I have to admit I was starting to get a little worried about the LA Lakers for a bit what with the Cleveland Cavaliers picking up Shaq, the Orlando Magic, who without a healthy Jameer Nelson pushed the Lakers in the finals, picking up Vince Carter and finally now the Boston Celtics picking up Rasheed Wallace...
And with all the talk about Trevor Ariza going after the money and negotiations not going well I have to admit the LA lakers came out smelling like roses by picking up Ron Artest. Ron Artest is just as deadly from outside the three point arc as Trevor Ariza was and if anything he's more consistent from long distance. Artest is also one of the toughest defenders in the NBA so all of a sudden losing Trevor Ariza doesn't look like such a big deal so long as they can still sign Lamar Odom which I believe they will.
As important as it was to pick up Ron Artest he's still just a replacement for Trevor Ariza... the real guy you needed to sign this off season if you're the LA Lakers is Lamar Odom.
Lamar Odom is the guy that causes all types of mismatches defensively because he can handle the ball and distribute it like a point guard but he's 6'11 so the Lakers often play him at the power forward spot with Pau Gasol playing center. And when the Lakers want to go really big they can go with three guys over 6'11 when you slide Andrew Bynum into the center spot. Other teams have all kinds of trouble defending the Lakers for that reason alone. You can't put a price tag on Lamar Odom's versatility. He's a modern day Magic Johnson...
So as much as I like the Ron Artest signing the Lakers still have to go out and resign Lamar Odom because he's the guy that makes this team an NBA finals favorite.
About Trevor Ariza... he's never going to be as good anywhere else as he was with the Lakers. On the Lakers he was usually the 4th offensive option so he got a lot of wide open looks and a lot of open dunks. That's not going to happen when you're a number one or number two option and that's what he's going to be paid to be because that's the kind of contract he's looking for.
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