I agree they're tougher, but I'll give a very slight edge to the Spurs if (BIG if) they are healthy. Artest and the Lakers will make it work.
I knew Ron wanted to play for a contending team but never thought he would sign with the lakers, him and kobe are always fighting and trashing talking against each other every time they face each other, but now he won't have to play such a huge role with L.A. (which I'm not sure how this is going to work out just cuz of how his personality reflects on wanting to be a star) Now him and Kobe are teammates... gotta see how this pans out.
Not really. They are pretty cool on a personal level. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/s24kx5ynRVQ&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/s24kx5ynRVQ&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I love ron but do NOT like the lakers, I hope ron ruins their chemistry thought that was not the case this year for the rockets, I thought he fit in well and stayed out of trouble.
I also think L.A. is the perfect market for Artest's personality. He's thick-skinned and loves the limelight. He will love playing for the Lakers and the fans will love him in return. I'm still happy with the Ariza acquisition (assuming it goes through) given the direction this team needs to go.
He would fit right in with the Lakers. All He has to do is feed off Kobe to get his points however will Ron thrive in this type of offense. He seems to want the ball and create his own shot. Interesting to see the chemistry situation. Well, If Phil Jackson could handle Rodman before, Artest would be a breeze for him.
The Lakers will have an incredibly dominant team physically if they re-sign Lamar Odom. Just imagine Bynum, Pau, Artest, Kobe and Odom as rotation players. But signing Artest makes me believe Odom won't be returning. The Lakers need to address their PG situation now. Clearly PJ isn't satisfied not should he be. He doesn't trust Farmar, Fisher is out of gas and Shannon Brown is unproven. If the Lakers re-sign Odom and address their need at PG, they could be one of the most dominant teams in a long time. They could have stretches where they just pummel teams several games in a row. At the same time, the season is 82 games long and Ron Ron is still Ron Ron. I'm not certain he and Kobe can co-exist for that long without some problems. I'm not going to assume Artest would control himself and I will not assume Kobe would be deferential enough to tolerate Artest's nuttiness indefinitely.
Yes, Artest can work with LA. He's been wanting to go there and him and Kobe will be able to work together. From what I've hard this actually makes it more likely they will sign Odom. So I hope they do that soon. I wish Ariza good luck with his new team.
Kobe and Artest will have their moments, no doubt. Kobe's never played with a player like Artest that can turn on instant tunnelvision at any given moment and completely wreck a team's offense the way Artest can. Those moments, and seeing how Artest responds to the verbal beatdowns, are what I will look forward to seeing. Other than that, as one poster already pointed out: the Lakers just added one of the best two-way players in basketball. A player that just wants to win and doesn't mind being the third option. I don't see how this doesn't make the Lakers better -- and not that they needed much improvement to begin with. At 3 years/$18M, Artest is MORE than worth the "risk".
If the Lakers don't bring Odom back, they aren't better. If they don't make some kind of move at PG, they might be in trouble. If both issues work out and Bynum is healthy the whole year, uh oh to the rest of the NBA.
He will fit in fine. The last person on Earth (Kobe) that needed a tough guy watching his back just got one Artest/Kobe will work gloriously well. Playing the Lakers in a series will be an absolute dog fight now.
