What do you mean he never lost a game for us? How about the many nights he'd go 1-10 or something? Remember the time he trash talked Kobe and Kobe exploded while limitng artest to another awful shooting night? If you want excitement without the wins, why don't you go watch the Warriors or something? Don't get me wrong, without Ron Artest we wouldn't have reached the 2nd round last season, so I was ok overall with the trade for him. However Ariza is much more valuable and a better player at this point in time than Artest. We got the better player in the "trade" for the better price. Close this thread already.
i agree. also ppl are forgetting Artest is on a 5 year contract. even if he is doing okay right now he is just going to get worse. TA will improve and has shown it in the last few games of the season. i still miss tru warier tho.
I don't believe Trevor will get all that much better...he has been in the league for 5+ years.... I think what you see is what you get. DD
Yeah, but guys that are in their mid 20s and can not dribble a basketball, usually don't suddenly develop that ability. DD
His dribbling results in very few turnovers, and quite a few assists. His jumpshot is the more worrisome part of it all, imo...
it's amazing how guards and slashers can make it to the NBA and not possess a basic skill like dribbling. that said, he doesn't need to be a great dribbler for our team. i really like what i saw at the end of the season and hope that will be the TA we get next year.
Well, I didn't see it posted here, so I thought I would post the stats comparison for the regular season. Maybe this won't change your opinion of who got the better end of the bargain, and it's not a complete list, but it won me a free dinner from a Laker fan: Trevor Ariza 2009-10 Statistics PPG - 14.9 RPG - 5.6 APG - 3.8 SPG - 1.8 BPG - 0.6 FG% - 0.394 FT% - 0.649 3P% - 0.334 MPG - 36.5 Ron Artest 2009-10 Statistics PPG - 11 RPG - 4.3 APG - 3 SPG - 1.4 BPG - 0.3 FG% - 0.414 FT% - 0.688 3P% - 0.355 MPG - 33.8 source: nba.com player profiles
Buy we did get the wins. And honestly how many nights did he go 1 for 10. You must be confusing him with T-Jack. I also love how defense and rebounds are suspiciously absent from your assessment of Ron's play. This was a team that was constantly bullied and labeled as soft. That all changed with Ron on the team. Everybody played fierce when Ron was on the floor.
So those games we lost when he was going 4-18, were not lost by his crappy shooting or him not playing defense? So Yao lighting up both the Blazers and the Lakers on their home courts early in those rounds, had nothing to do with our team's getting wins during playoffs? Like I've said it before, people overrate Artest contributions to this team, while he was pivotal in getting us to the playoffs after McGrady went down, but in the playoffs, he didn't lead the Rockets anywhere especially given how he disappeared in the LA series. I credit Ron for he did for us, but to say that he responsible for majority of the success we saw in last year's playoff run is just incorrect on another level.
My first thoughts: So Trevor barely edges out Artest in every category, mostly due to the fact that he's playing more minutes. Sadly, and I didn't know this was possible, he had lower FG%'s than Artest. I still don't regret ditching Artest. To the people who say we wouldn't have made the second round without him: if you plug any mediocre SF who gives a hoot about defense into his place, and we still move on.
Yes, because Roy wouldn't have been scoring 385 points a night on Battier and Battier doesn't destroy our offense like Ron so often did. Don't get me wrong, I liked Ron while he was here, but I'm glad he's gone. He was like picking up a hot girl at a bar and leaving the next morning. Great fun for a night, and you get away before she starts talking about her cats.
Ron is stuck in his ways. He's not going to change. What you see is what you get. At least w/ Ariza there's a chance he can adapt and increase his contributions.
We DID get some wins but it wasn't enough, we got eliminated in the 2nd round if you don't remember. I'm not confusing him with Tmac at all, I'm just denying what you said that Artest never lost us a game. Secondly I didn't mention D and rebs because guess what, Ariza provide those things as well. Even better Ariza's still only 24 while Artest is on the wrong side of 30. As for the playing fierce part, the Rox team has always hustled and competed before Ron got here, and they are still hustling and competing after Ron was traded. Considering he was here for all of one season I don't think he has a lot, if any impact on the team.
He's not going to excel as a star player, but he'll improve his effectiveness as a member of the Rockets' supporting cast, that's for sure. And if he doesn't pan out, he's not too terribly bad at the moment anyway...
