While Trevor Ariza was meeting with Houston officials, Ron Artest was agreeing to a possible deal with the Lakers.
In a matter of hours, Artest could be wearing a purple-and-gold jersey. The player confirmed the deal to CBSSports.com’s Ken Berger in the past hour.
“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 told CBSSports.com that he met with Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss Thursday and already had spoken with 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.
Ariza has not received an offer from the Lakers, according to his agent, David Lee, and has begun talking to other teams. He previously talked to LeBron James about joining the Cavaliers. The Lakers had reportedly offered the mid-level exception of $5.6 million
is this gonna happen??? That would be huge!!!!!!!
Ron is mercurial and would be a disruption on offense. Ariza thrived in the triangle and his defense is stellar. As good as Ron is, Ariza was just as good and at 24, would only get better. If we are getting Ron because we wont be able to get Odom, fine. But if this is a tradeoff for Ariza then i’m bothered by this.
Ken Berger.
artest for 5.6 million versus ariza for 7 to 8 million is a no brainer, as far as i’m concerned. i love ariza as much as the next guy, but artest is an upgrade, plain and simple. he’s also tight with kobe and lamar, so chemistry-wise it seems a logical fit. and, from what i understand, this is being done with the expectation that odom will be re-signed as well.
kobe / pau / odom / artest
… wow
If we sign Odom and get Ron we will repeat. I agree with cs Artest for the minimum over Ariza for 8 million is a no brainer!
Wow! He would be a great addition (as long as Phil comes back to keep him under control, as he did Rodman), but would he replace Ariza or Odom on the roster and would he sign for the midlevel exception? My head is spinning!
I agree with JD. Ariza has proven he gets it done on the Ring-level. Artest has not–yet. In that Finals game when Ariza and Turkoglu literally went head to head, Ariza took control of the game due to that encounter. Artest in that situation might have lost control, perhaps would have been thrown out of the game, maybe suspended.
PS: The Lakers already have to deal with Odom’s focus issues.
^ Well that wasn’t a problem in the playoffs.
And this is what greed does.
kobe should be making space for that 5th ring with this news as long as they keep odom
Kobe should be shoveling away his hopes at a 5th title. As good as Ron Artest is, he doesn’t fit the triangle. He doesn’t compliment it. Ariza was a young stud and despite the 7-8 mil demand, I have no doubt that if the Lakers offered him say 6.5 mil that he’d have taken that. On paper, this is huge, but logically, this isn’t going to work.
I gotta disagree with you here J-Dizzle. I think Artest will be a good fit for the triangle. That’s because Ariza fit in just fine, and Artest shot a better percentage from 3 pt. land during the season. Add in the fact that Artest has a post-up game (while Ariza doesn’t) and I think everyting will be okay, as long as Artest doesn’t dribble out the clock when the ball comes to him.
Don’t get me wrong…Ariza is definitely a young stud and Houston is probably gonna love him, but the Lakers didn’t do half-bad either!
I Got It!!!
Artest has been consistently compared to Dennis Rodman over the last 24hrs… but he’s more charles barkley than Dennis Rodman…
Artest is the modern day Charles Barkley… eccentric personalities… good rebounders… adore attention… able to put the ball in the hole and while barkley would throw fans trough plate glass windows at bars… Artest saves time by not leaving the Arena!