I like being the underdogs ...
... and glad Ariza is on board.
Artest is probably in a better place too, and with Yao and TMac out, will probably get his ring there sooner. I personally liked Artest here, and thought he brought some toughness we needed, gave us flexibility, and an asset on both sides of the ball, which is hard to find. I love how much he loved Houston, too, and was proud of him being here. Of course, he probably brought drama behind the scenes that made things more challenging for the coaches, the ball would stop with him sometimes, and he really didn't play all that well in stretches. But, he was a signficant asset here, IMHO, and I actually hoped we'd keep him, if nothing else, as a player asset.
I'd have liked to get something back for Artest, but, it wouldn't surprise me if there wasn't some backroom stuff going on where Houston and LA let each other "have" the other player through MLEs. Artest would have been insulted and developed an attitude if HOU had offered him the same deal he's excited about getting in LA. Ariza was insulted by the same deal from LA, that he's excited about from HOU. Sometimes, people have to switch teams, and this is a good example of everyone winning. Both teams got happy players cheaper.
I'm happy about these transactions. Ariza has some serious upside, and we just got younger, with less health concerns, and with less drama, and greater flexibility for other trades this off-season.
Now if we can just get a good center somewhere ... too bad Gortat didn't work out, although I have a feeling the Magic will match, and we wouldn't have gotten him anyway.