[LakersGround] Artest in the Lakers Triangle Offense

They have no idea how often he floats passes into the post that are easy pickings for defenders.

 

We're going to bash former rockets because they weren't perfect players? People may choose to forget this, but there was a time when we could not win without McGrady. I think we lost a disgusting 11 straight games that he missed when he was in and out with back problems. When Tmac and Yao played we won 70%+ of our games. When it was just Tmac we still won. When it was just Yao we always lost.

With Artest last year, we finally had a winning record without Tmac. That in itself speaks volumes about what he brought to the team. Tmac was worthless last year. If Artest was as horrible as people say we would have stunk. His style of play obviously did not cost us many games and he was certainly no slacker. Why people would choose to bash a guy that helped keep us afloat just baffles me.

 

We started being able to win without TMac after Adelman became our coach BEFORE Artest joined us.

 

But the thing is, we depended on Artest for a significant role. The Lakers won't. He's just a piece of the pie. Even if he acts up or out of line, which I doubt will happen consistently because of PJ and Kobe, he's not even part of the Lakers' big three.

He'll fit in just fine, especially if he accepts playing more in the post. If not, oh well, the Lakers' best frontcourt anyway is Bynum, Gasol and Odom, so it's not like if he doesn't fit in, all falls apart for L.A.

L.A.'s biggest issue this season is not Artest, it's at PG. Will Fisher continue to wilt, and if so, will Farmer grab the starting spot? And if neither produce early, can Shannon Brown maintain his strong play from last season?

If I'm a Lakers fan, PG worries me more than Artest.

 

You're right, we were 46-20 with him and 9-7 without him. But 9-7 is a far cry from what we accomplished with Artest this year.

 

you know whats funny I cant remember if it was on CD show or a different radio show but a caller from sacramento said this:

Ron Artest is like a boat

there are only two days you are happy with it

the day you get it and the day you sell it.


thats exactly how Artest was to the Rockets everyone was soo happy when we acquired him (myself included) and decent amount of people are glad he isnt coming back next season.

lakers fans are in the "just got the boat" phase unfortunately for them they have him on the books for at least another 3 years.

 

I am glad to see an article like this that doesn't just talk about fit issues in personalities that realize the big issue with hoops is x/os and offensive systems, i remember on IGN boards I used to read about how 'sick' it woudl be for lakers to land jason kidd....

so putting him in an offense that minimalizes his strengths(transition offense, creating, penetrating), and maximizes on his weaknesses(D at his age, and shooting). THe fact is hes grea,t but hes not great for this offense

in this case, I believe artest is a better player than ariza, but Ariza is better for this role although I think artest from all he is saying will change up his playing style to fit

 

He definitely made the Rockets team better because the team was sorely lacking talent and scoring. However, I saw enough of he and McGrady together to know that duo would have imploded the team. I don't see how he is going to co-exist with a bunch of guys who all score more efficiently than he does.

He will take shots from Kobe, Gasol, Bynum and Odom. Not a good thing when he can't even shoot 40% from the field. Not to mention, that team is lacking speed on the perimeter now and he brings little of that.

 

LA has guys who can get post position and catch.

 

I was thinking the same thing. My prediction, I think they will try to trade him after this season.

 

What's the over/under on Ron Ron clocking Kobe when Kobe goes Kobe for Ron Ron going Ron Ron?

(that was fun to type)

 

Playbook illustration of Artest in the triangle:

Code:

         X

X\
| \
|  \
|   ?          [B]A[/B]
|            / |
|           /  |
|          [B]A[/B]   |
|           \  |
|            \ |
|   !          [B]A[/B] 
|  /
| /
X/

         X

 

If Phil Jackson could handle Dennis Rodman, he can handle Ron Artest. I think a lot of people are underestimating the effect Jackson will have on Artest's behavior.

 

I don't remember Dennis Rodman overdribbling then jacking up a fadeaway shot drifting to his left too many times....

 

I'm talking in regard to behavior. And if Artest pulls that crap, I'm sure he'll be pulled because the Lakers have other options. Adelman couldn't afford to pull him because there was no capable backup otherwise.

 

Yeah I was just being facetious, I knew what you meant.

Rodman was a loopy strange guy, but I don't think he was ever the extreme nutcase like Artest can be at times. Plus I think Jordan had alot more influence on making Rodman behave than people realize.

 

I totally agree with this, Kobe is god to Artest.

 

The Rockets won about zero games without TMac when JVG was the coach. So 9-7 was a clear demarcation. Artest was clearly a better scoring option than most of what we had before that. But it wasn't Artest that caused us to be able to win without TMac. It was Adelman.

 

Ron Artest is sort of like a really hot chick who's great in bed, but is batcrap crazy and has herpes. Yeah, if you ignore all consequences of having a crazy chick with herpes in your life, that hotness and horniness is really appealing. But after a violent fight or two, suddenly your crotch explodes in blisters and you realize what a mistake you've made.

 

Agreed 100% Dunno why they didn't S&T for Artest or just keep Ariza so they can use the MLE to address their backcourt. Shannon Brown looked great last year in limited minutes, but I think ball-handling will be a bit of an issue forcing Kobe to work a little harder at times.