Article is biased. John doesn't realize that Artest needed a lot of shots to make that amount of points to increase offensive ratio. Hes a ball hogger.
Man, I'm Glad we got rid of Artest, you could tell he wanted to be a Faker all along, he had to be on his best behavior, just so he would get some money. BTW, it wasn't him who took us to the second round, we just had a good match up for the playoffs against the Blazers. I remember when we played against Utah, We still lost against them even though we had Artest. I mean the NBA is all about match up and media attention *cough Fakers*
Nice read, thx for sharing. I'm very interested to see what kinda stats they will have next yr (hopefully they keep the story going).
What a bunch of crap! Ron Ron was never the big scoring threat against the Lakers. FYI we still have the REAL Lakers Killer: Aaron Brooks. Ask Derek Fisher how it feels to get his ankles twisted trying to guard AB? Please, the biased media keeps trying to paint a bright picture for the Lakers when in fact the Rockets are ones who stole their most important role-player outside of Kobe and Gasol. Ask Denver what a difference two steals by Ariza made to their season?
You can make the "he helps you win" case for just about any major player on any basketball team that's ever had a winning season. The catch with articles like this that focus on statistical analysis is finding a happy medium where common sense intersects with the numbers. This article fails to do that, IMO. Especially whenever the writer is using +/-'s as the foundation for his case.
It is an interesting article. Part of why I think the numbers are so that is we were a much better rebounding team with Ron in the game. Yao is a not a great rebounder. Artest is a really good rebounder from the SF postion and is a awesome from the SG position. The biggest thing I will say with Artest is he can be a ball stopper and now i do not think it will be as bad in L.A. But L.A.'s margine for error I believe is narrowing with an improved Portland, Dallas, and San Antonio. Well they be better againist us because of the trade? Yes. Ariza had issues with Artest... if you you ask me who do you want taking shots in the 4th and I can choose between Kobe vs Shane and Ron vs. Trevor I will take Ron vs. Trevor every time. I was somewhat sad when we did not keep Ron. But I was thinking we would give him a 3yr 22 million dollar offer... I do not like him for 5 yr even for less money. Ron is a ticking time bomb... he will do something wacky at some point. It might be kissing a camera man or it might be something very bad. I have no such concerns with Trevor. Ron does not make the steals that seal games like Trevor did. Ron gets ejected Trevor does not. Ron needs the ball in his hands... Trevor needs someone to hit him when he is open. If you are worring about how you match up with the Rockets we have won already. Welcome to the Rockets Trevor. You were a rocket Ron and as such I will not boo when you name is announced. The Lakers on Paper are the best team in the west in my opinion but they got worse not better. Bleed Red Rockets Red.
This isnt about Artest as much as it is about losing Ariza for them. Ariza was Championship proven a vital cog in their offensive style of fastbreak and fast scoring. This is Rons total opposite. He is the anti Laker on offense to Arizas style. So while yes he may score more individually his style lends itself to less scoring for the team overall because of his slow pace and style of getting points. Not to mention he could be less of a defender than Ariza is next year when he is gonna be older than last year and maybe even slower when he constantly got burned with slow feet. They didnt add someone like they keep saying. they merely swapped Ariza for Artest. Anytime you swap someone for another straight up you have the chance of being much worse if its an important starter. Especially if the last guy helped you win a Championship then the next guy can only do worse than the one you had before by not winning a Championship. Ariza is on the Rockets now though and it really doesnt matter what we do with him because of Yao Tmacs injuries. However whatever Ron does short of a Championship will be considered a bust now.
We're putting the past behind us and moving on to a brighter future through retooling. Ron would have held us back from progressing toward a stellar 2010-2011 or 2011-2012 season because by then our pieces will be tuned into a championship-caliber team. Me personally, I'd like to see the matchup between Ariza and Kobe. That might even be a good thread on its own.
