CBS Sports’ Ken Berger reports
Artest, whose versatility and toughness have made him one of the most coveted and combustible players in the NBA, told CBSSports.com Thursday that he’s signing with the Lakers.
“I’m definitely going to L.A. — to sign, yeah,” Artest said in a phone interview. “Lakers, Lakers, Lakers. I’m in L.A. right now.”
Artest said he met with Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss Thursday and previously had spoken with Lakers coach Phil Jackson. He was en route to his financial manager’s office, where he planned to huddle on the phone with his agent, David Bauman, to finalize details.
“I don’t really care about the money,” Artest said. “I’ll play there for nothing. … L.A. was very interested in me, and they got me.”
Excellent signing for the Lakers
Some Scattered Thoughts
Trevor Ariza
This signals the end of Ariza’s run with the Lakers. I can’t imagine them paying Ariza an MLE type contract after signing Artest, not with all the other contracts on their books.
Where does Ariza go now? Cleveland? Will Ariza switch places with Artest and join the Rockets?
Best Wing Defense?
Do Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant form the best wing defense in the NBA?
Who can compare with that? Who has a better set of defenders at the two guard and small forward positions? Who is the second best? top five?
Toughness
The Lakers toughness just jumped up a few notches. I don’t think they’ll be called soft anymore, not with Artest knocking people around.
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets have to be rebuilding? Right?
How could Daryl Morey let this happen if Yao Ming were healthy enough to lead a contender? How could he lose someone as valuable as Artest? With no way of replacing him.
Western Conference Landscape
There were exactly three teams with enough talent and with enough options left to improve their team who were capable of knocking a healthy and in form Lakers team off. Those three teams:
- Houston - No Artest, no chance. They’re gone.
- Portland – Need significant changes to be ready by next season, and/or massive development from their youngsters (Oden). This still may happen but it’s not definite to happen.
- San Antonio – Their supporting cast is hurting in a major way, and Duncan badly needs help in the paint. Still, this can be done through free agency so there’s a chance.
Right now, there’s nobody in the West capable of beating a healthy and in form Lakers team. There’s only two teams who may be able to get there.
Will the Lakers road to the NBA Finals be any tougher than last season? Will it get easier?
LA has got to feel very happy with the Western Conference landscape right now.
LeBron James, Paul Pierce, Vince Carter
The Lakers will be facing one of these players in the NBA Finals. Boy is it nice to have Ron Artest around to defend them.
Ariza vs Artest
Shooting, Jump Shooting and Scoring Efficiency
- Field Goal Percentage — 46% for Ariza, 40.1% for Artest
- Three Point Field Goal Percentage — 32% for Ariza but he improved that up to 47.6% in the playoffs. Ariza’s three point shooting actually dropped in the second half of the regular season from 33% to 30.5%. It’s unclear how well his shooting will hold up next season. Artest shot 40% from three last season, following up a 38% campaign the year before.
- True Shooting Percentage — Ariza was at 54.4%, Artest was at 51.2%
- Jump Shots Percentage — Artest shot 47.1% on jump shots. Ariza hit 42% of his shots.
- The main difference in Ariza’s better efficiency over Artest is his superior finishing in the paint, 62.5% to 49% and taking a much larger proportion of his shots in the paint (44% to 26% off their total shots taken in the paint).
The Lakers outside shooting is likely to improve, but Artest’s poor scoring efficiency and increased number of shot attempts will likely drag down the Lakers overall offensive efficiency. Having an extra go-to scorer could come in handy in tough playoff games though.
Rebounding
Ariza is a very good rebounder for a small forward. Ron Artest is mediocre to slightly below average. The Lakers take a hit here.
Defense
Ron Artest is a vastly superior defensive player over Ariza. He gives LA a true stopper. Ariza is better at forcing turnovers, but I prefer tough man-to-man defenders.
I expect the Lakers defense to improve in large way next season, to go from very good to elite.
There’s also a good chance that three of last season’s elite defensive teams take a step back defensively next season — Orlando, Houston and Cleveland — due to their player transactions and injuries. That would be nice for LA, enlarge their advantage on that end of the floor (second best defense behind Boston? Can they surpass Boston?).
Passing
It’ll be very interesting to see what type of effect the Triangle and Phil Jackson have on Ron Artest’s game. He’s been slow to move the ball in the past, regularly looking off smart passes and making lower percentage plays. The Triangle is based on quick passing, and Artest struggles with that concept. He’s is a ball stopper.
Artest is a better playmaker than Ariza but in terms of simple functional passing, Ariza wins by default.
Cutting
Ariza is one of the best cutters in the entire NBA. He’s brilliant at finding open lanes, of exploiting them, and then finishing well inside. He was a perfect fit for the Triangle offense, an offense predicated on ball movement and cutting, and a great fit alongside big man passers like Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.
Ron Artest is not a good cutter, nor a good finisher in the paint. Again, it’ll be interesting to see how well his game adapts to the Triangle here.
Less ball movement and more one-on-one basketball?
Transition
Trevor Ariza is a brilliant finisher in the open court. Ron Artest is not. The Lakers fastbreak takes a loss here.
Overall
I think Ron Artest is a good improvement over Ariza because of his defensive prowess, and the effect he can have team-wide on their play on that end of the floor. I also like LA having another go-to scorer because Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom are prone to lapses in aggressiveness, and that can leave Bryant with too large of an offensive burden on his shoulders.
That said, Ariza’s abilities where a much a smoother fit for the Lakers than Artest’s. This closes the talent gap by a fair margin, and lessens the actual level of improvement you’d expect to see from a normal (most teams rather than LA specifically) Ariza-to-Artest upgrade.
If Artest can improve his passing, and cutting, it would help his overall impact offensively in a big way.
So a good upgrade for LA, but not as large as you’d expect because of the relative fit of each one’s talents.
Side Note — Also check out the Rockets Sign Ariza post, for more Ariza and Rockets thoughts.
the rich get richer
That is a really small picture.
http://panthersfanatic.net/
Haha, yes, that really is a small picture. I might have to make that bigger in the future.
Okay, slightly bigger now. I’ll try that size out for awhile.
Dave,
You have got to be kidding.
Please re-read and parce out every sentence you just wrote.
IMO, what you’ll find is that even you just described Trevor Ariza as being a BETTER player than Ron Artest in more categories than you said for Artest being a better player than Ariza.
Then, at the end of what you wrote … inexplicably … you said that the Lakers will be a better team next season WITH Artest rather than Trevor Ariza.
Dave, as someone who correctly called the Lakers to win the 2008-2009 NBA Championship in May of 2008 … i.e. 13 months, in advance … I can tell right now, that this is a terrible move for the Lakers to make, if they actually go through with this Seismic Shake.
If you replay this year’s NBA Finals … I might even go so far as to suggest that, if you switched just Ariza and Artest, the Orlando would be the reigning World Champions RIGHT NOW.
I am shaking my head … and it isn’t to clear the cobwebs.
Ball stoppers do not work within the Triangle Offense.
Period. End of Story, Finito.
Khandor,
Not all the categories have equal weight, I feel that Artest’s defense trumps Ariza’s advantages in other areas.
If Ariza could shoot 38% or more from downtown, and knocked down 120+ three pointers, then he’s the better player for LA. But I don’t know if one can depend on Ariza’s jump shot … it was too inconsistent over last season for me to turn down a player like Artest in favour of Ariza.
Dave,
It’s the exact opposite.
What Trevor showed this post season is that as the lakers shortened their rotation and he got a chance to play off Kobe and Pau and Lamar more and more … T-Ariza was perfectly capable of ELEVATING his shooting percentage when it mattered most.
I won’t even get into the timely steals the man made to save the lakers bacon time and time again, with the outcome hanging in the balance.
Artest on the other hand is the complete opposite player.
As the pressure increases Ron simply fades away … sometimes by trying to assume a greater role in the offense than he ever should, given his specific skill set, and other times, simply by screwing up otherwise perfectly good opportunities to make things easier for himself and his teammates.
Last summer when the Lakers were contemplating making this same move … they SHOULD realize that Ron Artest is simply NOT Dennis Rodman. In fact, he is NOT even in the same area code.
Dennis was a facilatator supreme … on the court, when the bright lights come on.
Ron suffers from inopportune brain-cramps way, way too much.
Yes, he is physically tough as nails. It’s the mental and emotional side however where he cannot hold a candle to a role-playing SUPERNOVA like The Worm.
Unless the Lakers make some additional roster moves between now and March 2010 … I’m afraid that I will not be picking them to repeat as NBA champs next season June.
Khandor,
If Trevor Ariza can continue the shooting levels and overall scoring efficiency he displayed in the playoffs, he is the better player. Maybe he can, maybe he can’t. He still hasn’t convinced me which way his jumper will go. This I do not know.
Ron Artest, for all his offensive flaws and he has many, his teams under Adelman (Kings, Rockets) both were better off offensively when he was on the floor. Adelman’s offense isn’t far removed from the Triangle. How much will Artest’s offensive flaws actually detract from the Lakers offense? I don’t know, but I’m thinking not much.
What I do know is that I feel very good about the impact Artest can have defensively for LA. Artest can take them to a whole other level defensively. And, I absolutely love having Artest around to defend the likes of Paul Pierce and/or LeBron James.
Dave,
The Ron Artest from 5 years ago could hang with Pierce [big time] and James [only somewhat]. The fact is … that Ron Artest does not exist today.
Ariza’s individual offense is going to go backwards playing out Kobe, et al. … but that’s all.
Here’s an alternative suggestion which Mitch Kupchak should have pursued if what he wanted to do was cut loose Trevor Ariza:
Sign & Trade
LAL – moves Ariza [$$$-?]
to
HOU – for Battier [$6.0+ M/yr]
Battier is a player who would have fit in nicely with the LakeShow, not Ron Artest.