FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Ron Artest: After much discussion of Ron Artest possibly heading to the Lakers or Pistons, among other teams, the Houston Rockets have a deal in place to acquire Ron Artest for Bobby Jackson, the rights to Donte Greene, and a 1st round draft pick in 2010. This is a huge deal in my mind for the Rockets, who are one team that certainly needed another wing player to help out Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming with the scoring load.

As many other people have already noted, the Rockets were the second best defensive team in the league last season and the addition of Artest will certainly help them sustain their great defensive play. The key for the Rockets in acquiring Artest is actually his offensive play. While he is not a great/superstar talent offensively, he certainly is more than solid as a third option on offense behind Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Don't forget the Rockets also have Shane Battier, Rafer Alston, and Louis Scola already on the team from last year and they also added Brent Barry and Joey Dorsey. Put those guys around their trio of All-Stars and you have a pretty damn good team out West in my opinion.

Everyone is going to make a big stink about Ron Artest being a head case but it has been a long time since Artest got into trouble where it affected his game. I really don't think this will be an issue but just for the record the last time Artest was in trouble was for a domestic dispute over a year ago. He hasn't really had any incidents on the court since that infamous night in Detroit but seriously the guy is not a problem when he is on the court. Plus, Ron Artest is on the record as loving head coach Rick Adleman, so I think Artest will be just fine.

I definitely think this team will compete for the Western Conference title but that's assuming that everyone stays healthy. All three of these guys have been known to be injury prone but if they stay healthy then this should be the first team with Tracey McGrady on it to make it out of the first round of the playoffs. If that doesn't happen, then I don't think it ever will. It still won't be easy though because you have to consider they will be competing with the Lakers, Spurs, Hornets, and Jazz for one of the top 4 spots in the West. That doesn't even include the Mavs, Suns, and Blazers who all should be in the mix as well.

Chicago Bulls: The Chicago Bulls are finally making some moves as they re-signed Loul Deng to a 6 year deal worth as much as $80 million. Deng is a solid player but he didn't have many other choices in free agency other than to go back to Chicago. In fact, I don't think I heard about any other teams being seriously interested in signing Deng. This is probably one of the worst seasons to be a free agent if you are in the NBA because there aren't many teams with cap space.

Deng's teammate Ben Gordon is having a hard time finding a team to sign with and now that the Bulls have re-signed Deng, it appears that the Bulls won't be able to re-sign Gordon either. Gordon has mentioned that he may consider signing in Europe just like Josh Childress did. It's also possible that Gordon will accept a one year deal to return to the Bulls and then become an unrestricted free agent next season. If not then expect to see Gordon involved in a sign and trade deal.

Andris Biedrins: The Golden State Warriors re-signed big man Andris Biedrins to a six-year contract that could be worth as much as$62 million with incentives. I think this was a no brainer move for the Warriors because Biedrins is a very efficient player having hit 61.6% of his shots for his career. He also is a strong rebounder having averaged 9.8 rebounds in just under 28 minutes a game last season for the Warriors. Biedrins is only 22 years old, so this contract means the Warriors will have a young, talented player with high potential locked up through the prime of his career. I think Biedrins is probably one of the more underrated players in the NBA right now and the Warriors were wise to lock him up.

Other NBA news:

- The Charlotte Bobcats did the right thing in my mind by re-signing big man Emeka Okafor to 6 year-$72 million deal. Okafor can be an anchor defensively for the Bobcats in the upcoming years and he is in the prime of his career.

- Ricky Davis signed a 2 year deal with the Los Angeles Clippers. Not a bad signing by the Clippers because he will be pretty cheap but Davis has never been on a winning team and that has to count for something.

- Ryan Gomes re-signed with the Timberwolves for 5 more years. Seems like a lot of years to sign with such a bad team but Gomes is confident that the Timberwolves will become a great team within the next few years.

- The Atlanta Hawks have signed guard Maurice Evans to replace Josh Childress off the bench. Evans averaged 9.3 points a game last season and should be able to help with the loss of Childress

- The Detroit Pistons added yet another big man to their team by signing Kwame Brown to a 2 year-$8 million contract. I think the Pistons have way too many big guys and probably could use another playmaking wing if they want to get back to the finals.

- The self-proclaimed "machine", Sasha Vujacic, re-signed with the Lakers for 3 years-$15 million.

- Nets big man Nenad Kristic will be playing in Russia next season.

- The Denver Nuggets acquired forward Renaldo Balkman from the New York Knicks for guard Taurean Green, forward Bobby Jones and a second-round draft pick in 2010. I guess Balkman replaces Eduardo Najera because he seems to be a similar type of player.

- If I'm reading this right then, Julius Hodge who played well in the Utah Summer League, will be playing in Australia next season.

- Former Mississippi State forward Charles Rhodes has several European options if he does not make it with the Dallas Mavericks.


More: NBA Weekly