Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza. I'm a LA Lakers fan. I went to the Lakers Parade. I'm not an expert on how to create a championship quality team, but here is my two cents: I like this trade.
I've read four articles on this. Three are favorable and one isn't. The one unfavorable review comes from Bill Plaschke of the LA Times. One of his main questions is why didn't the Lakers give Ariza and his agent David Lee more time to negotiate a deal with the Lakers. It does seem like the Lakers quickly moved on to Ron Artest. Perhaps the Lakers always wanted to make a grab for Ron Artest, which is implied in various articles. Perhaps, also, the Lakers just didn't like how Ariza approached the negotiations and decided to move on.
Mike Bresnahan of the LA Times actually likes this trade as do writers for Yahoo Sports and Sports Illustrated.
My opinion on the matter: Throughout the play-offs, my opinion was that a weakness of the LA Lakers was not having a defender like Shane Battier who can potentially lock down an all-star player for one or two games out of a seven game series. I don't think Artest is a Shane Battier quality defended, but Mike Bresnahan believes that he can fill the role of defending an all-star player. If true, it means that Kobe Bryant doesn't have to waste energy guarding the opponent's best player. I think over-all this fills a weakness of the Lakers and if Artest's temperament can fit in with the Lakers culture, it'll make another run at the championship easier.
As for Ariza: That guy needs to get a new agent. David Lee over-played his hand and now Ariza is potentially stuck (depending on Yao Ming) on a lottery bound or 7th/8th playoff seeded team.
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