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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 24, 2006 15:32:00 GMT -5
Long-awaited deal comes to fruition for PacersESPN.com news services sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2304512INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Pacers have agreed to trade Ron Artest to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Peja Stojakovic pending league approval, ESPN's Jim Gray has confirmed Tuesday. The deal closes a chapter in the Pacers' latest drama involving the volatile star forward. Ron Artest Small Forward Indiana Pacers Profile 2006 SEASON STATISTICS GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT% 16 19.4 4.9 2.2 45.992 61.157 Artest was a key component to a team that was expected to challenge for the Eastern Conference crown. He led the league in steals and was the Pacers' second-leading scorer at 19.4 points a game before being deactivated after publicly requesting a trade in early December. In five years with the Pacers, Artest was an All-Star once and was the NBA's defensive player of the year in 2003-04. Pacers GM Larry Bird said the Pacers had been interested in Corey Maggette of the Los Angeles Clippers, but there was "no question" that Maggette's sprained left foot affected the process. Maggette averaged 21.7 points in 13 games before getting injured in early December. The Pacers have lost four of their last five games, including Monday to the Atlanta Hawks, who have the NBA's worst record.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 24, 2006 16:03:33 GMT -5
Now that the Artest thing is settled, I expect a lot of other trades to follow. I think everyone was sitting on the trades just in case they could get in on the Artest sweepstakes. I think in the next week or so we will see several other trades follow. Hopefully Blount to anywhere else is one of them.
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Post by esco33 on Jan 24, 2006 18:17:13 GMT -5
I'm glad that the Artest deal finally went down. Now hoipefully, Danny can make his little trade and unload Blunt.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 24, 2006 19:27:40 GMT -5
Well, we thought it was settled for an hour or so. Artest's behavior in contacting Petrie and balking at goint to the Kings just underscores my dislike of this guy and makes me hope more than ever that Danny stays far away from him. He is a genuine head case and will destroy whatever team he goes to with his antics.
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