| 14 December 2009
Suffice to say, thus far "Ron Artest in LA" has been quite the success. Artest's fitting in well - averaging nearly 13 points in 34 minutes of play (at .431), and giving 4+ assists, 2 steals and 4+ rebounds per.
And there's the intangibles: Artest's dogged defense is a major reason in Kobe being able to play so hard offensively - the vast majority of time Artest's the one logging major minutes defending the opponent's best swingman.
Trevor Ariza's doing very well in Houston. Very well indeed. He's pretty much doubled his production in nearly every statistical category. But it'd be ridiculous to suggest that he would've enjoyed the same season in LA. In Houston, Ariza has evolved into their primary option (and it's fantastic that he's been able to do that). If he were still in LA, best case scenario he's number 4 behind Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum... completely ignoring Lamar Odom there. And whilst his defensive efforts are fantastic, what he brings to that facet of the game is very similar to Kobe. Artest is a bull of a man who is capable of defending bigger players than Ariza can.
Still, the questions about Artest fitting in within LA never really had anything to do with his game, and more to do with what he does off the court. A lot of critics felt that for LA to dump what was a very good team chemistry and insert the guy whose had perhaps the most 'issues' of any player in the league was asking for trouble. The revelations about drinking, and then the Jimmy Kimmel appearance, semi-naked. And the following response to that...
It's pretty clear that Ron is still Ron. He enjoys fun, being provocative, and being in the limelight.
But this is LA we're talking about. Lots of stuff bigger than Ron Artest goes on. It wasn't so long ago that Kobe Bryant was the architect of some pretty big distractions himself. And Ron Artest can still play basketball pretty damn well.
LA's fine, nothing to see here (or... plenty to see here?). Move along.
