Artest to the Lakers..

[Mr Bones]

The first time that James Gist has Artest in front of him on the perimeter and he blows by him and throws it down people will understand why Artest to the Lakers was a good thing.

Spurstalk veterans....

[BadMotorscooter]

I saw this thread bumped by the OP after game 5. I dont see him bumping it now. Artest was a huge factor for the Lakers in game 6 and 7.(He had 15 in game 6 and 20 tonight in game 7) And now he's got a ring. Did Ariza get a ring this year? No. So I think the Lakers made the right choice. And the scary thing is...they have Gasol, Bryant, Odom, Artest, and Bynum all under contract for next year and beyond. My point is if you are gonna bump your own thread and pound your chest you were right and then it comes out differently. Then its time to man up and admit you were wrong.

[HarlemHeat37]

Artest was 7-18 from the field and 2-7 from 3s, with 4 turnovers ..

He had a horrible playoffs, having one of the worst PER for a starter and some of the worst efficiency for a starter in NBA playoff history..as a starter for an NBA champion, he had some of the worst offense you'll ever see, which is backed up by the numbers..

I wasn't wrong about anything, I picked the Lakers to win the le..Ariza didn't get a ring this year, but he got one last year(LOL), and he was better than Artest by a massive margin..Artest is still on the books for 4 years and is clearly on the decline..hopefully somebody in the West makes a move..

The Lakers didn't win because of Artest, they won because of their 53 rebounds and 37 free throw attempts..

[BadMotorscooter]

Youre the type of guy who doesnt concede when they are wrong. Not a problem. I wont lose sleep over it. lol

[HarlemHeat37]

I've conceded plenty of times..I thought the Jefferson trade would be good, and I admitted I was clearly wrong..

[Medvedenko]

Artest was 7-18 from the field and 2-7 from 3s, with 4 turnovers ..

He had a horrible playoffs, having one of the worst PER for a starter and some of the worst efficiency for a starter in NBA playoff history..as a starter for an NBA champion, he had some of the worst offense you'll ever see, which is backed up by the numbers..

I wasn't wrong about anything, I picked the Lakers to win the le..Ariza didn't get a ring this year, but he got one last year(LOL), and he was better than Artest by a massive margin..Artest is still on the books for 4 years and is clearly on the decline..hopefully somebody in the West makes a move..

The Lakers didn't win because of Artest, they won because of their 53 rebounds and 37 free throw attempts..

Artest was the Laker MVP in game 7. You're original post is even more laughable now more than ever. Yes, if you replaced him with Ariza they probably would have won as well, but in spite of his "crappy" play they won regardless. Just proved your inep ude yet again.

[duncan228]

Artest comes up big for Lakers in Game 7 win

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156710

[HarlemHeat37]

Artest was the Laker MVP in game 7. You're original post is even more laughable now more than ever. Yes, if you replaced him with Ariza they probably would have won as well, but in spite of his "crappy" play they won regardless. Just proved your inep ude yet again.

Are you saying Artest wasn't "crappy" throughout the playoffs?..

My posts about Artest are in regards to him being a downgrade from Ariza, which he clearly was IMO(which is backed up by the numbers)..again, I picked the Lakers to win the le, they were going to win regardless..it doesn't change the fact that Artest was mediocre throughout, and that he's on the books for 4 more years..

LOL @ inep ude..coming from the guy that says Kobe is better than Jordan, and that Kobe had an MVP performance in game 7..

[BadMotorscooter]

I'm with ya. jefferson was a horrible trade. I just think Artest brought enough toughness to the Lakers to get past Boston. His offense may have not be spectacular but he did a decent job on Pierce. Just like game 1...he held Pierce to 11 points going into the 4th and then Pierce got another 13 when the game was already over. Then you hear people say....Artest couldnt contain Pierce because he scored 24 on Artest. But that is way off. Artest did his job and then let off when the game was decided and Pierce got his cheap baskets. , Pierce only scored in the 20's twice in the 7 games in this Finals. I would say Artest did his job. It'd be like holding Kobe to only two 20 point games in 7 games in the Finals. Ariza couldnt do that to Pierce.

[HarlemHeat37]

I'll admit I was wrong about Artest's D, I admitted that halfway through the season though..he improved a lot from last year..he still had a big part in LA's offensive decline this year though..his inability to space the floor hurt them a lot, so did his tendency to get in the way of the offense..luckily for the Lakers, they had very little compe ion this year..

I disagree about Ariza not being able to do it to Pierce..Ariza did a great job on Carmelo last year, a better player than Pierce, with a similar body build..

[HarlemHeat37]

I already said that Artest was a good move due to the price, I said it earlier in the thread, soon after I made this thread..there was never any doubt about that, the MLE was definitely a bargain at the time, which I already said..

My point was that he was going to be a downgrade from Ariza, which he clearly was, and it will only get worse now that he's clearly declining..

The only thing I was wrong about was his defense..he was an average defender last year..he was very good this season after a slow start, due to the weight loss, after he admitted he was struggling on D..his defense was helped by this, and it was helped by the amazing amount of handchecking he's allowed getting away with(probably the most in the NBA, as many local announcers said while playing LA this year)..

[Mr Bones]

Artest was 7-18 from the field and 2-7 from 3s, with 4 turnovers ..

You conveniently left out his 5 steals and 5 rebounds.

[BadMotorscooter]

I'll admit I was wrong about Artest's D, I admitted that halfway through the season though..he improved a lot from last year..he still had a big part in LA's offensive decline this year though..his inability to space the floor hurt them a lot, so did his tendency to get in the way of the offense..luckily for the Lakers, they had very little compe ion this year..

I disagree about Ariza not being able to do it to Pierce..Ariza did a great job on Carmelo last year, a better player than Pierce, with a similar body build..

Lakers knew what they were getting. They knew they had to take the good with the bad. They knew they needed a guy who would be willing to play rough and they were willing to give up some offense for it. they figured they had enough scorers with Bryant, Odom, Gasol, and Bynum to carry them. I think getting a guy like Artest for the MLE is a steal and thats what they paid. Let us get a guy like that instead of an overpaid primadonna like Jefferson and I'll jump through the roof. We need the next Bowen and a guy like Artest would have done us nicely. Damn it.

[HarlemHeat37]

I don't disagree, but there are a number of guys you could have replaced Artest with, and they still win the le..Artest had a good game 7 for the expectations, it was surprising to everybody, I'm just saying, I don't think it's crow-worthy unless you're ignoring the entire year..he was their 2nd best individual player in game 7 IMO, but he's also cost them many games as well..

Either way, it doesn't really matter..LA is the champion, sadly..how great it is to be a fan of the most fortunate franchise in the NBA..

[crc21209]

Artest sucked all ing year, and stepped up BIG in Game 7...who knew?

[BadMotorscooter]

Artest sucked all ing year, and stepped up BIG in Game 7...who knew?

I think the same can be said about Robert Horry a time or two. But he made it count when it mattered like Artest tonight, right?

[alchemist]

Artest defended great at the right moments and knocked down some huge 3pt shots through out the entire playoffs. You can make a case that he was their #3 guy these playoffs.

[HarlemHeat37]

Out of their 8 rotation players for the playoffs, Artest was literally #8 in efficiency, even trailing Shannon Brown..his PER was barely better than Fisher and Brown, and his WS was #8 again out of the 8 rotation players..

I'll give him credit for his D, and he was obviously a bigger factor than guys like Brown and Farmar, but Artest was clearly worse than Kobe and Gasol, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that he was worse than Odom, Bynum and Fisher..

He had a good game 6 and 7, but he clearly sucked in the playoffs, there's no argument otherwise IMO..

[Mr Bones]

I don't agree at all with the idea that Artest had a crappy playoffs-- in the first round he was primarily responsible for holding the best young scorer in the NBA to 35% FG shooting and 28.6% 3 pt shooting. That alone earned him his salary. In the deciding game against Phoenix, he went for 25 pts, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 assists. Most importantly, Phil Jackson trusted him enough to play him more than 40 minutes in 11 playoff games.

[Mr Bones]

Compare the '10 Ron Artest to the '07 Bruce Bowen...

Points per game
Artest 11.0
Bowen 6.2

Rebounds per game
Artest 4.3
Bowen 2.7

assists per game
Artest 3.0
Bowen 1.4

Steals per game
Artest 1.4
Bowen 0.8

FG%
Artest 41.4%
Bowen 40.5%

3 pt%
Artest 35.5%
Bowen 40.5%

The idea that Artest is a low PER scrub is just ridiculous. He's a premiere defender who also contributes in multiple ways on the court. Most of all, he never backs down from a challenge.

[HarlemHeat37]

Who is saying Artest is a scrub?..

The purpose of this thread was that it was good news that the Lakers picked him instead of Ariza and signed him up for 5 years..

I pointed out those stats to show how his numbers were significantly worse than Ariza's, and were overall disappointing in comparison to the expectations for Artest..Artest wasn't supposed to be Bruce Bowen, he was supposed to be a much better player than that, a combination of Bowen-like D, except with competent offense..

Also, Bowen had 3-point %s 45%, 43% and 44% for the Spurs le runs, all extremely high..he not only provided the elite D, but he didn't hurt the Spurs offense like Artest hurt the Lakers offense..

Bruce's advanced stat numbers do show that he was a poor offensive player, something every Spurs fan realizes, but he was at least able to make 3-pointers at a high level, something Artest couldn't even do..

Overall, I'll say that acquiring Artest was a success, because they won the le..my point that it was a downgrade from Ariza is still clearly true though..Ariza was #4 in PER, #2 in overall efficiency(!!!) and #4 in Win Shares for the Lakers playoff run last year..incredible numbers, all while playing very good to great defense..

[Mr Bones]

Artest's FG% for the finals (against an outstanding defensive team) was 39.8%, which was slightly below his season FG% of 41.4%. Ariza's FG% this season was 39.4%. Ariza's 3pt% for the season was 33%. Artest's was 35.5%.

[Obstructed_View]

I believe there was some contention that this is going to be a bad deal for the Lakers long-term, but for now it certainly didn't cost them, as Artest was pretty damn good when it mattered.