Who would you be willing to trade for Artest?

[Lascar78]

Now allowing you to vote all that apply.

I realize that there are other options, but I got the main ones on here

[Nicholasp27]

i'd do al for artest...some of lue/delk/2nd rounder/donta/edwards/thomas would be ok as well

i would consider if u had to throw in chill or slim with al to get artest/tinsley, but not for just artest

and no to smoove unless we also get a pf back

[Lascar78]

I don't know. If you talk to al, and he lets you know that he'll basically stay if artest comes to town, you have to chose between the long term prospects of

?

JJ/Salim

Artest/Marvin/Chill

Harrington

Zaza

and that of

?

JJ/Salim

Marvin/Chill

Smith

Zaza

If that's what it actually comes down to, it's hard to argue against lineup #1.

[exodus]

Realistically I don't think Indy would be that interested in the Hawks young projects anyway. They are looking to win now while JO is in his prime, and the only guy who would really help them is Al.

I bet Al is begging JO to talk Walsh into making this deal.

[Lascar78]

Well JO is only 28. I think they're at a turning point. Clearly, plan A just collapsed and they have to re-tool. JO will still be in his prime for a while. I don't think they would trade Al for Chill because Chill hasn't shown anything yet, and they can get more established players, but I think they might go for Smoove. He can contribute very tangible things immediately (blocks, dunks), get the crowd into it. And he's working hard to improve.

I really would feel weird giving up Smoove though. Seems like one of those moves that you might be killing yourself over in 2 years. I would give Al because he's on his way out anyhow. I would give Chill.

[Traceman]

to win. If not, he is going to be a nightmare. I'd probably do any of the proposed scenarios because Artest could always be moved later but the BEST scenario for us would likely be sending Chillz, Salim and filler (Delk) for Artest. Chillz alone won't get it done, he's not good enough.

I still don't think getting Artest to keep is a good move because I think he's nuts BUT a starting lineup of:

JJ

Artest

Marvin (or Smoove)

Harrington

Zaza

would be pretty dang interesting. I think JJ would be fine at PG on this team because Artest would be the #1 option on offense and Artest is certainly a good enough ballhandler to take pressure off of JJ bringing it up every time.

[Lascar78]

I agree. It's like I said earlier. He has never had situations where he intentionally disrespected his teammates, or was unselfish to them (time off for album excluded). What I would worry about is whether he could handle losing. He wasn't able to handle it well at all in Chicago.

But Artest is unbelievably talented. I mean we paid 70 mil for JJ, and Artest's all around game is so much better than his it's ridiculous.

JJ-Artest-Al-Zaza is easily enough talent to win 50% of the games for the rest of the year. But talent isn't everything and we still need a distributor. I think if that trade were to go through (send either Smoove or Chill + filler) and he could handle 1 year of not making the playoffs, we could draft Rondo (or the best PG available), and be a damn good team next year.

So who knows. I am well aware of the risks that he brings, but his talent is insane. I think I might risk it.

[Packfill]

Well the problem with that idea is that it probably makes the Hawks good enough to not get a top five pick but bad enough to still miss the playoffs, which means no Rondo. Outside of Rondo, there are no point guards that could, at least at this juncture, make a reasonable contribution to an NBA team next season.

[Weez]

the more I think about it, the more I see him headingto Dallas...

I mean, they have the assets to trade, are in need of 'defense' and are, in general, a 'contending team' that (if Walsh has any feelings towarsd Artest at this point) makes perfect sense.

[gohawks11]

i hope we keep salim for a long time.