The Lakers didn’t want to pay the money that Ariza got. It is a bigger, longer deal.

I think it is obvious that Artest will have lower numbers in LA than he would have had in Houston, and Ariza will have higher number in Houston than he would have had in LA. Roles and playing time are different. It will be worse for Artest when Gasol is back.

For LA.

They were not going to pay Ariza what he wanted and had no choice but to then trade him for the best man available at the time.

Unfortunately for them the best man at the time (Artest), was not as good a player as Ariza was who they traded away.

on the lakers triangle offense I think ariza is a better fit than artest

What I did mean is: given what Artest is giving the Lakers this year, don’t you think Ariza could be giving them at least as much – while also giving them a much higher ceiling going forward?

My last post was based on early results, and you’re right to say they may change. But the early results are very much in line with what you could expect given the trajectory both players have been on over the past few years. Let’s go category by category.

Points – here you see the biggest impact of the different roles these players have. Ariza is more important option in Houston, so he gets more shots and scores more points. But if he were in the LA system do you doubt for a moment that he could be scoring at least 12 a game? He was clearly trending up over the past three years with the Lakers, improving from 3.5 to 6 to 9 ppg over the past 3 years. Twelve would have been in line with that trend.

Meantime, the fact that Ariza can score 18 when he’s option 1A shows how valuable he’s could have been for the Lakers going forward. As Kobe ages, wouldn’t you like to have an athletic young guy coming up who can score 15-20 a night within the flow of your offense?

Rebounds and Assists – they’re dead even. I don’t see dropoff or gain. And Ariza is putting up this kind of line while putting out more energy on offense than Artest.

Steals/defense – Ariza is good for an extra half a steal per game, which is consistent with recent years. If anything, Ariza is a bit under his average steals per minute last year.

I don’t see where people are getting that Ariza’s ORtg or DRtg are much below Artest’s; they’re essentially the same.

Playoffs. This is a big X-factor, for a lot of reasons, but this category is especially important for the Lakers. That’s how they measure their success or failure, same as the Cs. And what I remember is that Ariza gave the Lakers huge plays at the end of games, especially by playing energetic, athletic team defense. Can Artest give that? I don’t think so, and there’s an argument that the Lakers are more in need of quickness on the perimeter than beef. Remember, they have to carry Fisher’s lead feet. Kobe’s awfully quick but he can only cover so much ground.

On the ball, Artest is a more physical defender, but he’s not as long or as quick. Here it’s not clear who has the edge. Is one of them better, say, guarding Melo, and is that the same player who’s better at guarding Ginobili? I honestly don’t know, but it’s hard for me to believe there’s a great deal of daylight between them. (I’m happy to be corrected if I’m wrong).

Finally, what do last year’s playoff stats say? I’ll recognize, again, that their teams were so different that it’s hard to make apples to apples comparisons. But the fact remains that last year, Ariza was better than Artest in almost every category. Artest scored four more points a game, but only because he took a lot more shots (while shooting a much lower TS percentage). Ariza stepped up his production in all areas and showed he belonged – just what you’re hoping for from a player who was only 23 at the time.

Last point on salary – it’s true Ariza was balking on the MLE, but he eventually TOOK an MLE contract from Houston only a few days after the Lakers took Artest.

And so the Lakers let a 24-year old player go to get a comparable 30-year old. They are going to regret this deal.

I’m surprised Artest isn’t more involved offensively with Gasol out of the lineup. It’ll be interesting to see how he fits in once Pau returns.

Ron Artest is on his 5th team in less than 8 years!

Laker fans often say…. “In West We Trust”.

West, out of loyalty and class, is on record of stopping just short of saying the Lakers will come to regret the Artest/Ariza exchange.

This is an insane post.

You do realize that Ariza is shooting a horrible 39% for the year? That’s about 10% lower than with the Lakers. With the Lakers, he would just spot up and slash to the basket…no need to handle the ball….Now that he has to actually have the ball in his hands he is averaging 3 turnovers a game.

Ariza and his agent played hardball with the Lakers, stating they were not showing him any respect, even though they offered essentially the exact same contract he ended up signing with the Rockets for. That is a not a way to deal with Jerry Buss.

Artest came to the Lakers at a very reasonable price. He just turned 30 a few days ago…He is in his Prime. With him, and a now dominant Bynum (19ppg, 11 rpg, 58% shooting) in the lineup, they can match up physically against any team in the league.

Don’t let stats fool you. They need about 10ppg from Artest, along with his tough veteran presence. He is progressing well in the triangle (which he never played before), and nobody is really un

Ariza is shooting a horrible 39% from the field. He is averaging 3 turnovers a game.

How is that making him better in the exchange with Ariza?

It would have been nice if Ariza stayed a Laker, but his good playoff series against the Magic when he was being ignored defensely, made him think of himself as a potential superstar.

What he is, is a good role player.

The Lakers are getting used to each other, but right now, Artest (who had never played in the Triangle) along with a healthy and dominant Bynum, are making the Lakers a team that will not have to back down from anyone in the NBA physically.

I wish Ariza the best of luck, but getting Artest, when Ariza decided to play hardball with the Lakers, is not a bad deal at all.

The Lakers have at least a 3 year window in which if they stay healthy, they will be the favorite to win the NBA championship.