Yes to Artest, the Lakers get a steal

I keep hearing about Team chemistry. If that is such a great issue, why didn't TA stay? Moving to a team that has just lost its top 3 palyers just indicates to me that TA priority is to be in the spotlight more and that is the real reason he left. TA is THE MAN now. This is backed up by his one year stay at college. RA priority is to get a ring and will do what ever necessary to get it even if it means a salary cut. LO needs to think about what his priority is, contributing on a great team even if it means comming off the bench (at the highest 6th man salary) or the ego of starting.

Hate to see Ariza go, but for the most part the addition of Artest makes the Lakers an almost lock to repeat (pending the re-signing of L.O.)

I just hope that Artest doesn't screw up the team chemistry that the Lakers have.. Never have i liked Artest but now that he's a Laker i'll give him a chance..

Ariza should have signed with the Cavs and not the Rockets.. He won't win anythin in Houston, & that's just a shame because he is a very talented role player.

First of all, it is clear that the Lakers wanted Artest. Mitch called his agent at 12:01am.
Secondly, Trevors agent was right. He wanted a big pay day and in a regular season, he might have got it. Do you really believe if the Lakers wanted Trevor in LA he would not have stayed? Mitch realized that a combo of Artest, Odom and Brown will be better than just Ariza and Brown. We would not have had the money to offer Odom.

Comparing the two(and I'm biased cause I'm a Bruin): Artest is much tougher so it makes it more difficult to defend him. More importantly, he can shut down a Paul Pierce or LeBron James who had their way with Trevor. Yes, Ariza is younger but who cares about 5 years from now when Artest and Kobe retire? We will have already won 3 more titles...

http://twitter.com/kaj33/status/2542205505

Elias.
Points/minute ; Reb/min ; Assists/min
Artest = 15.6/38=.41ppm; 4.3/38=.11rpm ; 4.2/38=.11
Ariza = 11.3/31= .36; 4.2/31=.13rpm , 2.3/31= .07
Still in Artest favor overall... but good effort at first glance.
Artests FG% was as much a function of no offensive structure, the need to create on his own, and no other offensive option for the defense to worry about as Arizas production was a function of the Triangle and double teams on Bryant and Gasol. Look for Artests FG% to go UP in the Triangle (as Arizas did) and look for Arizas FG% to go DOWN when he's asked to create his own shots.
Those people dancing in the Houston streets were actually trying to attract attention to scalp their season tickets

Artest had a better scoring average because he played close to 38 minutes a game compared to Ariza's 31 in the playoffs. But it's funny that he averaged only 4.3 boards a game compared to 4.2 for Ariza. The important numbers are in the field goal percentage. Ariza shot 49 percent to 39 for the whack job, er Artest. But the biggest number is this - Artest 29 going on 35 but the mind of a 12 year old. Ariza 24 going on ..well 25. Dude this is a no brainer. They're dancing in the streets in Houston.
Just Sayin......HA HA !

Fred, like I said in your earlier post, Artest is one of the best and I have always wanted him here as a Laker so yes I am excited and think the Lakers got better. I think Ariza would have been a better fit mentally and in 3 to 5 years he could be a better player but everyone else got better now so we had to as well...

Now as for the Guard situation, this is where we need to do something and just throwing names out there is rediculous, there is no way we get J Williams so why even bring it up? yes i would give up Farmar and Bynum for him but Utah will not give him up, so why not go after Heinrich from Chi-town??? I would think Chi-town would deal him with what they have and what the Lakers can offer, and no the "Great White Hope" aka Walton will not be traded but we have other pieces that might be of interest to the the Bulls...

Elias Buckwalter-Ariza took less money than he was initially offered with the Lakers when he ended up in Houston.
Sounds like a choice to me.
When played hard to get, he asked for more and the Lakers got Artest for even less money than that (if the reported 3 yr deal is true)that's not a low ball. You don't get a contract based on a couple steals off bad passes and a few open 3s off Kobe double teams. Lakers screwed up in the past giving money based on those temporary hot streaks.
Since you're all excited about playoffs
Artest=PPG 15.6 RPG 4.30 APG 4.2(compared to career ave of 16.8,5.5, 3.3)
which are almost exactly his regular season career stats
Ariza=PPG 11.3 RPG 4.20 APG 2.3(compared to career ave of 8.2, 3.3, 1.7)
Arizas agent screwed up-and Ariza lsitened to him. Enjoy the humidity.

Before this years playoff with Houston, I thought the Lakers owned Houston (4-0 in regular season) So how come the Lakers had so much trouble with Houston without Yao Ming and having to go 7 games, because it's all about heart. You've heard the term "because they wanted it more" Just think so-called basketball fans, no Yao Ming, no Tracy Mac Grady, how come the lakers had so much trouble, I'll tell you, because of Houston's heart and in particular the warrior heart of Ron Artest. I use to have concerns about his behavior, but if you listen to his team mates in Sacramento and Houston, no problem and when I saw him in 7 playoff games, this guy is a warrior, why do you think Kobe is so good because of his heart/drive, and Ron Artest is the same. These are probably two of the best shut down defenders in the league. Don't just put this on Kupchek, the Zen Master was all for it, along with Magic and Kobe, in my book that's some pretty strong basketball brains. Wasn't Phil Jackson just anoited the basketball god?

HUMMMM ARIZA SHOULD HAVE FIRED HIS AGENT, HE WONT BE ANYTHING IN HOUSTON...ARTEST WILL MAKE THE LAKERS BETTER ...ARTEST STILL IN HIS PRIME, ARIZA HELPED THE LAKERS WITH THE BIGGEST STEAL IN THE OFF SEASON ARTEST....THE LAKERS NEEDED TO GET TOUGHER AND A THUG TO BACK UP KOBE ...FISHER TOOK ONE FOR THE TEAM AT 6'2 NOW ARTEST CAN BE THAT THUG THAT WE NEED WELCOME ARTEST

Ariza didn't necessarily choose to leave. He felt he had to when the Lakers didn't offer him jack. They lowballed him big time because they had their hearts set on Artest. To me playoff numbers are important because that's when championships are won and lost. Ask Houston writers, fans or players who got the better end of the deal. They're doing back flips right now with this guy leaving town. When this blows up in the Lakers' face don't say I didn't tell you so.

The Lakers pulled a fast one on our Rockets. You L.A. guys will be amazed at what a dominant TEAM player Artest will be. We really enjoyed him here in Houston this past year -- his personal AND court presentation.

cheers, Tom Houston fan.

Great. I'm sure the ACCUSED rapist will be a great influence on Artest, who has already done time for domestic violence. I can't see why anyone would support a team with superstars that have such a dubious history with their alleged treatment of women.

Hopefully, Artest doesn't jump into the crowd to fight a fan again. We wouldn't want to lose him to suspension.

Elias Buckwalter-what's a better statistical sample-82game regular season or a few playoff games? Is that a trend - or a hot streak?
Remember Kareem Rush, how everyone got all excited when he had a couple big playoff games. Or Sasha? Brian Cook? Ya'all get intoxicated with a couple big shots. Ariza is good and I like him, but he's about worth what he got - and he coulda got it here. He chose to try fro more and it backfired. his loss more than ours. BTW-Robert Horry has 7 rings and Charles Barkley has none. Who is the better player-and who is the most fortunate? John Sallie has 4 rings while Wilt and Hakeem have 2. Who would YOU want? Rings matter?
THAT'S what I was saying.

Why not put this on Ariza. He was the one who left and wanted to test the waters. If teh Lakers sign Ariza then teh Lakers could have traded for the missing piece...a legit quicker D Fish....everything else if hate on Artest...who probabbly deserves everything he gets. Time will tell who made a bigger mistake...Ariza or the Lakers....and of course Kobe who had to sign off on Atest. Funny but I would have guessed that Kobe and Ariza and teh Lakers were in Trevor's ear. Tough losing a 24 year old with mad skills and team chemistry.

Artest shot 28 % from the three point line in the playoffs while Ariza shot 48 %. Artest was 17 for 61 from the floor in the last four games of the playoffs against the Lakers. You were saying? I don't know what Artest could do for the Lakers except maybe get kicked out of games. Artest has ZERO rings. The only thing he could beat is his wife. I'll give it to him on the defensive side but only time will tell if Ariza is better offensively. I mean he's only 24 and that more than any other is why this was a horrible move by the Lakers.

Ron Artest? what? Just what LA. needs another Manny Ramirez. Artest and his antics will come out eventually and the Lakers will wish they kept that chemistry with Ariza. Sure the numbers do not lie and Artest has the better between him Ariza, but attitude and chemistry goes along ways. If Artest did not respect Kobe on the court as competitors what makes you think he will respect him as a teamate. REMEMBER "I'M RON ARTEST"...Ron is a ball hog and he will shoot the ball when Kobe should have it and this will cause allot of problems. As far as a point guard the lakers do need one more trade. I do not understand why they would keep Sasha when he disappears in big games and comitts stupid fouls and turnovers then put his hands in a praying move and says who me!" He really needs to be off the roster.

Ron Artest? what? Just what LA. needs another Manny Ramirez. Artest and his antics will come out eventually and the Lakers will wish they kept that chemistry with Ariza. Sure the numbers do not lie and Artest has the better between him Ariza, but attitude and chemistry goes along ways. If Artest did not respect Kobe on the court as competitors what makes you think he will respect him as a teamate. REMEMBER "I'M RON ARTEST"...Ron is a ball hog and he will shoot the ball when Kobe should have it and this will cause allot of problems. As far as a point guard the lakers do need one more trade. I do not understand why they would keep Sasha when he disappears in big games and comitts stupid fouls and turnovers then put his hands in a praying move and says who me!" He really needs to be off the roster.

Lakers need to finish the offseason by signing Lamar Odom and Shannon Brown. Lamar and Ron I believe played together as high school hoopsters on some New York club team and are good friends. I would like to see Shannon Brown as the #2 guard off the pine and see Fisher play 20-25 mpg saving him for the 4th quarter.
By the way who will be the new AD and basketball coach at Diamond Bar since JT Cameron is now the AD at Corona Santiago. JTC was not a good basketball coach and his choices off coaches were questionable.

Ron and Kobe will win another Champship

Cliff

Just saying. you're absolutely right. I was being optimistic about maybe Ariza cashing in after he helped the Lakers. My point is I always support former Lakers who act right and that's why i don't support Shaq's antics, although with his basketball mortality staring him in the face he'll have to mend some broken fences and maybe some day admit he treated Dr. Buss like trash. In my book that's inexcusable.

As I said in my original post, Artest was auditioning, Kobe was pushing his interview buttons and Ariza was gold. If Ariza takes less money he was completely misrepresented and I agree with your positions. The only reaosn to leave LA is for twice the money or insanity.

One thing that Ariza should have taken into consideration is LA loved him, Kobe loved him and the organization recued him from obscurity. Kobe demands tons of attention and Ariza was a perfect soul mate and in Houston he'll be asked to be the man and like Scotie Pippin found out, as did everyone else, Scottie came up short.

Now hopefully the Lakers turn their attention to a PG with Ariza sized potential, maybe Brown but most likely someone else. Fish is a big time clutch gotta have him on the floor in the last seconds of any game kind of Pro but can he still go major minutes. My guess is Artest, Gasol, Odoam and Bynum will set the tone once they beat Fish off the dribble so we have time to develop or trade for his eventual replacement.

Who's Ariza's agent? I think he fits better in Orlando than Houston now that Turk is in the open market but like I said...I wish him well and a big thank you.

just sayin...great takes.

JSRT-Ariza took less money, to go into a worse market and play for a worse team. How is that taking care of his family? No big dollars. Would have got more if he stayed. He got bad representation form his agent and it backfired!

Elias-Arizas numbers were 8.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists and Artest averaged 17.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists. Ariza shot 31% from the 3pt line and Artest shot 40%. You were saying? And defensively, on his career Artest is averaging more steals than Ariza averaged this year. Disagree that he's more athletic, although he does jump higher, but Artest is much stronger.That's an athletic attribute isn't it?
Stick with the concerns about his attitude or something and were OK - but to say it's not a statistical upgrade is being blind. And although they won a championship and you can't improve on that finish this year - they will be competing against different teams next year. Spurs got a lot better as did teams in the East. Staying pat might be getting worse and allowing others to pass you by.
However, you're last statement may be the most true of them all. We'll see.

No Ariza is better offensively , he's also more athletic and he's 24! And to cap it off Artest is a whack job. The Lakers just won a title with Ariza. How do you improve on that? Bad move for the Lakers. Artest will blow up sooner or later.

I guess Ron Artest"s audition work out for him. Kobe put Artest through his paces both during the game and after the whistle and Artest came through with flying colors.The word is out..."Play with Kobe, spend some quality time with Kobe...and your game will go thru the roof!" Look at Le Bron and D Wade and others...hard work pays off. Lakers are due to run off another three peat.

I loved Ariza and am sorry to see him go but know he will be paid well and after winning a Championship it's time to take care of family...and that means big dollars. Without Ariza the Lajers don't make it to the Championship Game much less win it all.

The next question for the Lakers will be to get a solid point guard...Farmar doesn't strike fear in anyone and Brown is a stud in the making but what teh Lakers will need is some one who can shut down teh Parkers and Williams or the world...maybe another trade is in the works.

My guess if Walton, Sasha and Farmar will be dealt before the season ends.

Go Lakers...monster trade....and I guess it didn't fall in the "Best trades are the ones that aren't done" bin.

great pickup for the lakers who get a physical presence and someone who can guard both forward positions. now the lake show needs to get Lamar or the Turkey to complete their team. Ariza now better end up in Cleveland to be able to compete for an NBA title. Sometime you agent can do you harm rather than good.