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Aug. 3--There is already something conflicting about the Houston Rockets. This is a team that rolled up 22 consecutive victories last season, but managed a 24-20 record just before going on the second-greatest winning streak in league history and finished 11-11 as part of the traditional first-round playoff loss. Ron Artest can't splinter them.
He can shake them up, though, and the locker room of the Toyota Center is one of the few places where that might be a good thing, given the personality of the Rockets and their history of annual early postseason exits.
If lobbing Artest into this group of good guys creates a concern that a passive roster will get run over by his strong will, especially if Dikembe Mutombo does not re-sign and a mountainous presence is lost, it raises hope of new energy. It also raises hope that Artest will decide whether he is Ron or Bill and whether he will limit flip-flopping on his future in Houston to 39 times between New Year's and July, but one thing at a time and the possibility of the moment is that he could reach Texas with the most unexpected of attributes.
That's right. Ron Artest: Emotional Leader.
The eighth sign of the apocalypse.
The Rockets are already secure in the ways he would ordinarily contribute most, after all. They have a small forward, Shane Battier, who defends at a high level, moves the ball, and accepts a secondary role in the offense starring Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. As a whole, Houston is already very good at shutting down opponents.
Artest is not the difference in the Rockets opening camp in a little more than eight weeks as legitimate threats to come out of the West, if slightly behind the Lakers-Hornets-Jazz lead pack. They would have been close to that ranking anyway, just for winning 55 regular-season games when Yao missed 27 in a treacherous season unlike any other in the conference. New coach, star center injured, playing great defense and rebounding, three rookies in the rotation at various times ... and still in the chase.
The benefit of getting Artest from the Kings is having more depth and more options. A 55-win team will now be in position to make an impact move during the season, with Artest if he does not work out or with Battier, or keep them both and snicker as opponents flail away trying to get points from their wings.
With Battier and Artest joined as two of the best and most versatile defensive small forwards on the same team, the Rockets will have numerous ways to tilt games in their favor. Both can guard multiple positions, a 7-foot-4 shot blocker is the backstop, and good luck.
Neither team is talking until the trade becomes official Aug. 14, once a salary-cap technicality clears, so it's difficult to get a read on Rick Adelman's plans for a starting lineup. Artest has already volunteered to come off the bench, which may have happened at the outset anyway, but Adelman will have options and he showed with the versatile Kings of the early 2000s that he's good with options.
The real attention getter would be to move Rafer Alston to the bench and put the 6-8 McGrady at point guard. Adelman wouldn't want to give McGrady the additional work of getting the ball upcourt and setting up others, so it might be a non-starter, except that Battier and Artest can also handle the ball. A lineup of McGrady, Battier and Artest at the interchangeable positions of shooting guard/small forward, Luis Scola at power forward and Yao isn't impossible to imagine.
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