The Kings apparently countered that awful Jerry Stackhouse/Brandon Bass offer from Dallas with the obvious: Give us Josh Howard. The Dallas Morning News says the Mavericks are unwilling to consider that.

Apparently, this isn't the first time the Kings have tried to pry Howard away. He'd be an upgrade on John Salmons, for sure -- he's a tenacious defender, a decently efficient scorer, a great rebounder. But I'd find it difficult to offer up more assets beyond Ron Artest to get him after that woeful second-half.

The deadline on the Lakers' opportunity to match Ronny Turiaf's GSW offer sheet is today, so be prepared for a potential onslaught of Odom rumoring tomorrow.

From SI.com:

The talk here continues to be about the future of Ron Artest. Dallas reportedly has had internal discussions about the Kings' mercurial power forward and may be willing to part with its own enigmatic forward, Josh Howard, to get him.

From DallasBasketball.com, a few days ago:

DallasBasketball.com is being told that the Mavs have engaged in extensive in-house discussions concerning the viability of acquiring the bizarro All-Star. ... Despite speculation, we get no legitimate indication that the Mavs are willing to swap out Josh Howard for Ron Artest.

Let's get the media hook on this out of the way. Sam Amick of The Bee got in touch with Nuggets coach -- and the guy who reportedly blocked the Artest-Kleiza deal -- George Karl.

"We're not happy," Nuggets coach George Karl said of his team. "We're going to pursue things and change it up or figure it out and be better come October, but I don't think you'll see us overreact either."

Asked if Artest's comments might make Denver pause, Karl said no.

"I don't think Ron would be as good a player if he wasn't Ron," he said. "He's emotional. He's passionate. He's angry, and it makes him play the way he plays.

"Ron plays the game the right way, and plays with very high intensity."

So apparently, Ron-Ron's comments this week don't matter. (I suspect Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson also carry enough credibility to get Artest to be happy if he heard he was being traded to Denver.)

What does matter: Denver now has a fat trade exception, $10 million. They could take Artest straight-up for picks, or for a lower priced player (like Linas Kleiza). Neither is a better option than what else is reportedly on the table (Odom, Marion), but it's an option. Kleiza does move the team further from the luxury tax, though, which would allow better flexibility in other deals.

Personally, I think Denver is looking to either move for one of these restricted FAs (Okafor would be an interesting target, if Charlotte's low-balling him) or a point guard (they might be able to get Hinrich for nothing but a pick with this exception).

Marion, Artest, Odom. It's enough to make someone's head spin.

Points in favor of Odom:

• More like to be resigned affordably next summer.
• Better passer.
• More traditional mold for Jason Thompson to emulate.

Points in favor of Marion:

• Much better defender.
• Much better shooter.
• Better player, period.
• Better fit for minutes at three.

In no other reasonable trade could the Kings pull players of this caliber. They have flaws -- every NBA player not named LeBron has them -- but these are good, good players.

I suspect you'll have thoughts.

From Sam Amick in The Bee:

"He has to balance the way he acts," Joe Maloof said by phone. "He's got to control his emotions a little better. You've got to try and keep your cool a little bit.

"Take a deep breath and quit flying off the handle with comments that don't make sense. I hate to say it that way, but that's how I feel. It doesn't make sense to me."

It doesn't make sense to me either, but it remains impossible to be surprised by anything Ron Artest says (or, uh, emails).

Meanwhile, before Ron-Ron got the message he talked to the Rocky Mountain News.

"I cannot play in Denver because they question my drive to finish my career off strong and not embarrass my family," Artest wrote.

Artest wasn't specific when asked who might have been critical of him. He also was asked if this means he won't consider Denver as a 2009 free agent.

"That's not even an option to be a Nugget," he wrote. "They let me know how they felt about me already."

Way to do Geoff Petrie's job, dude.

Carl alluded to it in the comments in the below thread, but to emphasize: This is perfect, on every level, for the Kings.

1. Geoff Petrie won't take any crap from fans or the local TV media for trading the "loose cannon" Ron Artest after Artest has requested a trade through the media.
2. Reggie Theus can't possibly be mad at Petrie for trading his "best player" once that player has requested a trade.
3. Mama Maloof gets some press.
4. Mark Stevens goes back to real estate, or whatever.

Petrie won't take a bad offer if he knows good ones are out there ... so Artest could last in Sacramento until the winter. The other top players -- Kevin Martin, Brad Miller, Beno Udrih -- know they only have to wait out Artest's on-court temperment a few months at most. (They may genuinely like him in the locker room, but it's clear he is one of the most difficult players to share the court with. Have fun, Kobe.)

Really, we owe Ron-Ron our gratitude for requesting a trade. Thank you, Ron.

The Bee's Ailene Voisin has the scoop:

From what I'm hearing - and, yes, he confirmed it - Geoff Petrie refused to return any phone calls inquiring about the Ron Artest availability between July 1-9, the period for players to declare for free agency and begin negotiating with teams. Petrie, who has a thing for following the rules, and never takes anything for granted, skipped town while waiting for Udrih's official signing. The Kings basketball president went to a Stevie Wonder concert in Reno on Friday, returned Saturday, then awakened at 6 a.m. Sunday to watch the Wimbledon singles final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Petrie respects authority. And Stevie.

In terms of Artestian significance, this means Petrie is not necessarily displeased with L.A.'s Lamar Odom offers. Stay tuned.

This Sam Amick blog post was linked in the Footnotes, but some of it deserves fuller citation:

As for future roster movement beyond second-round pick signings or summer league surprises, there is little to watch for from here on out other than a potential Ron Artest trade.

I've been told by numerous reliable people that it could happen quickly and that the Kings have already received calls from some of the expected pursuers of the small forward. The Lakers rang with no call back as yet from the Kings, and it appears the pieces in that possible deal have not changed. The Lakers are willing to offer forward Lamar Odom, but the question is whether they're willing to take on the contract of forward Kenny Thomas.

As much as I'd like to see a Ron-Ron + K-9 (woof!) for Odom deal happen, there's something inherently pleasing about the notion of a forlorn Mitch Kupchak waiting by his phone for a callback from Geoff Petrie.

As Carl noted in the previous thread, Sam Amick offers more depth to that story from ESPN's Marc Stein from earlier this afternoon.

The backstory here involves a conference call the small forward had this morning with Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie and Artest's agent, Mark Stevens. It appears that Artest was under the impression that there was a high likelihood the Kings would discuss his eventual signing to a long-term extension. But after numerous sources have said for months that such a move was highly unlikely, Artest and Stevens had continued to talk as if it was a strong possibility.

Petrie said in a phone interview minutes ago that he had a "candid" conversation with Artest but that "he wasn't too inclined to (say) much further than that."

If Artest thought Petrie was going to drop a multi-year deal on his lap this morning after desperately trying to trade him for Linas Kleiza and Eduardo Najera at the deadline, then Ron-Ron has received painfully poor information. No one in the world -- except Ron and his agent, apparently -- thought there'd be a chance the Kings would lock Artest up this summer.

If this stems from those Joe Maloof comments a few months ago -- basically, Maloof told a few radio shows the team would consider offering Artest a long-term deal only if he did not opt out -- then it's even worse. I assume Stevens knows how to reach Petrie. There's no excuse to be this misinformed about the team's very obvious plans.

This hurts Artest, just like Stevens' statement in 2006 that Artest did not want to play in Sacramento hurt, and just like Stevens' meddling in the trade talks this past winter likely hurt. Has Stevens done one thing in Ron's best interest?

The warm feelings lasted a long, long time.

Artest told ESPN.com on Tuesday that he wishes now he had opted for unrestricted free agency, like Brand and Davis, instead of electing to play out the final year of his contract with the Kings next season at $7.4 million.

Artest also conceded that his long-term future is likely not in Sacramento, saying via e-mail: "I don't see myself with [the] Kings beyond 2008-09.

"I think I made the biggest mistake by staying in my contract and I have to live with it," Artest said. "I had some misleading information [in making the] decision on not opting out. [But] I still thank G-d for all his blessings and being able to play basketball and help people."

Who misled Ron? His agent? Don't worry, Ron-Ron: it's not because Mark Stevens has shady motives, it's because you're his only client and he seems to know less than he think he does.

Don't worry, really. Either the team overperforms and you're on a winner, or Geoff Petrie will deal you to a playoff team by the deadline. No frets, man.

Also: I have no clue why ESPN.com editors or Marc Stein himself would bleep the word "God." Damn Heathens!

UPDATE, 6:09 p.m.: I now know why the 'o' would be omitted in the word 'God.' Thank you to Josh for setting me straight. I apologize to Stein and anyone I may have offended. I'm just a dumb Catholic.

UPDATE #2, 6:10 p.m.: By 'I'm just a dumb Catholic,' I mean to say 'I am dumb and a Catholic,' not that Catholics are by definition dumb. I apologize to His Holiness and Denis Leary.