Lakers better off with Artest or Ariza?

[Patterns]

I think I would prefer Artest no matter what.
But they won it all last year so Ariza has chemistry with the team.


But on paper, I will take Artest

that's great, but to let you know they don't play the games on paper

Artest is better on paper and in real life.

[Verbal]

Artest is one of my favorites, so I'd have to say Artest.

[Verbal]

I would rather have Ron Artest over him on our team. Artest will prolong Kobe's career by guarding Melo, LeBron, Pierce, and other physical small forwards in the NBA.

Now this is the truest statement posted here. Ron's game defensively has a direct parallel to Kobe. Trev's D game didn't have a parallel to Kobe because his defense was based on making his own reads. Nothing Trev did could help Kobe in any way form or fashion. Ron will allow Kobe to do things he hasn't been able to do since he played with guys like Rick Fox, Rob and Shaq.

You'll see what I mean on opening night.

+3.

Great point.


Not to mention, Ron Artest can defend most 4s and a few 5s as well.

Kobe enjoys playing passing lanes and he can do a as good/better job than Ariza in that department.

[Maniac]

I would rather have Ron Artest over him on our team. Artest will prolong Kobe's career by guarding Melo, LeBron, Pierce, and other physical small forwards in the NBA.

Now this is the truest statement posted here. Ron's game defensively has a direct parallel to Kobe. Trev's D game didn't have a parallel to Kobe because his defense was based on making his own reads. Nothing Trev did could help Kobe in any way form or fashion. Ron will allow Kobe to do things he hasn't been able to do since he played with guys like Rick Fox, Rob and Shaq.

You'll see what I mean on opening night.

+3.

Great point.


Not to mention, Ron Artest can defend most 4s and a few 5s as well.

Kobe enjoys playing passing lanes and he can do a as good/better job than Ariza in that department.

Bingo! Artest can body up any SF teams throw at us. Which along with quick pgs, was our achilles heel last year. Now if only we can get Hinrich on our team for the mle next year.

[chargerxthirty]

I'm just a Raptors fan but I decided I'd drop my input aswell.

Love Ariza, lots of interest in him on our Raptors board this year, however.... the way the Lakers are built to win championships, it's clearly much much better to have Ron Ron. He's a defensive Stalwart and he's not exactly a slouch on offense either. He can score, he can guard almost anyone, he plays multiple positions... and he has those intangible features where he can totally get under somebodies skin and throw their game off. (His attempt didn't work on Kobe, but kobe is on another level, hes into the game.... against someone like Lebron..(camera/attention whore) who is always paying attention to irrelevant **** such as his pre-game picture snapping and crap like that ... Artest might score 2 pts against the Cavs... but he will slow the **** out of Lebron with his physical Strength.

As far as pro's and con's Artest > Ariza without a fight.

[highflya1]

A couple more wins? Hell no. This is huge. People don't see it?

1.Kobe doesn't have to guard other teams best player

2.We have yet another playmaker out there.

3.Another go to scorer on the post

4.Another go to scorer in the paint

5.Another player that can play 3 positions.

6.A player who can guard 4 positions

7.Makes us go from a team were the sf and sg can basically double Kobe all day to were you almost have no choice but to play him 1 on 1 or at least you can't move your 3 to help on him

8.Gives the Lakers another allstar to make up for the fact that other teams got allstar caliber players.

9.Ariza did this good playing off Kobe so what will a legit top 5 sf do?

10.Do I really need a 10th? I can probably get to 30 if I wanted to.

Ron Artest cannot play PG's anymore, he's to slow. Definitely not a go to post player ether.

[Dr Aki]

Ron Artest cannot play PG's anymore, he's to slow. Definitely not a go to post player ether.

i agree with the PG guarding comment but the dudes only 29

compared to the adelman system, when yao basically sat in the post the majority of the time, the triangle allows for basically anyone to post up at any time (providing u get the ball penetration)

artest will develop those skills, PJ and co. will make it happen

[DEEP3CL]

A couple more wins? Hell no. This is huge. People don't see it?

1.Kobe doesn't have to guard other teams best player

2.We have yet another playmaker out there.

3.Another go to scorer on the post

4.Another go to scorer in the paint

5.Another player that can play 3 positions.

6.A player who can guard 4 positions

7.Makes us go from a team were the sf and sg can basically double Kobe all day to were you almost have no choice but to play him 1 on 1 or at least you can't move your 3 to help on him

8.Gives the Lakers another allstar to make up for the fact that other teams got allstar caliber players.

9.Ariza did this good playing off Kobe so what will a legit top 5 sf do?

10.Do I really need a 10th? I can probably get to 30 if I wanted to.

Damn Dex........you been on fire lately !

Besides there is no way it can be a "wash" between the 2, here's why.

Artest has a 16.1 scoring average for his career, while Trevor is at 6.9. How the hell is that a wash ?

[JasonDaPsycho]

Artest:
better offensive player
ability to guard LeBron James
a more dedicated defensive player, but may not commit a lot on help-defense as he is too obsessed with the player he's playing against
desire to win

Ariza:
moves faster, ability to guard quicker players
made some clutch steals and some clutch shots against tough teams last year
willingness to be a green-leaf type of player; doesn't complain much about his role
realtively tame comparing with Artest