NBA Insider with Ken Berger

The Sacramento Bee has nailed down one of the inevitable offseason developments to come: The Kings will make it a priority – perhaps their biggest priority – to trade Ron Artest this summer.
I’ve been advocating for months that the Knicks should be interested, for a couple of reasons.
First, despite all his baggage, Artest would give them a multidimensional small forward who can score, shoot the three, provide elite defense in the post and on the perimeter, and bring high levels of energy and effort.
The second reason will become obvious once Kings GM Geoff Petrie actually starts shopping Artest: So many teams, including the Knicks, will be afraid of Artest destroying their locker room chemistry that he’ll come cheap. In fact, he’ll come ridiculously cheap for a player of his caliber making the money he’s making: $7.8 million next season with an $8.45 million option in 2008-09.
That’s only slightly more than Dr. Phil money, and whatever team winds up with Artest will need to clear some cap space to add a psychologist to the payroll.
The reasons to be wary of Artest have been well documented, starting with the NBA-record 73-game suspension he earned for setting off the infamous Palace brawl between the Pacers and Pistons in 2004. When he loses his way, Artest can as lethal a nut case as there is in the NBA. That’s why it took the Pacers months to trade him in the brawl’s aftermath. Once they unloaded him to the Kings in January 2006, all they got back was Peja Stojakovic, who wound up signing as a free agent with the Hornets.
I’m told that the Knicks’ interest in Artest, of Queensbridge, is lukewarm at best, stemming from the fact that Isiah Thomas coached him in Indiana and understands first-hand what a headache he can be. As things stand now, Thomas doesn’t seem willing to mess up a young locker room with a force as polarizing as Artest.
But what if Thomas finds out that Artest could be had for a song – or, better yet, simply for the biggest head case on his roster, Nate Robinson? With Mike Bibby’s future in Sacramento uncertain, the Kings will need a point guard. Nate the Flake doesn’t fit Isiah’s style, but he might be able to resurrect his career with fewer constraints on a team out West.
Of course, Artest wouldn’t fill the Knicks’ most important need for a power forward who can defend. And with Kevin Garnett and Jermaine O’Neal both likely to be on the trading block, Thomas should focus first on finding out what it would take to get either one of them.
But as Mick Jagger once sang, you can’t always get what you want. It’s hard to argue that the Knicks wouldn’t be better with Artest joining Eddy Curry in the front court with the power forward position occupied jointly by David Lee and Channing Frye, depending on matchups. If the Warriors have awakened the league to anything this postseason, it’s the idea that you put your best five on the floor and play, instead of getting bogged down in who plays the 3, 4, or 5.
I’ll readily acknowledge one glaring problem with my idea: It would send Quentin Richardson to the bench, unless he moves to shooting guard, which would imperil Isiah’s plans to start Stephon Marbury and Mardy Collins in the backcourt.
My boy Alan Hahn can’t say enough good things about Richardson, and I agree with all of them. But if I were Isiah the president, and I could get Artest for next to nothing, I’d do it and let Isiah the coach figure out how to make it work. Plus, I wouldn’t be dissuaded from gambling on Artest just because of the impact it would have on Richardson. Artest is a gamble from the neck up, while health-wise, Q is a gamble from the neck down.
Artest wouldn’t fix the Knicks. But if Isiah could find a way to coach him, he’d certainly make them better. At these prices, he’d be worth a shot.