Ron Ron to Lakers
 

Big move in LA. I would say that Ron Ron is an upgrade over Ariza. A team facing the lakers now has to match up with Artest, odom...and Kobe.

Good luck.

WOW :zz:

You would say...? As if its in doubt?
I would say, and then say it again.

But if you are taking into account that
Artest is nuts, I understand.

Huh? Who needs people to match up with Artest? This is a great move for the Lakers cause now they have Artest who is an amazing defender and takes away one of the only defenders that can slow down Kobe. But no one is sweating cause they have to matchup with Artest. They are sweating cause the Lakers may have the one guy capable of stopping all the top wingmen in the NBA. I did not see this move coming and thinks it puts the Lakers right back on top of the NBA hierarchy.

Celtics and Lakers making thug moves with birds.hit and Tourette's guy

I hear you. Who do you guard him with? You act like we are talking about Bruce Bowen or something. artest is a legit offensive threat that can take over a game at any time. You do realize that through it all he is a career 16 ppg scorer who can post up as well as shoot threes. At 6 6 244, he is too big for most swingmen.

It certainly makes things more interesting.

Artest is a well rounded player but he scares people cause of his defense. No one is scared that they have to matchup with him on the offensive end. Think about this, unless Cleveland can put five scorers on the floor the Lakers could put Kobe on their worst offensive player, put Artest on Lebron, and essentially double Lebron every time he drives with Kobe and Artest!

Oh, and for anyone who has doubted whether Phil will be back, this is the clincher, he will be back. This is just like the Rodman move with the Bulls. Bring in the crazy guy that is incredibly underrated as a player cause he's insane and then have everything work out and people act like Phil is some genius for making it happen.

Oh, and Bruce Bowen is useless on offense and defense at this point in his career.

No doubt...i agree with everything you say except the part where you think people arent worried about matching up with him on the offensive end.

Artest has always been a tough match up. He is too big for most swingmen and too mobile if you want to try to cover him with a big three or a four.

A 14 PPG Artest for the Lakers will work. An 18 PPG Artest will be a disaster, Kobe won't react well to losing that many shots.

That is the best thing about Ron. He doesnt care about that. He is the ultimate team player. He will do whatever it takes to win. I love him as a player...i always have.

Its a shame he is such a...psychopath.

Time will tell. I think it's a great pickup but it's been a long time since he took much under 15 shots a game and if he starts taking that many with the Lakers Kobe is going to throw a hissy fit.

It has the potential to be a disaster. I can see him beating up the paparazzi after a night out with Lohan.

Actually, take a look at the game logs from last season. There were many games he took less than 15 shots. He didnt start taking a lot of shots consistently until Mcgrady went out. There were many games that he took less than 15 shots.

Mitch is looking like Jerry west jr right now.

It's funny that it was brought up here that Artest is such an incredible defender and he has an amazing reputation around the NBA for defense. However, he was absolutely thrashed by Brandon Roy in the Rockets' 1st round series and that prompted Adelman to start Battier against Kobe in round 2.

Fact of the matter is that Ron Ron did not guard the top wingmen last year, Battier did. He is still a good defender but is not nearly as fast as he used to be and is prone to blow-ups if things aren't going his way. He is also a complete liability at times on offense considering he's known to hoist up ridiculous 20 footers on consecutive possessions.

It'll be interesting to see how it works with Kobe because for the 15 minutes that McLady was healthy last year Ron Ron was lost on the court. He didn't know where he fit in and his numbers kind of sagged (could have had something to do with his ankle). He is a great team player and hustles, which makes him so likeable, but he is now in the Carlos Beltran category in Houston.

NT

I think this is the key. He is not as fast as he was and
because he relied so much on ability he gets frustrated
really easily now on D. Instead of like a Bowen (past tense)
or Battier that actually think about playing defense
and are very composed players.
But it really was nice to have Artest and Battier playing D
as they could rest each other and often did, or if foul problems
arose on either.

I dont know what McGrady's contract structure is but if it
is dealable in the next year or so the Rockets should do so imo.

LOL. If they could, they would. No one wants that contract.

What is it? How many years left?

Its expiring...at 23 million.

Looks like he stays.

I have this feeling he may not get
hurt this coming season.

oh Heck, with that much money,
he might not even like basketball
and stay hurt this season.

23 million not taxed by the great State of Texas.