Theus wants Artest back

His teammates had retreated to the visitors' locker room for halftime discussions, but Ron Artest stayed on the Staples Center floor for a conversation of his own.

The Kings small forward, who was sidelined Tuesday night, was chatting courtside with the matriarch of the Maloof empire, Colleen, exchanging pleasantries shortly before the regular season ended.

Negotiations, of course, can come later.

Kings coach Reggie Theus deemed the future of Artest and how he fits into the organization's long-term plans the most pressing offseason issue. In a lengthy post-mortem media session Wednesday, Theus repeatedly stressed the importance of the Kings picking a direction regarding their core players. And that core, if it were up to Theus, should be anchored by the two-way talent he repeatedly called the team's "best player."

"When you look at the good teams in the league, every good team has somebody they can throw the ball to," Theus said. "Down the stretch of games, what people don't really understand is that teams are throwing the ball to (Houston's) Tracy McGrady and letting him decide and figure out what's going on. They're throwing the ball to (the Los Angeles Lakers') Kobe (Bryant). They're throwing the ball to (Dallas') Dirk Nowitzki. They're throwing the ball to their best player and letting that guy get the double team and (play) out of it.

"Outside of Ron Artest, we don't have anyone you can throw the ball to ... . Without that guy, we're going to have to start figuring out where we're going to throw the ball."

Though Artest has said he likely will not exercise the early termination option in his contract this summer, it won't be for certain until the late June deadline. And although Kings co-owner Joe Maloof has said that his family would consider re-signing Artest next summer, it remains unknown what the organization will do if Artest becomes a free agent a year earlier.

"Depending on what happens - if he's here or he's not here - we're going to have to decide which way we have to go," he said. "You have to figure it out. Because if he's not going to be here, what are you going to do to fill that void? And that's a pretty big void."

The question of whether Artest will become a piece for the long term will loom at least until midsummer, with his controversial history and reputation as a difficult player to coach taken into consideration.

"I'm sure that it will play a part, and that is more of a franchise decision and a directional decision," Theus said. "And until I sit down with (Kings basketball president) Geoff (Petrie) and those guys and really discuss everything, I really couldn't even get into that. But that decision that is going to be made here is something that's going to last for the next four or five years, so yeah, it's a directional thing that we have to deal with."

Not the only thing, however.

Theus cited toughness and rebounding as his major areas of emphasis for next season. Entering Wednesday's close of the regular season, the Kings ranked 29th in rebounds (40.1 per game) and 23rd in rebounding differential (minus-1.8) and were tied for 24th in opponents' offensive rebounds (11.8 per game).

"This team, with a couple of more pieces, I think is a very viable team," Theus said. "We have all the elements, except for that one area. Rebounding, to me, is the biggest thing we have to look at."

The team's inability to rebound, Theus said, hindered the Kings from playing an up-tempo game that would have helped in the assist department as well. With an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.25, the Kings ranked last in the league.

Their assists-per-game mark of 19.1 was the franchise's worst since the Elias Sports Bureau began keeping track for the 1970-71 season. The 2006-07 Kings set the previous low with 20.3 assists per game.

Yet the number that will matter most in the months ahead, as Theus sees it, will be No. 93.

About the writer:

• Read Sam Amick's Kings blog at www.sacbee.com/blogs.