Sure, he might punch fans, family members and weak orphans, but Ron Artest is a damn fine NBA player, a defensive stopper and just the edge the Orlando Magic might need. Lately a rumor has been going around discussing a straight up deal between the Sac Kings and the Magic consisting of Turk for Artest straight up. Their salaries both around 6-7 million for next season, would make it an easy swap and since Lewis plays essentially the same position as Turk he has definitely become expendable and a bit redundant on the roster. This is a risk for the Magic, but one they definitely should take. It gets rid of Turk's salary for the next couple of seasons and since Artest has a player option next year he can opt out of (which he most likely will) the Magic are really only committing one experimental year to him.
Here's why I like Artest on our team.
1) Edge and Fire: We lacked both last year and lets face it Howard's 234 tooth smile isn't really scaring anyone. We need an intimidator in the worst way and you don't get much more intimidating than a boxer who plays in the NBA and beats up fans.
2) Defense: With Darko gone, and Rashard in we lost some intensity on the D. Artest gives us a guy who can lock up the other teams best player and let Lewis do his thing on the offensive end. This guy was Defensive Player of the Year in 2005. Awesome.
3) Third Scorer: And he can score. As a third scoring option he gives us three guys in our starting line-up with Lewis and Howard that can drop 20 a game.
He is a risk. But one with a great upside.
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