The L.A. Lakers have picked up free agent Ron Artest from the Houston Rockets. This is very ironic move considering Artest has often been called a Kobe Stopper (assuming such a thing actually exists). But now, the hated Artest, the same one that often looked on the verge of throwing a punch a Kobe throughout their 2009 NBA Playoff Series, will don the Purple and Gold.
Some Laker fans may hate this move because you are literally bringing one of the most hated players into you franchise...however, from a winning perspective, this is a brilliant move.
The Lakers only went to a 7th game once during their Championship run...against Artest and the Houston Rockets. With this move, they have just removed a veteran and a prolific scorer/ defender from that team. Ok, so the Lakers will undoubtedly lose Trevor Ariza now that Artest is there. But consider this. Ariza is a great defender, but Artest has been playing just as good of defense in the NBA over a longer period of time.
You also get a savvy veteran (not a leader, but a veteran with a lot of "in-game" experience). The Lakers are young, but have to huge leaders already in Fisher and Kobe. They do not need a 3rd leader on the court, but it always is nice to have valuable experience on your team and Artest brings that.
Additionally, Artest brings a big offensive threat...bigger than Ariza and as big as Odom (another free agent the Lakers could lose this off season). If you watched Laker games throughout the season, you often saw Kobe and Gasol take over offensively, but when those two were on the court, their was a huge offensive hole missing. Artest can now fill that. He plays hard and leaves everything on the court. Sure he plays dirty at times, but then again some would argue Kobe does also (think slap in the face after a jumper), so lets not get stuck on that topic for too long.
Then there is the financial aspect. Artest is 29, Ariza is 24 so you lose out on age there. But I don't think Artest is old enough for age to factor in to this equation too much. I mean, if there is any age to worry about, it is how many years does Kobe left in the tank after the grueling schedule he endures. Artest is getting $18 million over 3 years ($6 mill per year) and the talks are that Ariza wanted more than the league mid-level exception of $5.6 million.
This move doesn’t secure another Championship Trophy in L.A. for 2010, but it does keep the Lakers fresh and in the hunt (probably even the favorites) for winning it all next year. With teams across the league making huge moves (Jefferson to the Spurs, Shaq to the Cavs, Carter to the Magic and talk of Rasheed to the Celtics), the Lakers had to switch some things around and in the end, this move probably cost them Ariza, but I don't think that is all too bad.
1 comment:
I think Ron Artest is on a whole new level then Ariza. In my opinion, Ariza was a product of a system. Congratulations you can hit an open 3 pointer when Kobe creates a double team, almost all SF's in the NBA can do the same thing. Ariza did play good defense I'll give him that but he cannot create a shot to save his life and its kind of a slap in the face to the city of LA that he wouldn't resign with the city that happen to revitalize his career. So good riddens Trevor Ariza and Ron Artest I look forward to watching you lock down Paul Pierce in the finals.
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