NBA 2008-2009 Season

[Stee]

I dunno, I'm pretty sure Fish brought more experience then chemistry.

Odom is a very rare kind of basketball player you find every few decades who's entering his prime. Ariza's skillset is fairly easy to find in this offseasons free agency aka Artest.


Ariza's agent made the wrong choice of demanding the Lakers to get rid of Odom to pay Ariza.
Hmm Ariza or Artest and Odom....tough choice.

As bad as I feel for Ariza getting screwed on this, this just increased the Laker's repeat chances.

Kobe, Artest, Odom, Gasol, Bynum ---- the big five?

[Kajii]

I wish they could've let go of Sasha to keep Ariza, but he's on a three year contract or something iirc.

Didn't someone mention Farmar being on the trading block?

[Tyche]

I see why Dimmauk hates on Laker fans now. They are fucking crazy.

[untouchable]

speaking as a laker fan, i really wouldnt mind trading vujacic and farmar to pay for ariza. shannon brown and fisher can hold down the point guard position well enough

[Stee]

I doubt Ariza or Artest would be very happy sharing minutes with eachother, even if you add in Vujacic's SG backup minutes it wouldn't be enough to make them happy.

[untouchable]

I doubt Ariza or Artest would be very happy sharing minutes with eachother, even if you add in Vujacic's SG backup minutes it wouldn't be enough to make them happy.

or they can just take up luke walton's minutes. lol

[Stee]

Yeah I'm including those minutes.

Artest is probably a 35ish mpg player then you have Ariza as his backup which doesn't give him a whole lot of minutes.

[Tyche]

Artest is a fucking beast. LA landed a monster. Kajil, you didn't like him because he was matchup hell for LA, and one of the reasons LA came close to packing up early this year. Don't rationalize that you have more respect for him because of a 2 sentence public comment, that's horseshit, you like him now because plays for your damn team. If Odom is peaking, then I'd hate to see his decline. He's the most inconsistent player on the team. Luckily, there's enough talent to pick up the slack he often leaves. Monster deal for LA, although I'd of liked to see him go to cleveland to make the east really really fucking interesting with Boston/Orlando/Cleveland. I think I like Boston out of the East as of right now. Not a big fan of the Vince trade/deal and losing Turk.

[Stee]

You should probably watch the Lakers vs Houston playoff series before talking about it.

[Tyche]

One of the few series I watched, so you have to do better man.

[Kajii]

lol chill the fuck out, dude.
I didn't like Artest because he almost sent the Lakers home? How odd that Melo is amongst my top five favorite players, don't you think?

IIRC you only watch the post season. Try watching the whole season next time, if you'd watched this one you would've seen that Artest was always talking shit to Kobe during the games. Add that up with what happened in the series between him and Kobe and like I said, what Lakers fan would like him?

Yeah, I respect him more for saying that he doesn't care about the money. This coming at a time where Ariza/His Agent(not sure if it's both or one) is demanding more money. Of course I'm going to like the guy for doing that.

I still question the chemistry between Kobe and Artest, but Kobe can overlook whatever these days. It'll work out. Artest is better than Ariza, looking forward to next season.

[Stee]

Trevor Ariza has made a verbal commitment to sign with the Houston Rockets, according to sources close to the process.

The 6-foot-8 Ariza averaged 8.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists for the Lakers last season, which ended with the NBA championship.

With at least five teams pursuing Ariza, the Lakers appeared unwilling to pay him more than the $5.6 million mid-level exception.

For the exact same fucking amount the Lakers offered him but his agent rejected, time for Ariza to fire David Lee.

[Kajii]

Wow... fucking ridiculous.

[Tyche]

lol chill the fuck out, dude.
I didn't like Artest because he almost sent the Lakers home? How odd that Melo is amongst my top five favorite players, don't you think?

IIRC you only watch the post season. Try watching the whole season next time, if you'd watched this one you would've seen that Artest was always talking shit to Kobe during the games. Add that up with what happened in the series between him and Kobe and like I said, what Lakers fan would like him?

Yeah, I respect him more for saying that he doesn't care about the money. This coming at a time where Ariza/His Agent(not sure if it's both or one) is demanding more money. Of course I'm going to like the guy for doing that.

I still question the chemistry between Kobe and Artest, but Kobe can overlook whatever these days. It'll work out. Artest is better than Ariza, looking forward to next season.

I don't have to watch the regular season to tell you that Artest gets under peoples skin. He has as much on the court smarts as anyone in the NBA. A basketball savant if you will. I question your knowledge of basketball/Artest if you honestly took that personally and didn't realize that's just how he plays.

[Kajii]

Been watching Artest since the days of him on the Kings. I know how he is. Just always seemed to have this personal thing against Kobe or something. Not only that, but the dude used to get in trouble often. It's a reason Lakers fans weren't thrilled the first time talks of acquiring him came around.

[Stee]

One of the few series I watched, so you have to do better man.

Ok I'll do better.

Artest played well in how many games in that series? 1 maybe 2?
He had Ariza guarding him who is a average man to man defender and still couldn't produce so well for his team offensively.

That series showed how flawed Artest is without someone he could play off of.

It wasn't Artest that caused problems for the Lakers, it was the energy of their bench and the Lakers being lazy.

[Tyche]

He's one of the few players where his talent faaaaar exceeds his trouble. Other than some T's (which has improved), how much on-the-court issues has he really had lately? Hell, off the court for that matter. I just really don't see any shame in saying "Man, I hate that dude, but thank god he's on our team now...". Sorry, I just really have a hard time buying that you will like him because of what he says, and not because of what he brings to your team. Who cares if you didn't like him before?

Also, his ejection in the lakers series was complete bullshit. That doesn't count.

[Kajii]

Of course it's not all about just what he said. I never said I don't respect him as a player. I didn't like him, but I'm not or have I ever denied he has skills. I liked what he said and did. He took less money. Didn't get all greedy like Ariza and Hedo. So yeah, I like that he could've got more money staying in Houston, but came to LA anyway.

I really don't see a problem with appreciating someone's words.

[Stee]

Ariza's getting paid 5 years, $33 million.

Not too different from mid level exception, dude got screwed.

If you ever enter the NBA and some dude called David Lee tries to become your agent STAY THE FUCK AWAY.

[thomassmith]

Cavs are going to win it all.