Houston owner Leslie Alexander said, "He's a different person now, I think, than he was years ago," and all the laughter from the Kings offices and locker room turned Natomas into one giant comedy club.
But the deal was done, Ron Artest was officially and finally a Rocket, and the waiting through the longest 2 1/2 weeks of your life was over.
That only leaves the other problem.
The next eight months.
The Kings' roster is basically set, and the Pacific Division is basically set, barring an unexpected bold move, and a last-place finish appears inevitable unless the Clippers out-Clipper themselves or someone gets turned to rubble by injury.
If it's not a terrible reality for Sacramento, taking hits now in the name of building something, it looks bad if it actually happens. Bad in the standings, bad in the perception and bad on Reggie Theus' résumé.
The fourth-place Kings were 15 games better than the last-place Clippers in 2007-08, and that margin is gone after a flurry of offseason moves around the Pacific. The L.A. junior varsity even came back strong after losing Elton Brand, the face of the franchise, to free agency.
Come mid-August, with the Artest trade made official Thursday, the division has finally started to settle. There's still the pronounced upper class of the Lakers and Suns and a middle class with the recovering Clippers joining the recovering Warriors after both absorbed major hits in free agency, followed by the Kings. But at least they're all able to finally see what is likely a complete picture of the summer work.
The Lakers made no significant additions and had no loss more significant than backup big man Ronny Turiaf (18.7 minutes per game last season) signing with Golden State. The important arrival in camp would be a healthy Andrew Bynum, with secrecy so far mostly surrounding Bynum's recovery from knee surgery.
The Suns added first-round pick Robin Lopez, potentially to step directly into the rotation behind center Shaquille O'Neal and power forward Amare Stoudemire, and hired Terry Porter to replace Mike D'Antoni as coach. There have been no important roster losses, though Phoenix is the team that could still make a move with Leandro Barbosa or Boris Diaw.
The Warriors lost Baron Davis, Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes to free agency, or, to put it another way, lost Davis to free agency and let Pietrus and Barnes walk. They signed Corey Maggette and Turiaf, drafted Anthony Randolph and traded for Marcus Williams.
The Clippers thought they had The Summer all lined up, with plans to sign Davis and re-sign Brand in a package moment. Then Brand went to the 76ers instead. Then L.A. got Marcus Camby for essentially nothing in a salary dump by the Nuggets. Then the Clips signed Ricky Davis and Jason Williams after drafting Eric Gordon and losing Maggette. Then they collapsed in offseason exhaustion.
The Kings identified three pressing issues and will leave the offseason having addressed each: point guard (re-signed Beno Udrih), power forward (drafted Jason Thompson) and ending production of the Artest soap opera. That makes it a productive, focused summer, no matter what comes next.
Read Scott Howard-Cooper's blog at www.sacbee.com/blogs.
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