Place this one firmly under the heading of "rumor mill," but Sam Amick files this story on his blog in the Sacramento Bee. Cliff notes version – Rick Carlisle loves Ron-Ron and wouldn't mind coaching him again. The bait might be Josh Howard.

Howard has three years at a total of $34 million remaining on his contract, not to mention a bit of a public relations problem after admitting to imbibing in weed (but hey, only in the off season) and then performing poorly in the playoffs. On the other hand, the 20 pt., 7 reb. Howard would be a considerable upgrade over (say) John Salmons, albeit at better than twice the price.

Another spin (of my own mad creation) would be Artest and one of our 2nd round picks for Jerry Stackhouse (1 yr. @ $7 million) and Brandon Bass (1 yr. @ $800 thousand and a future 1st round pick (Dallas' #21 pick this year belongs to New Jersey via the Jason Kidd trade). Bass has some potential and the contract load of this deal is a non-issue.

Be sure to read Amick's entire article – find out how Ron may become the next Angela Tsai!