After a fairly calm offseason for the NBA trade market, two Western Conference teams made a huge splash on Tuesday when the Sacramento Kings and Houston Rockets agreed on a trade that would send former Al-Star forward Ron Artest to the Rockets in exchange for Bobby Jackson, rookie Donte Greene and a future 1st round draft pick.

For the Rockets, this trade is a desperation move to finally build a legitimate championship contender around the duo of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, neither of whom have advanced past the 1st round of the playoff in their combined 17 seasons in the league. The Rockets realize the baggage that comes with the oft-troubled Artest, but also realize his enormous talent and potential for success he could have being paired with two perennial All-Stars in McGrady/Yao. With the small window the McGrady/Yao duo have for success duo to reoccurring injuries, and of course increasing frustration from management, fans and players alike over the team’s shortcomings, the Rockets feel the possible rewards of acquiring a talent like Artest outweigh the possible risks.

With all of that said, how do the Rockets come out of this trade? Is it a big step towards the ultimate goal of winning an NBA championship, or will Artest’s attitude and general insanity be the last nail in the coffin for the McGrady/Yao experiment? I am certainly no fortune teller, but here is my take on the positive and negative aspects that come from this blockbuster offseason trade.

Positives:

-The biggest, most important aspect of this trade is the fact that the Rockets gave up very, very little for a borderline All-Star caliber player. They gave up only one rotational player, Bobby Jackson, from last year’s roster; a backup at a position that would be a bit of a logjam with him still on the team. To acquire elite talent in the NBA is a difficult feat, a necessary obstacle that is arguably more difficult than finding good chemisty and balance. What the Rockets did was highway robbery by trading a below average backup and what will likely end up being two first-round draft picks from a former Defensive Player of the Year that is coming off arguably the best statistical season of his career. So even though it may be difficult to find proper chemistry with a fire-cracker like Artest on the team, the Rockets have done something they have failed to do the last four seasons; the team has finally positioned themselves talent-wise to legitimately contend for a title.

-The most overlooked aspect of the trade is that Artest’s contract expires at the end of the season. Basically that means if things don’t work out with Artest in Houston, he can be dealt midseason to a team looking for his talent and/or expiring $7M contract, or he can simply be let go at the end of the season. The Rockets do not have to commit to Artest long-term.

-From a basketball standpoint, Artest gives the Rockets what they have severely lacked the last four years; a legitimate 3rd option offensively that can create his own shot without McGrady or Yao doing so for him. It was very clear in the 2005 and 2007 playoffs that no matter how well McGrady and Yao play, the team falls apart because opposing team haven’t had to account for anything but spot up 3pt jumpshots and wide open layups from the other three Rockets’ players on the floor. Their defense, chemistry and star duo were good enough ton win 50+ games 3 of the last 4 seasons, but being so one-dimensional offensively was a weakness that was exposed by both the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz. Artest is a versatile, aggressive offensive player that teams will have to account for every single play on both the perimeter and interior. He will give the offense a chance to be much more versatile and difficult to defend, and he will really take a lot of pressure of McGrady/Yao.

-Artest not only gives the Rockets a 3rd option offensively, but gives them their 2nd elite perimeter defender, and a certain attitude and toughness the team has lacked in recent years. Artest is a former Defensive Player of the Year who is regarded as one of the most physical and versatile defenders in the league. Along with Shane Battier, the duo can be one of the most difficult 1-2 punches defensively the league has eve seen on the perimeter. And with the Rockets three other best player (McGrady, Yao, Battier) generally being regarded as nice, at times to a fault, Artest will inject the team with a newfound grittiness that will really benefit them against teams like the Jazz and San Antonio Spurs.

-With teams like the Spurs, Dallas Mavericks, and Phoenix Suns getting older and older, and two of the bottom tier teams in the playoff race from last year in the Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets losing key players, a trade to improve a Rockets team coming off 55 wins last year is coming at a very opportune time.

Negatives:

-History tends to repeat itself. The moment Artest stepped into the league, he has been loads of trouble. From the 2002-2003 to the 2004-2005 season, he was suspended on 10 different occasions, including a 73 game suspension for his role in the famous Indiana Pacers/Detroit Pistons brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 2004. In recent years he has calmed down a tad bit, but from his legal troubles off the court and clashes with coaches on the court, he is still a loose cannon.

-Will he be content with taking the role of 3rd option on a team with two 20PPG+ scorers? For 6-7 series now he has been accustomed to being the 1st or 2nd option no matter which team he has been on, so will his shoot-first mentality that is used to jacking up 15-17 shots per game clash with an already-built foundation? How will fellow teammates react to a player with the baggage and attitude that Artest possesses? How will his style of play fit in the context of an offensive system revolving around McGrady and Rafer Alston doing virtually all the ball handling?

-Injuries. While Artest has generally been a durable player throughout his career, he did miss 25 games last season duo to injury. Since the Rockets’ two other stars have had their injury problems the last few seasons, Artest’s durability could be a problem.

-If he doesn’t work out and the team is once again a first round knockout, the McGrady/Yao duo is almost surely over.

Bottom Line: In my opinion, this is a low-risk, high-reward deal that gives the Rockets a chance to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Hornets, something they wouldn’t have had a chance to do if the Rockets didn’t make a big move like this. If it doesn’t work out? He is an expiring contract, which gives them a lot of flexibility at both the trade deadline and the end of the season. It wasn’t like the Rockets were going to have a great chance against the elite Western Conference teams with the team they had already built, so taking this risk makes a lot of sense in that regard. Overall it really makes sense from a basketball and financial standpoint, and gives the Rockets a chance to make some serious noise in the 2009 post season.