Well, it finally happened. Ron Artest is a Sacramento King. Finally, he is donning the purple and silver, ending all the speculation that has been ruling NBA trade rumor mills for the last two seasons.

That’s right, the Kings finally landed their man: A 6-foot-7 bundle of joy carrying Mike Tyson-esque controversy on his strong shoulders.

The Kings were searching for an answer to their last-place Pacific Division standing, but have they found the solution in Artest? I would have to answer that question with a resounding, “No.”Artest is a good player, but he should never be looked at as an answer to any team’s woes, especially a team that has Kenny Thomas and Kevin Martin in the starting five.

The Kings problems extended far beyond Peja Stojakovic’s sub-par shooting. They have one of the best point guards in the league in Mike Bibby.

The Kings are also 11th in the Western Conference in rebounding, 12th on the offensive glass. You look at their record (18-26) and everything they lack, and you think why not take a chance on a guy like Artest? Could it really hurt the team? Yes.

In only one season (2004-05) has Artest averaged over 20 points per game, and he played in only seven games that year. He is a weak rebounder, averaging only 4.8 boards per game in his career, and he is only a 31 percent shooter behind the arc.

Artest’s playing attributes won’t help the Kings, and you can’t forget that he has only played 23 games over the last two seasons, and it wasn’t an injury that kept him off the court. It was a little incident in Detroit that ended his 20004-05 campaign, and his disrespect for Larry Bird and the Pacers organization that ended his Pacer career 16 games into this season.

Artest is a tough player but like Terrell Owens he is a contracted guarantee to do something detrimental to the team. What Artest brings is nothing more than solid defense, lots of flagrant fouls, and a multitude of media attention on himself. Perhaps this is why Joe and Gavin Maloof pursued him, to hide the fact that their recipe for success just isn’t panning out.

I guess they wanted to try a new mixture of ingredients. It’s in any cookbook under a recipe for disaster: two gambling owners, mixed in with a losing record. Add a few thousand uneasy, cowbell wielding fans, and top it all off with a 6-foot-7 ticking time bomb.

As of Monday, life with Artest is rosy and winless.

Josh Oates can be reached at [email protected]