The most worked-up I ever got about a personnel decision the Lakers made in the Kobe era was when they gave up Trevor Ariza. 

Really. 

Photo by Keith Allison [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

That offseason, the Rockets signed the UCLA product for a little more than $5 million per season and the Lakers went out and signed free agent Ron Artest (Metta World Peace). World Peace signed with the Lakers for slightly more than the Rockets signed Trevor for, and the two basically switched teams.

I wasn’t happy. Why would a team that just won a title get rid of a 24 year old starter on that title team in favor of a 30 year-old Artest/World Peace who had a weird game and was a wild card at best?

The litmus test was whether the Lakers would win a title with World Peace, and I suppose they accomplished that. World Peace made a game clinching jumper in game seven of the finals to justify all of it. So I guess it all came out in the wash. While Metta aged, Trevor was in his 20’s. I’m not saying he would have mitigated their plans, but you can’t tell me Ariza wouldn’t have helped the teams that a washed World Peace finished his NBA career with.

This season, Ariza’s departure from the Rockets and the nose dive Houston has taken so far this year are further evidence to support the idea that he was, and still is really good. Ariza, now 33, is still a good player. Nine years later, I still think he’s one of the best guys out there to fill gaps and holes a team has.

The shame is that he’s on a young team in Phoenix that has too many of those holes for anyone to deal with. I’m not sure if his $15 million deal is tradable this season, but you know he could plug into virtually any contender and make them marginally better. He may be hitting the tail end of his highly useful career, but I will always believe in Trevor Ariza and the power of players like him. Basketball games are often decided on the margins, after all. 

Like Fisher, Ariza became a lock-down defender. At 6’8” tall, his gumby-arms allowed him to guard the player who was usually the other team’s best. Carmelo Anthony, Ron Artest, and Manu Ginobili all had to work harder. Ariza could expend all his energy on the defensive end while filling the lane on fast breaks and spotting up for 3-pointers. Ariza was the only player on the Lakers who could match the athleticism of anyone the Lakers played against.

During the 2009 off-season, something happened between Ariza and the Lakers. To hear it told now, Ariza’s agent didn’t respond to an initial Lakers offer, so they went elsewhere. To most Lakers fans, Ron Artest’s talent and star power was an improvement over the mild-mannered role player that Ariza had become.

Everyone knows what happened next. Artest made a conscious effort to defer to his teammates during the 2009-10 season – almost to a fault. His ever-dynamic role on the Lakers culminated last year in a game-clinching 3-pointer and a second straight championship for Kobe and the Lakers.

When people are perplexed by how the Hornets can stay with the Lakers (series tied 2-2 as this article is being written), they need to know two things:

1) Chris Paul is as good or better than you think

2) The Hornets have put more good players who fit into roles around Paul than anyone realizes.

With Okafor and Landry playing amazing interior defense, Bellineli and Ariza knocking down shorts, and Ariza locking down Kobe in Battier-like fashion, the Hornets have made this first-round series more than interesting.

So back to my earlier question – Why was Ron Artest better for the Lakers than Ariza. As I sit writing this, Ariza is lighting the Lakers up. He is a solid contributor and while not a name like Paul, Bryant, Gasol, or even Artest, he remains as important a part of the outcome as any of those players. He has clearly, in less than one year, figured out his role on the Hornets better than Artest has figured out his role on the Lakers in two years.

Artest will be 32 years old this year. Ariza is 25. Artest is a stalky, strong, and at-times slow 6’7”. Ariza is a long, athletic 6’8”  Ariza is averaging 14 points and 8 rebounds vs. the Lakers going into Tuesday night’s game. Artest has had a good series too; averaging 14 points and 6 rebounds.

I hate to question moves that the Lakers make. They have made all the right moves over the past few years. A team who wins two championships shouldn’t be questioned too much. But I think it’s a fair question for Lakers fans to ask for the remainder of Artest’s contract and for the remainder of Ariza’s career. Did the Lakers make the right move? For now, you can’t argue with Larry O’Brien trophies, can you?

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The Lakers are winning and are looking like they’ll pull away but two thoughts about this game: 1) Chris Paul is AMAZING and 2) The Hornets aren’t getting any help from the refs tonight. The Lakers will definitely not get any in game 6.