He was so eager, in fact, Artest approached Jackson in the locker room shower.

“Ron said, ‘Coach, I can help your team. I can help you get that championship,’ ” Jackson said.

Jackson told that story during an interview Friday on KLAC/570, shortly after he announced he was returning to coach the Lakers next season.

That awkward meeting could be the first of many unsettling moments between the sometimes volatile player and Zen-like coach. Jackson didn’t sound too sure about dealing with Artest on a daily basis.

“He’s an unknown. He’s a player that even I think his own teams don’t know exactly what he’s going to do that particular night,” Jackson said.

But Artest’s defense more than makes up his mercurial personality in Jackson’s eyes.

“He’s a strong defender that can play a variety of roles on defense, a shutdown guy, either on big or small. He can go to the two guards, he can go to the power forwards, depending upon what the challenge is, and he likes that,” Jackson said. “I think that’s his calling card for us. He does have an accurate three-point shot, and he’s a good post up player.”

Jackson said he wasn’t really consulted about whether the Lakers should sign Trevor Ariza or Artest.

“I wasn’t given the either/or,” Jackson said. “I knew we had Ron on our wish list for, what, three years now? And we needed a lockdown defender besides Kobe Bryant that would take on the chores.

“Trevor turned out to be that guy this year. So I was quite surprised, as was most of our fans, that negotiations did not go well with Trevor and his people. We think that we have a player that has probably a little more dimension to Trevor, but still Trevor has that youth and that speed that we’ll miss.

Post from: Lakers blog

“After consulting with Lakers team internist Dr. John Moe, I feel confident that I can gainfully pursue an NBA season with another long playoff postseason. All things point to go!” Jackson said in  statement released by the team.

Jackson, who just completed his ninth season as head coach of the Lakers and 18th overall as an NBA head coach, has struggled health-wise in recent years. He had an angioplasty in 2003 and both hips replaced.

Jackson, 63, missed two games last season because of swelling and pain in his lower legs. He did not travel with the Lakers when they flew to Portland in May and stayed home during an October exhibition at the Honda Center.

He cast doubt over his coaching future at the end of the season, saying he needed to see the doctor before he could make any decision.

Jackson won his 10th NBA title this season, surpassing the late Red Auerbach for most in NBA history.

He also became the fastest coach to reach 1,000 career victories and his 1,041 ranks sixth all-time. His .705 winning percentage ranks 1st in league history.

Post from: Lakers blog

Those wearing purple-and-gold-colored glasses immediately celebrated the news as an upgrade. Ariza, who will get the same first-year salary from Houston that he thought was an insult from the Lakers, and his agent David Lee were pilloried by the formerly adoring masses.

Snap out of it. The kid wanted a decent raise after helping his team survive the Western Conference Finals against Denver, then thrive in the NBA Finals against Orlando.

You thought it was great he would get less than a half-million more than Luke Walton, and passengers Sasha Vujacic and Adam Morrison? Of course he was insulted.

Greed has little to do with this, it’s called pride, and the Lakers wounded Ariza’s over a couple million dollars that, to Mr. Maximum Kobe Bryant, would be considered chump change.

I originally intended to populate this analysis with a lot of numbers, but everyone who reads this Lakers blog saw how Ariza shot in the playoffs, how he grew as a player in two seasons with the Lakers, how much he was missed in the 2008 Finals against Boston.

It is now assumed that Lamar Odom, Artest’s teen buddy and teammate, will take a healthy paycut and rejoin the Lakers. Please remember that, at the beginning of the week, Lakers fans were assured they were getting Ariza, Odom and Shannon Brown back. Hey, stuff happens.

Artest is considered a better player — now — but he brings a lot more baggage to Los Angeles than Ariza will ever possess.

I won’t go over it in detail now, and so far he’s only gone after an opposing team’s fans. Plus the Lakers can just fly in a bigger airplane to accomodate Ron-Ron’s baggage. Maybe.

The only numbers I am gonna talk about today involve birthdays. That sickening (to me) excuse the Lakers used any time things got rough the past three seasons, the “we’re-a-young-team” crutch, no longer can be leaned on.

Ariza, who came into the league after only one year at UCLA, turned 24 on June 30. True, he might not ever add a championship ring to the well-earned one he will take to Texas, but at least he has youth on his side.

By the time of that week in November when the two New Yorkers, Lamar Odom and Ron Artest, celebrate their 30th birthdays a week apart, the Lakers’ likely finishing lineup will average 31.8 years of age, with Paul Gasol  at 28 the baby.

I am not counting Andrew Bynum, who will be 22 then, as a finisher – he might start again, but remains a good  bet to have three fouls by halftime in any important game. But he is being coached by the greatest center to play the game, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, so something will stick, sooner or later.

The average age of 31.8 doesn’t mean the Lakers are geezers, or even shopworn (well, except for Derek Fisher). But this team hasn’t had a first-round pick now in two seasons. Their last first-rounder, Javaris Crittenton in 2007, was part of the Gasol package — as was a Lakers first-rounder in 2010.

Sure, the Lakers are favorites to repeat their title, so that last pick won’t exactly be lottery territory. But how long will they remain on top? Besides Bynum, who on the current roster would you build a team around in three or four years?  Sun Yue?

Bynum’s extension runs out in 2013. By then, the Lakers will already have had to shell out much money to prevent Gasol from becoming a free agent after the 2010-11 season.

Please realize I am just expressing my opinion here. Heck, I actually like the developments compared to the Yahoo! Sports blogger.

Have a nice weekend, Lakers fans. It’s so appropriate that Artest arrives to the sound of fireworks.

Post from: Lakers blog

Got a call into Ariza’s agent for confirmation.

Post from: Lakers blog

They’ve always been close, and were never closer than in the NBA West semifinals, when Ron Artest invaded Kobe Bryant’s personal space after the latter gouged Artest with an elbow.

I think it’s absolutely hilarious, and guaranteed to provide tons of copy and internet fodder, no matter how it turns out with Bryant and Artest as Lakers teammates.

Dumping Trevor Ariza, and maybe Lamar Odom, to bring in Artest, who is virtually the same age as Odom but six years older than Ariza, is almost the weirdest thing I have heard today.

It’s second among head-scratchers to only the Clippers swapping Zach Randolph to Memphis to bring back ex-Clipper Quentin Richardson, based on relative abilities. But I understand that one from the money standpoint, and from the apparent fact the Clippers couldn’t get anyone to take Chris Kaman off their hands.

I should point out that Mike Dunleavy has ceased to amaze me by, not only keeping one job, but adding another. I will examine Clipperland after this weekend. Now back to the Lakers and their new pickup, the first free agent in his prime to sign with the team in the Kobe Bryant Era.

The Kobe/Ron-Ron reunion has so many possibilities, both pro and con … I can hardly wait for the next real tipoff.

I guess I should have suspected something was up when Artest started showing up to watch the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

It can’t be official until next week, after the NBA finalizes the 2009-10 salary cap, but cbssportsline’s Ken Berger was told by Artest himself he will be a Laker, with details still being smoothed out.

As I write this, I see that Jack Nicholson is at new Yankee Stadium, to watch the Seattle Mariners take on New York and C.C. Sabathia. I wonder what he thinks about Artest in purple and gold.

Artest says he’s spoken to Phil Jackson and Jerry Buss, and says his agent spoke with Mitch Kupchak. No word on whether Bryant recruited him or not.

I just can’t get beyond the fact, however, that this is gonna be some kind of fun. What type, remains to be seen.

RELATED:
Ron-Ron is here; Ariza gone?

Post from: Lakers blog

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

Post from: Lakers blog

Guess who the rumor mill has him looking at? That’s right, Boston and the Lakers.

“Both are desperately trying to get him,” said an anonymous source.

The Knicks also are in the running for Hill, who Mike D’Antoni called “one of the best free agents out there.”

Maybe Hill could fill Ariza’s spot, if Ariza is seriously thinking about leaving the Lakers. But would the Lakers really sign/want/need Hill?

Don’t they already have one old guy on the team? Sure Hill played in every game this past season for Phoenix, but shouldn’t the Lakers be looking to the future and future stars and not the past and past stars?

Post from: Lakers blog

Yahoo! Sports says that if Portland or Toronto loses the Hedo Turkoglu sweepstakes, they will offer Trevor Ariza between $32 million to $40 million.

The question that begs asking is does Ariza want to play for a title or a bigger paycheck?

Post from: Lakers blog

Not if , as ESPN is reporting, all they will offer Trevor Ariza is the mid-level exemption of $5.6 million. I bet Portland is looking a lot better than that. Toronto, too, can offer Ariza more than the mid-level.

If that’s the case, color him gone, which should leave lots of cash for Lamar Odom and Shannon Brown. Or, one would hope it does.

I’m sure we will hear from fans how disloyal Ariza is for not giving the Lakers a hometown discount.

The same ones who think it is only right the star of the team gets a maximum contract, even when he makes as much or more off the court. But hey, I accept that as the way it HAS to be … I will only mention a few times after this. Promise.

I can’t seriously believe Ron Artest is coming to the Lakers, but he can play defense. As for shooting and making three-pointers in the playoffs,  which Ariza did, well we all saw the Rockets series.

Personally, I can’t wait until Kobe Bryant gets into teammate Artest’s face during a game. That might priceless.

Post from: Lakers blog

Morrison, who joined the Lakers in a late-season trade with Charlotte, will head to Las Vegas along with newly draftee Chinemelu Elonu for the summer. The Lakers team will play five games, starting with a July 10 opener against Toronto.

The rest of the roster
15 Alan Anderson
50 Aron Baynes
11 Dominique Coleman
23 Tony Gaffney
14 Terrel Harris
1 Justin Hawkins
30 Ben McCauley
35 David Monds
10 Taylor Rochestie

55 Luke Schenscher

20 Mustafa Shakur

Post from: Lakers blog