This video screams fail. Wall is not going to get inside the paint that easily in college, much less the NBA.
Shooting efficiently without having any stars is going to be one of the biggest challenges for Ariza. We aren't the Lakers. I'm not a big stats guy,but 31% 3 point shooting is quite poor. If he can play intelligently,this signing will be a success,otherwise DM will have to trade him.
I hope Morey proves (again) that he's smarter than me. I understand Ariza is young and is an asset, but at that price? It just seems too much.
here ya go... I can't remember the last time I saw a de facto trade in free agency, but today it took only a couple hours for one to happen. This afternoon on the West Coast former Rocket Ron Artest agreed to a deal to join the Lakers, and then later this evening came the news that former Laker Trevor Ariza had agreed to join the Rockets. The two players play the same position (small forward) and signed for similar money (the full mid-level exception), so it basically comes down to two teams' differing needs and what those players can provide. From L.A.'s side, they're plugging Artest into Ariza's role at small forward as a floor spacer, transition finisher and occasional inbound-pass stealer. In terms of stats, this works. At small forward, L.A. mostly needs a floor spacer, and as far as floor-spacing ability goes, Artest is superior to Ariza -- he shot 39.9 percent on 3s last season, Ariza 31.9 percent. Although Ariza shot much better in the postseason, he's at just 29.9 percent for his career. So although it's possible he made a lasting improvement late last season, it's at least as likely that he was just having a good month. Overall, Artest isn't as efficient as Ariza offensively because he tends to force terrible shots, but that's likely to be less of a problem in a system in which he's the fourth option behind Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Additionally, he's a good passer who might see his assist rate bump significantly in L.A. Ariza is also a better rebounder, but Artest more than offsets that with his defense -- not that Ariza is a slouch, as any Denver Nuggets inbound passer will attest, but Artest is among the very best on-ball defenders in basketball. That difference is likely to become particularly important should the Lakers find themselves facing Cleveland in next year's Finals, where a certain LeBron James is likely to be the focal point of the Cavs' offense. Artest is one of the few players in the league who can match James physically, so he'd be a tremendous asset in such a pairing. This move already is making some Lakers fans uneasy. Any time a championship team makes a prominent personnel move, a significant chorus says, "Why mess it up?" But in truth, nothing messes it up more than standing pat. Bryant isn't getting any younger, and the arms race in the East between Orlando and Cleveland had to get the Lakers' attention. Artest will give them an ace defender to send out against James or Vince Carter in the Finals, not to mention the likes of Manu Ginobili, Carmelo Anthony and Brandon Roy on the Lakers' likely road through the Western Conference playoffs. The big risk, here, of course, is that it's Ron Artest and, as he showed in Indiana, few players can be more destructive to a team's hopes. But there are a couple of things working in the Lakers' favor here. First, he's been reasonably well-behaved since leaving the Pacers. Second, his worst ball-hogging habits tend to pop out when he's the go-to guy -- but as a role player, he should be extremely effective. And most importantly, they have Phil Jackson. Perhaps nobody in the history of the game has dealt more successfully with problem players than Jackson, most notably when he coaxed three extremely productive seasons out of Dennis Rodman with the Bulls. L.A. appears to be getting Artest at reasonable terms, as well -- a three-year, $18 million deal that likely will end up being about half what Ariza gets on the open market (in total dollars). There's a reason for that, of course, as nobody can trust Artest to behave himself for the full tenure of a long-term deal, or the full tenure of a 10-day contract for that matter. But in the Lakers' case, it's a reasonable gamble as they try to get as much as possible out of Bryant's and Gasol's prime years. For Houston, on the other hand, it wasn't. Their time horizon has been pushed farther out into the future by the injuries to Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, making the brighter future of Ariza a more important consideration than the greater present value offered by Artest. Houston committed five years the full mid-level for Ariza (an estimated $33.5 million), which is risky -- just look back at the history of players getting the full mid-level exception. The difference here is that most of those players were in their late 20s and early 30s, where is Ariza just turned 24 a few days ago and should still be in the middle of his prime at the end of the contract. He also fills in a glaring hole at small forward left by the departure of Artest and the free agency of McGrady, though he's not the offensive initiator that those two players were. Signing Ariza (or keeping Artest, for that matter) does come with two major downsides for Houston. First, it puts them into the luxury tax for this season, though they are close enough to the line that they an likely wriggle out of it by the trade deadline by paying somebody to take Brian Cook off their hands or another deal of that ilk. Second, it cuts into their cap hoard for 2010. Houston projected to have enough money to sign a player to maximum contract next summer; now, depending on next year's cap number, the Rockets would probably have to cut Chuck Hayes and renounce Kyle Lowry to get far enough under to make a run at native Texan Chris Bosh or some of the other plum free agents out there. But for both teams, it looks like the right move. There was no reason for the Rockets to bring back Artest in a situation where they weren't going to be competing for a championship immediately, and with Yao out indefinitely the Rockets are definitely taking a step back. And for the Lakers, it was a good proactive move to ward off post-championship complacency. Too many times teams stand pat after winning a title and watch things fall apart a year later -- Miami in the summer of 2006, for instance, or these very Lakers in the summer of 2002. L.A. realized it needed to rearm to keep up with Orlando and Cleveland, and today it upgraded one of the two positions where it didn't already have a star.
I realize it's *just* a highlight video... But if it screams "fail" then I'd love to see one that screams "success". I imagine that kind of video must feature someone dunking from half court, or shattering the backboard with a jump shot.
I think this team can make the playoffs without McGrady or Yao all year. Especially if Yao is back in Feb....but I wouldn't put money on it. Either way I don't see us just bombing the season. I'd rather the money just expire and us use the space on Bosh if Yao is done, or Joe Johnson if Yao is back. I think Ariza could do fine at the 2.
come on aznoob he did say it was a "maybe" and wall is the expected number 1 pick for some such as draftexpress at this point in time. But of course I am with others when they say this won't be happening in college or nba. Any decent nba player should be able to wreck and be fancy all they want in high school because how many of them actually get in to the nba or even as far as college ball? not many
Do you watch basketball? Yes, he is a mediocre 3 point shooter. I will take his large regular season sample of games as an indicator. Anyone that thinks Ariza is better than Artest is on crack. What Ariza does bring is youth and more quickness than Artest.... But make no mistake, the Lakers are better with Artest.... but maybe long term the Rockets will be better with Ariza, but he needs to be better than James Posey for that to happen.... I think Ariza will get a little better, but he is what he is: a good defender that can not create for himself or others and cant hit the 3 consistently.
I have no Idea what Ariza can do, but I hope I hoppppe he can just bring the heart that Artest added to the team. I'm not ok with the deal but I didnt like the Rafer trade and now Lawryyy is one of my fave players.
Ok....Seriously. I fully understand the Rockets were in a tough position with the whole TMac, Yao injury bug. I know that we were looking forward to no Tmac for up to half a season and no Yao for the same maybe more. But is anyone here seriously happy that we didn't at least make a go of it with Brooks/Scola/Landry/Artest wait it out and see what we could of salvaged at the end? In a summer that saw R Jefferson go for scrubs, Shaq for scrubs, Vince Carter for scrubs, and Artest for 6 million a season ( a pay cut) did we seriously hang our hat on 5 years and 33 million to Trevor Ariza??? Seriously? Argue the merits of letting Artest bold all you want. But Ariza for 5 years and 33 million? Really. I mean could we not of managed someway to pry a player like Rasheed Wallace with something close to that money? Ariza lives off of Kobe. Anyone who watched him play knew his entire offensive game was the benefit of having Kobe, Gasol, Bynum, Odom. WTF is Morey thinking. This was a move of pure desperation and it wasn't even a decent one. Get ready to rack up a lot of losses next year. Ariza is Battier light. Yes he is more athletic but it is in no way 33 million dollars worth. Wow.
uh, yes, because piling on junk contracts and diminishing our chances of hitting it big in 2010 for a 40-win season and a #8 seed...that's really worth it.
I'm still afraid.. Are biggest need has not been addressed one bit. How will we get a Center? We are needing one in such a desperate fashion that teams will have the upper hand in trade talks. As of right now we have zero starting or backup centers.
my first reaction to this trade was not "yes!" or "no," but "what"? firstly, this claim by ariza's agent that he was offered $9 million more elsewhere may be true, i'm thinking it's the blazers who offered it to him since the turkoglu deal hasn't been finalized yet. the blazers are a young, exciting, and talented team to play for - why not? but let's say that his agent is blowing smoke and the claim is false. supposedly the cavaliers were also pursuing him, and the opportunity to play for lebron and a championship-caliber team is very enticing - again why not? so my question is how did morey convince ariza to come here? it's not the money, it's not the playing time (unless he can play the 2 or battier is willing to), it's not the city (houston's a cool town but so are the towns of the other suitors), and it's not the team's championship prospects, with yao and mcgrady out for at least half the season. was it purely by the genuine respect and interest morey displayed during negotiations that convinced him to sign? if so, i've gained quite some respect for his gm abilities. i'm probably over-analyzing this, but i just can't understand why he signed here. as for evaluating the impact of the signing itself, i don't know yet...ariza's a talented player with potential to improve, i just hope it wasn't an example of contract year phenomenon.
