Statistical Breakdown of Ariza

[TMU]

Which scorer? There isn't one player in the pool that can put this team in a competitive spot. Morey signed a player with our only available offer: the MLE. What more could he have done?

You know what he could have done that would have been better and also easier . . NOTHING. You don't just sign people for the sake of signing them. Or better yet, if you really need a player at that position then sign a role-player who makes considerably less. Role player swing-men are a dime a dozen, seemingly every year a couple who are earning the minimum or close to it come out of nowhere and perform. Ariza came out of nowhere, Barnes came out of nowhere, Gerald Wallace came out of nowhere, Bobby Simmons a couple of seasons ago just blew up out nowhere, last season the Nets picked up Jarvis Hayes cheap and he was productive with 8.7ppg & 3.6rpg. the list goes on and on (Rasual Butler, Roger Mason, Ronald Murray, etc. etc.).

Signings like this are why teams get in financial trouble down the road. If you are not contending, then it makes no sense to put up the money for a high dollar role player. What is the point? He's not going to make you into a contender and the few W's he does get you (if any) are just going to hurt your chances in the lottery.

Most players who received the MLE in the past were already in their late 20s. What sets Ariza apart from guys like Roger Mason, Rasual Butler, Ronald Murray, and Matt Barnes is that he's able to put up comparable stats despite being considerably younger. Ariza is only 24, and barring any injuries, he should be near/at his prime at the end of the contract. He has the potential to be better than the players you listed by the time he hits 30 (except for Gerald Wallace, who really doesn't belong to the group).

Of course Ariza's contract will cut into the Rockets' cap stockpile for 2010. However, this doesn't prevent the Rockets from signing a player to maximum contract in 2010.

[KobeFarmarEra]

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I agree, Ariza would be a MUCH better fit on the Lakers than Artest would be, while Artest is a better fit on our team compared to Ariza. .

Thankfully Phil Jackson disagrees with you.

Trevor was great in the triangle, but he's a one trick pony. If his shot isn't falling teams did not have to guard him outside, only had to play his slash/drive. He rarely ever creates for others and overall, he's a worse spot up shooter than Ron. Defensively Ariza is a good help defender but an inferior man to man defender than Ron. Artest's size is what the Lakers and Ariza were missing. Players like Melo, Lebron and Pierce always out muscled Ariza and pretty much had their way with him to the point where Kobe was forced to move over and defend those players. That won't happen with Ron Artest on the Lakers.

Offense, Artest is a very good 3 point shooter when his feet are set. 90% of his 3pointers will be wide open set shots in the Lakers system. No other way around it.

Ron always has very underrated post game. Phil loves exploiting mismatches on the block. In the Lakers system, Artest will see multiple mismatches every night. His number will be called to post up in those situations and opposing teams will no other choice since players like Lamar, Gasol and Kobe will demand bigger defenders as well.

Third, Artest is a much better passer than Ariza ever will be. Small advantage but will do wonders for the Lakers since they have so many scoring options that can finish in the paint or hit the mid-range jumper.

It's pretty obvious that Artest is a much better fit on the Lakers. Which is why Phil Jackson has been after Artest for over 3 years always praising his game and talking about how misused he's been throughout his career.

[moofs]

^ That was exactly how we tried talking ourselves into Artest last year. Good luck.

Nice posts throughout the thread. Thanks for finally not lurking, KevC
Personally, I agree and think the trade should work out pretty well.