Column: Best without Artest

By Max J. Dickstein, amNewYork Sports Editor | mdickstein@am-ny.com

7:00 PM EDT, July 31, 2008

Captivating and quirky, stormy and difficult, Ron Artest is moving on to the Rockets next season. And Knicks fans who have pined for the forward to join their team should be glad that his new home will be Houston and not Manhattan.

Artest can be brilliant on the court and charming off it. At 6-foot-7 and 248 pounds, the Queensbridge native and St. John's alum is an elite defender and inside scorer -- quick, balanced and powerful.

He is also endearingly, sometimes naively, eccentric; before his rookie season with the Bulls in 1999, Artest applied for a part-time job at a Chicago-area Circuit City in order to benefit from the employee discount.

The Sacramento Kings agreed in principle on Tuesday to trade Artest to Houston in exchange for two first-round picks, former Kings fan favorite Bobby Jackson and cash.

Artest's union with Houston superstars Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady looks excellent on paper, and the 28-year-old may be prepared to finally blend his abilities with a winning ensemble, which he has done in flashes. But so far, the world of Artest has mostly revolved in its own orbit.

Set to join his fourth team in nine seasons, Artest has long frustrated coaches and teammates with his individualistic style, shooting and driving when he deems it convenient.

Artest's role in the infamous 2005 brawl in Detroit was not evidence that Artest is uncontrollably violent. Rather, his into-the-stands reaction to a fan's thrown beverage cup exhibited the proud, impulsive and indomitable nature that might have better suited Artest to an individual sport than a team game like basketball. The thought of Artest as the savior of the long-dysfunctional Knicks seems like folly.

Max J. Dickstein is amNY's sports editor.

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