutes -- this is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. This franchise has been held hostage by Artest long enough.

Nobody is suggesting if Peja Stojakovic comes, he's the answer to all the Pacers' problems.

Two years ago, yes, he would have been the perfect fit, and it's just too bad it didn't happen at the time.

By now, though, his numbers and health have been in steady decline. Once, he was a 24-point-per-game guy. The past two years, though, his scoring and his shooting percentages have dipped dramatically, and he's had injury issues with his pinky, his groin and a disc in his back. His history suggests quite loudly he's not much of a defender, although with a team that struggles to score 85 points, it hardly matters. And he's never been good in the postseason, which would make him feel quite at home in Indy.

It's possible, though, that a change of scenery would help, especially with Stojakovic being in a contract year. Clearly, he is not the player he once was, and with an opt-out clause at the end of this season, there would be a good chance he would be a Pacers rent-a-shooter and nothing more. But the Pacers aren't exactly dealing from a position of strength these days.

If they ultimately end up with nothing for Artest, it would be, by my reckoning, an even deal.

What a mess: Plan A was Corey Maggette. Plan B was/is Stojakovic. I shudder to contemplate Plans C-Z.

Give it up to Artest, though.

He has become a master puppeteer. He's playing the NBA like a cello. He's a free agent, except better. He's getting paid millions for doing nothing except playing with his cell phone at Lakers games. And he has the power, incredibly, to dictate the terms of engagement. Maybe there was a method to the madness, after all. You know, genius is rarely understood in its time.

Artest, the gift who keeps on giving, is completely in charge.

And there's not a darned thing anybody -- the Pacers, the NBA, even Shaquille O'Neal -- can do about it.

There is a certain comic justice to all of this, isn't there?

Of course this wasn't going to end well. Or smoothly. Or normally. He was gone and then he was back and now he's in limbo. The fun never ends. Welcome back, Ron. And farewell.