I would only worry if Artest didn't further destroy the team by just being psycho. great defensive player, cancer to a team, how will Shaq and Artest get along, artest would seriously get on Shaqs nerves, I see this a a bad move move for the Suns.
Before continuing this discussion, I would like to point out that Artest has been anything BUT a cancer to the team while a member of the Kings.
He has certainly had his problems off the court in the two years he has been here, and got suspended for seven games to start this season, but even those problems have actually been minimized by how he has treated his teammates, his <current> coach, and when Adelman was still here (none of the Kings much liked Musselman), and especially his relationship with the Maloofs and Petrie.
He stays after practice to mentor young guns like Martin, Garcia, and Douby, getting them more into an NBA frame of mind, and he heaps praise on John Salmon, who essentially is the guy most likely to replace him in the King's starting line-up when Ron gets traded. He tells one and all he has enjoyed playing in Sacramento, and makes appearances around town, especially in youth programs. He knows his image is tarnished and, while not completely succeeding at it all the time, he has mostly been successful doing it, even to the point of giving up his questionable music career to focus on basketball.
While Sacramento has been able to help troubled players do this in the past, providing an island of <some> stability for players who otherwise either caused problems elsewhere or just never played much (Chris Webber, Vernon Maxwell, Scot Pollard, Doug Christie, etc), in Artest's case, it was truly a matter of career resurrection.
Ron's overall basketball skills are on display practically every night. Quite the ballhog in his first two years here, this season he works within the offense much better, while still sticking it to whomever he is defending. There is no other small forward in the League who matches up with him strengthwise. period. He can play the four position fairly well, when the Kings go small.
I can see where a veteran team might be scared off by someone like Artest because of preconceptions about how Ron has been in the past, and truth be told, I can see a team such as the Spurs reacting in a negative way because of that, as might the Suns.
But on the court, do you
REALLY think Ron would drive Shaq crazy....or more likely it being the other way around, where Ron (and others) get tired of the out-of-shape blob getting all the attention for no effort?
