Artest's Signing With Lakers: The Good & The Bad

Two days ago, I heard that Trevor Ariza was leaning towards leaving the Lakers and I couldn't believe the report as every team rumored to possibly sign with him wasn't close to as good of a fit for Ariza as the Lakers. No one was able to offer more than the midlevel exception out of the rumored teams, which the Lakers were offering. Then, out of nowhere yesterday, I heard the breaking news that Ron Artest was signing with the Lakers for the midlevel and I couldn't believe it and then immediately afterwards I heard that Ariza signed with the Rockets for the midlevel exception. This didn't make sense to me as why the hell would Ariza leave the Lakers to sign with the Rockets for the same money the Lakers were offering when the Lakers were a perfect fit for him as a team, were legit championship contenders and he was from Los Angeles.  Eventually, I found out that Ariza's agent, David Lee, didn't like the Lakers' offer of the full midlevel exception worth just under $6 million a year for 5 ... (link)