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Seeing Ron Artest on the market gets me all crazy with thoughts.

Think about it. Someone's going to get him, and we're all going to roll our eyes and say "ha! those boneheads are going to crash and burn with the knuckelhead." Or, we might say "damnation, they were good before and now they'll be incredible."

It says something about Ron Artest that I don't even know which scenario is more likely.

I can tell you this: like all of us I have seen the man play. He's simply amazing. He plays so incredibly hard, he terrifies opponents, and he has a very developed and subtle ability to be a big part of the offense. He is 100% game changer.

On the other hand, if he's so great, how come he fell so far in the draft, was ditched by Chicago, and is now being marketed by Indiana for the equivalent of Pape Sow and cap space?

Aargghh. He's maddening.

So, should your team get him?

I have at last figured out my own answer to that question: depends on your team. Like Rasheed Wallace before him, Ron Artest will rock the boat somewhat wherever he goes. But, like Wallace, he also might be the key ingredient on a champion in the right setting.

If your best the players are on the same page as the coach, if the coach is not in jeopardy of being fired, if the squad has a long-standing sense of "that's not how we do things around here," and if the team has a rich winning tradition, and if you won't have to trade away the nucleus to get him, then by all means, this is the man for you.

On other hand, if you don't meet all those requirements, then you are straight up rolling the dice. Which isn't the worst thing to do. At least you have a chance of things working out great.

Bottom line: if Ron Artest somehow ends up in Detroit or San Antonio, look the hell out. If either of those teams gets him--which is unlikely--then I bet it will prove to be a brilliant move.

Miami, New York, the Lakers, and the Celtics might have certain advantages handling the hot coal that is Artest: the first three for their unfireable coaches, the latter for the mystique and tradition the franchise may or may not still have.

Everyone else? Get working on that corporate culture thing. It comes in handy.