Artest: "[Ariza's] a better player"

[Sedale Threatt]

Exactly. Our SF spot boils down to those two things, and those two things alone. Artest has been better in both areas, especially on defense, with last night being only the latest example.

Nothing against Trevor, who I liked, but there hasn't been a single moment this year where I felt like we made a mistake with this switch.

[Edrees]

To be fair to Ariza though, his FG% is rising now that Kevin Martin joined the rockets and Ariza isn't a first option anymore. Ariza is a very solid player and he is always going to help his team to win games a lot, but I agree that his fg% as a first option prove that he isn't one.

[Minhee]

Honestly, some of the more veteran posters on this board knew that I had the biggest crush on Trev. I always defended him and I fought on here to say why we needed to keep him. I was very disheartened when his idiotic agent screwed everyone over.

With that said, there are things Trev does that Artest will never be able to do. Trev is much more athletic, compliments Kobe well when they are running the wings, he can hit the open 3 and is an athletic defender that can stay in front of just about any positions except for the 4 and 5. He had the footspeed to defend a quick PG (we might miss that in the playoffs when Roy, Deron, Billups. lawson, Kidd, etc. torches Fisher.). Another plus about Ariza that we will miss is his ability to get in the open floor during a break, he was our best defender against the passing lane, remember those clutch steals vs Denver?

Ok but now here is the thing people don't realize, Ariza was NOT our starting SF for 82 games playing 30 minutes a night. As good as Ariza played the passing lanes and team defense, he was NOT a shutdown guy. Against the likes of Melo, Pierce, Lebron, etc. only Artest can man up and body them for 30-35 min a night. I understand that Lebron torched Artest both times this year but I still prefer to have Artest's aggressiveness in your face defense. If Artest is successful shutting or limiting the opposing star player during the playoffs the love for Artest will come pouring in like crazy.

Trever is gone now, Artest brings a whole new dimension to this team which is toughness, attitude and man to man defense. People should stop complaining, if I can get over losing Trever so can you. Some people talk as if we waived Ariza and signed some no name dleaguer.

[TonyMontana]

Ron is being humble. I'd still take what Ron gives us over Ariza.

This

wait till the playoffs when Ron Ron and Lamar become our enforcers then we'll see who is better

This

I'd like to hear it in context, it's more likely Ron was being sarcastic. People are really overrating Trevor, he was great for our team and was playing well for a stretch, but he wasn't a perfect fit.

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props to ron for being humble and accepting his new role player gig. i was skeptical about him being able to accept that role and he's done wonderful so far.

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Yep. Everyone seems to forget how Ariza was being pushed around by Melo (to a point where we had to switch Kobe on him) in the post-season. We'll likely be seeing Melo again (or Butler), and if we expect to win a title then we'll be going up against LeBron as well. In the post-season, where more physical play is allowed, Artest brings far more value to us defensively. As good as he's been for us I'd imagine he'll be even more effective once he's healthy? We're talking about a guy who is a legit DPOY runner-up (lol... sorry no one is overtaking D12), and we haven't even seen his best!

Oh, and he's a way better 3-point shooter (leads the team as far as regular rotation players are concerned), better free throw shooter (that's saying something), passer, and definitely a better post player. Ariza is good in transition and got occasional hustle points, but he doesn't give us much in terms of helping to space the floor by being a consistent outside threat (although he shot lights out in the post-season, which was uncharacteristic). Ariza was a better finisher as well. With the decline of Fisher and his apparently lost shooting touch, our offense would likely look even more atrocious with Trevor this year.

IMO, Ron has done a great job of playing his role. He hasn't gone berserk and cost us any games this year (by jacking bad shots I mean) which is the only real thing that concerned me after we signed him. He seems to have accepted that he's not one of our main scoring options and focuses completely on defense which is exactly what I hoped for.

AND THIS IS FREAKIN MONEY RIGHT HERE>

when it comes down to it, artest is shooting WAY better than trevor did from 3, and ron does a much better job at guarding the sf on elite teams (melo, james, butler, pierce). nothing else really matters.

And I want to end it with this post.


By the way Ron Ron if you can read this, STFU and play your game brah leave the P.R Bull ish for the summer.
Help us win OUR ring and focus on the Chip, we love you mang and we're glad your in P&G.

[That Nicka]

As much as I miss Trevor Ariza, Ron Artest is simply the better basketball player.