Ron Artest has been traded to Houston. Again, this is late, but I haven’t had the Internet for a week now, and all of this is news to me.

Artest to Houston? Sheez. It’s easy to dog Houston for their constant first round exit, but last year they made noise with just T-Mac and Shane Battier doing all the work. Add in a healthy Yao Ming, a ridiculously-talented-even-if-he-can-be-overbearing Ron Artest, and you have what’s got to be one of the top four teams in the West. This trade doesn’t make them the favorite — you gotta believe it’ll be New Orleans, LA or San Antonio — but I think it puts them right behind those three teams, and not far behind at all.