How have Ariza and Artest settled into their new homes?

By: Umberto Diona

Edited By: Patrick Murphy

At the beginning of July during the offseason after the Los Angeles Lakers championship run, the Lakers decided to make the risky and arguable move of signing 29 year old Ron Artest rather than resigning 24 year old Trevor Ariza who was apart of that 2009 championship team. Ariza was eventually signed by the Houston Rockets. Was this move by GM Mitch Kupchak right for the Lakers?

At the beginning of the 2009-2010 season Ariza is averaging 20.2 PPG for the Rockets, significantly more than he did for the Lakers at about only 8.9 PPG. Also Ron Artest is producing an average of only 12.0 PPG, compared to the 17.1 that he produced for the Rockets last season. Even with the better contribution to his team in points from Ariza, signing Artest was the right move for the Lakers. The reason they are preforming differently for their new teams is because of the different roles that they play on their new teams. On the Rockets Ariza has to play more of a leadership type role, while on the Lakers he had Kobe who played that part. Artest has less of a leadership role on the Lakers than he did on the Rockets because Kobe continues to lead the team, while for the Rockets Artest was expected to put up more points when they were needed.

One of the biggest reasons that Kupchak decided to sign Artest over Ariza is because Artest brings much needed defense to Los Angeles. It has been working so far in the early stages and it will only get stronger throughout the course of the season, Artest is a feature of the Lakers that will bring them their 16th title. Artest is more likely to hold off power players such as Lebron James, Paul Pierce, and Richard Jefferson come playoff time better than Ariza would be able to. Acquiring Artest was a good move, and it will pay off for the Lakers.

(image courtesy of nba.com)