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“If they couldn’t get Trevor [Ariza] cheap,” said a source with knowledge of the Lakers’ free-agent plans, “they had Ron in their back pocket.”

Change is good for a defending champion. When the rest of the NBA’s elite – Cleveland, Orlando and Boston are getting better – the champion can’t just stand pat. As an executive and a player chasing repeat titles, Detroit’s Joe Dumars says, “I like to make one significant change in that second year.”

This gives the Lakers something to incorporate, to work through, across a long training camp and regular season. This way, they aren’t tempted to just coast until the playoffs. This changes the dynamic for everyone, and give Artest this: Around him, there’s never complacency.

Bryant never campaigned for Artest over Ariza, his loyalty with the hot-shooting kid who helped him win a championship without Shaquille O’Neal(notes). In the long run, the Lakers were wiser to keep the young Ariza to transition into a post-Kobe stardom. Yet, general manager Mitch Kupchak barely blinked when Ariza’s agent, David Lee(notes), started talking like a tough guy, parading his client on what one rival GM called “a leverage tour.”

The Lakers don’t believe he’ll leave, Lee kept barking. Surprise, surprise: Lee didn’t think the Lakers would tell him to get lost, sign Artest and leave Ariza to take the five-year, $33 million deal in Houston he could’ve had in L.A.

“I told Mitch that it was never about the money; it was about respect,” Lee told NBA.com.

Well, take your respect and pack your client’s bags for post-Yao lottery land in Houston. Respect? Yes, there are American soldiers and missionaries in faraway lands cheering for David Lee and this noble stand for the neglected and disenfranchised everywhere. It is about respect, and God knows a $33 million offer for his eight points and four rebounds a game rates a disgraceful act.

No, this wasn’t about the money, nor his client’s needs. This was a failed power play, an embarrassment of the highest order. Looking back, Ariza will rue the day. He’s a good player, but he’ll never be a star elsewhere. He’ll just be another player on another team.

Yet, you can be a star without being a star with the Lakers. When L.A. is winning championships, the role players become commodities. They get endorsements. They get television careers. Ask Rick Fox. Or Derek Fisher(notes). Ariza was an L.A. kid living a dream, 24 years old, a gifted, young talent on the defending champion, and his agent’s bluff backfired.

Hit the nail on the head. Good stuff all around.

Man that was church right there........can I get a Amen ?

This article basically sums up my thoughts

Article's on target.

“He was way too emotional about this,” said a league executive who had talked to Lee in recent days.

He certainly was and it was idiotic to make this personal through the press.

ONWED!!! Great article. I was talking to some family and I was telling them, while I love Ariza, theres a reason why he's been on 3 teams in the past 5 years. Hell Shannon Brown was on season from being removed from the NBA and look what we did for him. But this is a great power play by the lakers, sends a great messages to Agents......"Dont come to the negotiating table with no bull".

i think this has a gigantic rippling effect. it sends a message to the rest of the players. TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR NEGOTIATIONS AND YOUR AGENT!! negotiate hardball yes, BUT WITHIN THE PARAMETERS OF STAYING WITH THE LAKERS. that is if you want to stay. if lamar negotiates, he should say get everything and every penny you can, BUT FROM THE LAKERS ONLY. dont go out and parade and play hardball with every team in the league, because mitch dont play that.

Mitch learned how to deal w/ agent Lee after the Bynum deal.

It worked once but will never work again.

Ariza had 85k people chanting his name holding a trophy. He will come back to the Lakers in 2020 as a ring chaser. 2009 was the best year of his life and he can keep Houston. Watch TMAC come back and have 1 more great year for a contract and he backs him up.

He should send Luke a thank you card for the deal he got. That was Lakers team. That was appreciation. Lakers should black ball Lee. He talks too much trash to the public. Unless Kobe or Gasol sign Lee (they won't they have real agents) tell that piece of ish Laker hater forget your clients and let it be known:

THE LAKERS DON'T DO PUBLIC DRAMA
since 2005

Who would have thought Mitch would have turned into such a quality GM.

What was the actual offer the lakers gave Ariza? It seems the front office wanted to get Ariza signed under the MLE if possible. If thats the case i cant blame him for leaving since he's getting a better deal with the Rockets. As for the endorsement deals, they are nice but wont make Ariza rich either.

Great article, I heard the interview live on the radio yesterday (and he said the same thing).

If Ariza doesn't fire his agent, then we will know he is a moron.

I love the fact that the Lakers challenge is to intergrate Artest into the flow, with Odom back, this Team could approach 70 wins (barring injuries of course) and assuming Bynum wakes up...!

hey whats up CX?, it's me unleasHell...

If Broussard's article is correct the Lakers were never serious about resigning Ariza. I find it surprising that Artest so willingly agree on a 3 year MLE deal when he repeatedly imply he wants more than that. Kupchak had to know something beforehand when he gave Lee the cold shoulder. It's kind of like the Baron Davis situation where he opted out and signed with the Clippers a day later. When you can reach an agreement on a 15mil/year contract so quickly it had to be premeditated, same thing goes for a player who's willing to sign a discount well below his market value in haste.

Chris Broussard is the biggest Cavs homer, mind you, and he does whatever he can to take subtle shots at the Lakers. Just Sunday, he argued on ESPN Sports Center how Trevor Ariza would rather take the MLE somewhere else than in L.A. Yeah right. Chris Broussard at one point said Artest and Ariza would be signed by the Cavaliers. Bottom line. Chris Broussard is trash.

Wojnaworski wrote about the situation perfectly. Trevor Ariza wanted to come back, but he got caught up in his greedy agent's failed power play. Mitch the Magician pulled another trick out of the hat to sign Artest. Artest was the "backup plan" if Ariza wanted too much money.

DEEP3CL wrote:Man that was church right there........can I get a Amen ?

AMEN

enlightenment wrote:Mitch learned how to deal w/ agent Lee after the Bynum deal.

It worked once but will never work again.

Ariza had 85k people chanting his name holding a trophy. He will come back to the Lakers in 2020 as a ring chaser. 2009 was the best year of his life and he can keep Houston. Watch TMAC come back and have 1 more great year for a contract and he backs him up.

He should send Luke a thank you card for the deal he got. That was Lakers team. That was appreciation. Lakers should black ball Lee. He talks too much trash to the public. Unless Kobe or Gasol sign Lee (they won't they have real agents) tell that piece of ish Laker hater forget your clients and let it be known:

THE LAKERS DON'T DO PUBLIC DRAMA
since 2005

anyway, as I recall it was Bynum who took charge of the negotiations at the last minute and forced lee to "get the deal done" with the Lakers and it turned out to be a decent deal for both sides.

Flash4thewin wrote:What was the actual offer the lakers gave Ariza? It seems the front office wanted to get Ariza signed under the MLE if possible. If thats the case i cant blame him for leaving since he's getting a better deal with the Rockets. As for the endorsement deals, they are nice but wont make Ariza rich either.

what I have read so far is that the Lakers told Lee to go and get some offers from other teams and bring them back to the Lakers so they would match those offers. Lee got offended that the Lakers were treating Ariza like a restricted agent for not making a flat out offer in the first place (he was hoping for something raging in the 7 to 9 mil) and convince Trevor that the Lakers didn't want him. it is widely speculated that the Lakers offered him just under the MLE, but I haven't read anything official on that.

the difference between what the Lakers supposedly offered and what he got from Houston is about 200K. to be honest I think Lee convinced Trevor to sign with Houston to spite the Lakers for disrespecting him because he did get better offers from other teams. now he is saying that it wasn't about the money that it was about feeling wanted. I guess Lee didn't attend the perade. in any case

Lee the agent = atomic FAIL

Sometimes, when Mitch is around, he looks like he hasn't slept, doesn't care about his hair, talks like he's bored, and is super monotonous and calm.

But damn, that guy just owned David Lee.

who ever this guy is, Wojanwoski or something like that, he is a smart dude

DEEP3CL wrote:Man that was church right there........can I get a Amen ?

I'm with ya Deep....

the Righteous Billy Graham



and for my non-secular brothers...


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