Jerry Buss And Lakers Owners Apparently Want Ron Artest

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There had been some rumors floating around of late that the Lakersapparently are interested in Ron Artest, and would trade Lamar Odomto get him. Of course, during this point in the offseason, you hearrumors about almost everyone in the NBA going everywhere.

But apparently this is pretty legit.

Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee said last week in a radio interview that a member of the Buss family told GM Mitch Kupchak to“Get it done.”

Strong words indeed. And now ESPN's Marc Stein is joining in .
Word is L.A. believes that any fears about Artest's reliability canbe assuaged by the fact that Phil Jackson would be coaching him andthat Kobe Bryant would be his teammate. Kobe and Ron-Ron share amutual respect that suggests no threat to the Lakers' peckingorder.

Insists one source close to the process: "[Lakers owner] JerryBuss actually likes Ron Artest's game and his personality."
The question, of course, is whether or not this is a good move forthe Lakers. Artest is a unique powder keg who always seems to be onthe verge of exploding. But since the Malice in the Palace, headmittedly hasn't done anything ridiculous. He's even managed tosurvive in Sacramento, not exactly a premier NBA destination.

But I'm wondering if this will mess up the Lakers' team chemistry,not necessarily in the locker room, but on the court. The Lakersthis last season seemed to have the perfect order on the court interms of pecking order. Kobe was clearly number one, Gasol wasnumber two, Odom number three. Odom seems to be a perfectcomplimentary player on a team that has two star players. He'sbasically an All Star role player, who's so good that he can alsofrequently be one of the star players if need be. He's also not ame-first guy, so the return of Andrew Bynum wouldn't likely messthings up either.

With Artest, I'm less sure. I know Artest - as crazy as he is - hasalways been a guy who works tremendously hard, isn't a ball hog,and can easily deal with being a second or third option.

But my one concern, if I'm the Lakers, is that it appears thatadding Bynum back into this mix is basically the missing piece towinning the NBA championship. Why mess with the nucleus that gotyou within two games of the title when Bynum will be back this nextseason?

My point is this. Artest seems like a potentially hazardous risk.If the Lakers hadn't made the Finals, then maybe you roll the diceand make that move. But with the Lakers in their current state,seemingly poised to dominate the Western Conference for the next 5years, there doesn't seem any reason to begin tampering with that.