I don't get why all the hate lol. Maybe he did what Ariza asked? He might have wanted a change of scenery, lots of egos in LA, more youth in Houston, and chill guys like Dikembe, Yao, Tmac.
Well a year from now who knows, (not next season), once Yao is back and his foot has been given a year to heal. I would have to guess that Ariza had some sort of issue with the Lakers if he went to the Rockets for the same amount of money. Either felt disrespected, or felt too much pressure, etc.
Mutumbo announced during the playoffs that he was going to retire, Yao is probably going to miss the entire season, and TMac is probably going to miss at least the first month or two recovering from knee surgery.
There's no immediate future for a team like Houston. Ariza really has just become a younger version of the 2008 James Posey, only with more potential cause of the age.
So, according to this article, Ariza was the Laker's first choice at MLE, before Artest? I don't buy it. Yao's injury meant Artest wasn't going to resign with the Rockets at the price they were willing to spend. So, Lakers switch gears and instead of giving Ariza the MLE they give it to Artest. If Artest didn't sign with the Lakers, then Ariza would have settled for MLE to rejoin the Lakers.
It could have been a simultaneous thing. GMs often fall in love with their guys because of chemistry or upside, but Artest seemed even better probably after the awkward David Lee situation.
The time line of events makes sense and the hard line the Lakers took with Ariza makes sense. The Lakers new they had a solid Plan B option with Ron Artest and they knew he'd agree to an MLE contract. Out of respect to Ariza they gave him the opportunity to resign for the same amount of money they were offering a better player. Unfortunately, Ariza probably had a false sense of what he was worth with a douchebag agent like David Lee feeding him $8M to $10M a year instead of what his market value is actually at. Ariza left the negotiating table and the Lakers went with Plan B with Ron Artest happy and willing to accept. Knowing the history of David Lee and his failed negotiations he probably had no idea the Lakers were courting Ron Artest and had him waiting in the wings. I've been following the Lakers since the 80's and the franchise has always taken care of players loyal to the organization. All those great role players from Showtime Lakers who stuck around have enjoyed a career after basketball. Mycal Thompson, Kurt Rambis, AC Green, etc. Los Angeles is a basketball first town and Ariza has a lot of roots in LA. Him and his agent can lie to themselves all they want that Houston is a better opportunity for him and the Lakers disrespected him blah blah blah.
No, Lakers offered Ariza a contract first, pretty much the same exact contract he ended up signing with Houston. http://sportstwo.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2059386#post2059386 His agent took offense to that and stated to the media that the Lakers may not have a chance to talk to his agent (Trevor) again, since Mitch didn't show appreciation by not offering 50 million. Thus Mitch could not afford to lose out on Trevor in free agency, and Ron at the same time. So he went with plan B. Like Shape said, Lakers won't kick a key component of the team to the curb. That's not how Jerry Buss operates. He always takes care of his players, and rewards them accordingly. We were just put in a position where we had to make a choice, or end up losing both.
