Re: NBA Regular Season Discussion Thread
No, even though you won the title with Artest, losing Ariza was the worst decision you guys made.
In what world is Ariza worth 8 mil a year to start and worth losing Odom? He would take 6 or 7 from LA because his agent and Buss don't get along.
The guy had a hot couple of months, not a whole season as Kobe defended Wade, Manu, Melo, Lebron, Durant, and so on all that year when he couldn't and Walton handled them the other times pre-back surgery while Trevor played the passing lanes and got transition buckets.
Kobe, Phil, and especially Lamar made that kid (when Ariza was on the bench that year and Odom started after Bynum got hurt he sucked to the point Walton said give me his role as I can do it better and did), just look at his numbers before and after them. I would have loved to have him back without a doubt, but LA doesn't beat OKC if Artest doesn't lock him down or beat Boston since they never doubled once with Artest on Pierce.
What LA needs is Ron to be able to hit a 3 consistently, nothing more and nothing less just like Fox, Walton, Trevor, Rice, and Geroge all did.