L.A. Times: Amid reports that Sacramento Kings forward Ron Artest is headed for the Houston Rockets, the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant said. . . nothing.
“I hadn’t thought about it at all,” Bryant said at Wednesday’s practice.
And the Lakers’ small forward position?
“We’re fine,” Bryant said.
Bryant, once critical of Lakers moves or the lack thereof, has announced he is out of the GM business and is sticking by it.
Artest was so eager to join the Lakers, he made a series of appearances on local talk shows. With Coach Phil Jackson a known admirer, it would have been possible — if Artest had been willing to opt out of his $7.5-million-a-year deal and take $5.5 million from the Lakers. However, he announced he wouldn’t take less, declined to opt out and then, one day later in true Ron Artest fashion, said he regretted not doing it.
Back when Bryant was desperate for help, he asked the Lakers to get Artest as well as Baron Davis and Carlos Boozer. That was then and this is still now.
BREAKING NEWS: Artest to Houston for Bobby Jackson, rights to Donte Greene, 1st Rd. pick
Artest hopes for trade from Kings, will act as own agent
SacBee: Lakers willing to trade Odom for Artest?
Ron Artest update: More trade, name, agent news!
Artest “Not Opting Out” according to local Sac news station
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u know Kobe is pissed… and I would be too..
Lamar is not a small forward.. i don’t know why people keep saying that is his natural position.. he does not possess the qualitities of an effective small forward..
but, this is Lamar’s final year in his contract so we might as well let it ride cause we need to make sure we secure dough for Bynum and Kobe’s contracts
deep inside, mamba is pissed. but then again, ron got greedy. instead of opting out to join kobe and lamar, he didn’t.
I stillsa y KB was right last year,except the part about AB,I was too but…THE REST,YEP!
kobe isn’t pissed, he knows that we didn’t need Artest to win a championship last season, and he knows that we still don’t need him, I mean, I know that he wouldn’t mind him being a Laker, but since he didn’t come, I don’t even think that he’s pissed in the slightest, he knows what Odom xan and can’t do, and he still thinks highly of him, not lowly, he likes Odom’s strengths and weaknesses, sure, he wouldn’t mind it if he got a better, more accurate jumpshot and was a better defender, but he likes Odom and what he does for the Lakers anyways…if Kobe really liked Artest more than Odom then he’d really push for Artest, whether Odom was hurt or not.
Yes Ron got greedy and went to a team that is so injury prone. Yao Ming will play half the season, T-Mac will play a third of the season. This team, sorry to say only experiences bad luck. No matter how good they are they can’t seem to get passed the first round.
though i am not content with lamar at the 3, if he were to work on his 3pt shot and defense, i would feel more reluctant to trade him if a good oppurtunity came
damn i hope odom is willing to take 10 mil a year next year when we resign him if not his gone.
we need to resign kobe 4 atleast the next 4 years nd bynum could take the max.
artest didnt want to play with houston. the reason why sac traded him was cuz they wanted those future round picks. and plus the lakers werent willing to take on thomas’z contract. and they had a plan of seeing how odom could play with both pau and bynum, so i dont think sac was willing to wait till half the season to get odom. i mean either way, the lakers werent willing to bow down to sacramento’s offers. the only thing i saw is that artest took a high interest in rick adleman’s coaching. but then again, i think houston just set themselves up for a huge disaster when they have both artest and battier. they both play the same positions and they both play defense. that was a stupid move by houston in my opinion.
Lamar already is a good defender. Damn I’m tired of these Lamar haters.
It was lame to lose Artest, but is Artest’s fault anyway. He had a chance to become free agent and the idiot did not take it, so when it came to a trade situation this idiots at Sacramento rather have a worse deal than deal with the Lakers. Bunch of losers.
I hope Mitch will make a move this offseason. He seems to be sleeping on the wheel if you ask me. Not sure keeping exactly the same group of guys is a good move. I wish the Lakers get two veterans to balance our youth. That would be very helpful.
Come on Mitch do something!!!!!!
Why are you all talking like Artest was our only hope of winning a championship like…ever! Sheesh…we went all the way to the NBA Finals without much experience in the playoffs besides Kobe’s and Fisher’s and without a big man who can block, rebound and be a presence in the paint on offense and defense, in which we think that Bynum was ready to be in “his” first year in the playoffs with a big role, we’re acting like we would’ve swept the Celtics with Bynum and or Artest instead of Odom, guys…we didn’t lose because of lack of toughness, we lost because of the fact we didn’t actually have a strong big man who has had experience in the playoffs, and no, Bynum isn’t the last part. We need experience more than we needed toughness, and the Spurs having only experience doesn’t count because they’re pretty old and we were pretty darn good…DON’T MAKE UP EXCUSES LIKE “Once we get Bynum back…we’ll teach those Celtics a lesson”, let’s show it, not say it, we haven’t proved that, EVER!
Guys, Kobe is not pissed. I can’t believe you guys make it seem like we’re desperate for Artest. We got to the NBA Finals while 28 other teams failed to get the opportunity. You guys make it seem like we’re a lottery team that is in desperate need for help. We have a good enough team to contend for the title again. Have some patience.
Thanks you so much, at least I now know that not all of us think that we were in need of Artest to be able to win a championship, thanks dude!
Lamar hasn’t even played with the full crew (Bynum and Ariza’s injuries most of the season) for one season
Here’s the deal. We don’t want to be the Buffalo Bills of the NBA. The goal is to win championships not be runners up. The “lack of experience” excuse doesn’t cut it either. First off, we took out the defending champs in 5 games. Secondly, Boston didn’t have any NBA finals experience either! Hell, KG only got out of the first round once only before getting owned by the Lakers in 04. What we are lacking is toughness more than anything else and that’s what Artest brings. If we’re gonna win the title we need toughness. Hopefully Bynum will supply this in the paint.
Lamar sucks, accept it, he’s one of the most inconsistent players I have ever seen and I’m sick and tired of waiting to see which Lamar Odom will show up at every game. I was definately hoping the Lakers would’ve made the deal for Artest and given us the defensive stopper that we desperately needed. If Lamar can’t even succeed as the 4th option I really have nothing else to say.
kobe isn’t pissed you dummbasses.
LOL.. Kobe isn’t pissed. Why the hell would anyone be pissed when they won the west and made it to the finals? Probably all of you fake spoiled Lakers fans that just want to buy a new jersey are pissed lol.
Okay dumb ass, nice sales pitch. If I was the Kings gm and you were the Lakers gm no one would make a trade with you.
-Brittnay :]
LO just needs to STOP smoking that Cali Kush in the reg. Season and wait ’til off season and he’ll be good.
…but I agree with David,toughness and somemore guys with THE WILL TO WIN,though I say there are more deserving guys that bring something ‘SPECIAL’ to The Lakers but like last year the FO is goin’ to sit on their hands and see how our team will be starting out the season,WHY? Luke and Vlad’s contracts stop them from making any trades and NOW teams know what to expect from those 2 and NOW they know what to do with Kobe(but he’ll adjust his game).I’m not worried 1 DAMN BIT about the starting 5 but…. let’s say WE ALL WISH WE WERE GM(at least for a month)….
…my starting 5
Jamal Crawford/KB/LO(NO TRADE)/AB/PAU
…Bench
DF/Sasha/(through a trade with Milwaukee,I get…)Desmond Mason(sf) and Villanueva(pf)/Mbenga
Josh Powell,Pargo(sign’em) and keep Newble will be reserves.
Df and JC will share starting rolls based on who we play.
Who is your Fantasy Laker team (HEY! It kills the BOREDEM)!
How is it that sasha iz the toughest player on our team
DC its called forums i bet you’ll learn to love them
Nah,Ickerfan,I mean I’M BORED so I’m just tryin’ to use my creative LEO instincts.Something to pass the time away,plus,I was on Lakersground.com and they had a post say “IF I WAS GM” and I thought it was interesting and decided to bring the idea to LAKERNATION just to have some fun,HAVING A JOB CAN GET REEEEEEAAALLY BORIN’!!!
MY IDEA IZ THAT THE ENTIRE STAPLES CENTER SHOULD HAVE COOL TAGGINGS ON IT SAYING ALL THE LAKER PLAYERS NAMES AND LAKER GREATS AND THAT WE SHOULD SIGN MIKE TYSON TO A CONTRACT, CAUSE I WANT TO SEE HIM KNOCK PAUL PIERCE GOFFY SMILE OFF HIS FACE
Now that’s an idea,think about it,as soon as Kobe calls for a screen,Mike will just come over and instead of him setting a pick,he’ll just “KNOCK PIERCE THE $$$$ OUT”,ahhhhh,I’m in LAKER HEAVEN on that one,good lookin’ Icker.