Comments on: Ron Artest, Trevor Ariza, and the LA Lakers: It All Makes Perfect Sense

By: George P.

George P. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:30:06 +0000

Lakers in 2010………everyone else has to make it work, the lakers have to do it for a “third” year in a row. Artest wants to win, he wasn’t bad in houston last tear, and if they didn’t have all of those injuries, they may have want all the way…I don’t see any problem with the addition of artest to the lakers…..laker nation forever…

By: Brendan K.

Brendan K. — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 02:36:00 +0000

I’ll say this: I think the Lakers will be very, very good next year.. but so will the Spurs, Celtics, Magic and Cavs. Repeating is hard enough without making a major roster move that changes the dynamic of team chemistry. If you give me 80:20 odds, I’ll bet LA doesn’t win the title in 2010.

By: The Dude Abides

The Dude Abides — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:27:47 +0000

I agree with Dan in thinking that the Artest experiment will work (80-20 odds). If anyone can get him to stay within his role, it’s Kobe and Phil. The guy is actually a very solid standstill 3-point shooter (although a crappy one off the dribble). As for the Laker defense, it was one of the top three or four defenses in the league last season in all of the important metrics. I’m not sure where Dan gets the idea it was one of the worst in the league.

By: Dan Sharpe

Dan Sharpe — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:48:06 +0000

How was Ariza disrespected by the Lakers? They offered him a 5 year $33 million contract and his agent David Lee rejected it. If anybody disrespected Ariza it was Lee because now Ariza is on a lottery team, for the exact same money the Lakers offered. A very generous offer by the Lakers for an 8 point/4 rebound per game player. The Lakers have a knack for making average players into stars, and on any other team Ariza is an average player at best (remember Lakers “star” Rick Fox?) The Lakers had one of the worst defenses in the league this season and Artest is a huge improvement. An aging Kobe won’t have to chase around other teams star players so much anymore, kind of like when the Bulls added Denis Rodman to help an aging Jordan win 3 more titles. People said Rodman was a bad fit but Phil Jackson made it work just like he will make it work this time.