Lakers Off-season Mistakes Beginning Early: Ariza Out, Artest In

That right, there is how many years Trevor Ariza has left in Los Angeles: a big fat whopping zero. Perhaps the Lakers were too busy enjoying the championship to realize that their No. 1 goal this off-season should have been to secure Trevor Ariza for at least the next five years. Lamar Odom, the Lakers off-again, on-again forward, is another important free agent hanging in the balance, but unlike Odom, who suffers from serious bouts of inconsistency and what seems to be almost apathy, Ariza suffers from neither. In fact, the Lakers could not have made it through each series without Ariza and his stellar contributions on both sides of the ball. I'll take this a step further, and magnify the drama: Trevor Ariza could have been one of the players who helped steady the team as Kobe heads into the last few years of his career. Clearly, he is not as talented as Kobe, but he is a solid player in all facets of the game who could be a big role player as the team transitions out of the Kobe years.  ... (link)