Should the adults hide, too?

In "Hide the children, Artest is coming to town" Sacramento basketball coach Brian McCormick has this to say about the Peja-Artest trade:

While I proclaimed the Webber trade the worst trade in history and questioned Petrie's draft guru status, this move will define Petrie's career.

Acquiring Artest signals a dramatic overhaul of the roster, and probably Adelman's demise, as losing Peja on top of Vlade and Webber basically ends the Princeton-offense era in Sacramento. Pete Carril will move on to New Jersey in the off-season and Sacramento will hire a defensive-minded coach to capitalize on the wing play of Bonzi Wells and Ron Artest.

The next move for Petrie will be interesting; does he keep Artest and overhaul the roster around Wells, Abdur-Rahim and Artest? Or, does he deal Artest for a player who is a better fit in the current Kings' system; someone like Wally Sczerbiak or Mike Miller?

While Artest should improve the Kings' D, and give the media something else to criticize, he alone is not the answer. The Kings offense needs re-shffling and Artest's presence does little to seal the interior or stop dribble penetration from opposing point guards.

Petrie's legend will either grow or disappear in the next year; last year, when Webber was traded, I was sure it would lead to another deal with either Williamson, Thomas or Skinner. All three remain, two parked deep on the bench. The Artest trade signals a momentous change in the Kings' operandi, and another deal of some sort, whether major or minor, would make sense. Does Petrie trust Artest with his legacy? Can Ron-Ron resuscitate the Kings? Can Artest will Abdur-Rahim, Bibby and Miller to defend better? Will the Kings move to a high-low offense featuring Miller high and Artest low? These are intresting time for the Sacramento franchise.

Sacramento faced the real opportunity of losing Peja at the end of the season, and I have frequently defended trades and potential trades on this board with the 'something is better than nothing' argument.

That said, the Kings of the last season and a half look like they are 2-3 years behind the Celtics in rebuilding. The declining group of veterans with which they had playoff success have been mostly shipped out. At the same time, however, they have almost no depth and little young talent. Now would be a decent time to gut the place and start over. In that sense the Artest trade, like signing SAR, seems an effort to hold off the inevitable.

This blog will now observe a moment of silence in memory of those wonderful Bibbly-Webber-Peja-Divac Princeton offense teams from 2001-03. They sure could choke in the playoffs when it mattered, but during all those meaningless mid-season games against half-hearted opponents they were a thing a beauty.