The signing of Ron Artest by the Lakers makes them a worse team

[The Mailman]

Can anybody prove me wrong?

[Stifler's Mom]

I personally don't know what they'd want with a guy that has "questionable" character, plus who is aging, whose skills are diminishing, and who has often been out with injury recently, but whatever floats their boat.

IMO they need to do something to improve, because with a healthy KG, they couldn't hold a candle to the Celts 2 years ago in the finals, and now with Shaq going to CLE, finally (IF he can stay on the court) making that team a legit threat to win the East and also the finals, they have next to zero chance of repeating if they don't, because, despite winning it all, they are quite simply they are a relatively weak team (championship caliber speaking....yes I know they can beat up average to ****ty teams) after Kobe and Gasol. That was enough this year, but next year, barring injury, no way they get it done again without upgrading.

With that being said, I have to agree that Artest is probably not an upgrade. But then again, I've been wrong before, so I guess we'll see.

[xHeroOfTheDayx]

I think this is a fantastic move for the Lakers. Barring his attitude problems, he's better than Ariza x10 fold and will prove so by helping the entire team much more.

Artest is much better than Ariza defensively. He can guard other teams' stars such as Pierce, Melo, LeBron, ect. probably better than anyone. Not to metion, Artest is a huge intimidator.

Offensively Artest is much better as well. He can create his own shot by scoring in the post, driving and finishing and shooting from the outside... while Ariza is dependant on Kobe and Gasol to get wide open looks which he is STILL inconsistent. (I know he had a good playoff run, but he's still extremely inconsistent.)

I think the biggest factor that will come into play, is that Artest will now guard the opponents best player rather than Kobe having to. This is going to make Kobe that much less fatigued at the end of games, and will make him even that much more of a force to close.

So yeah, this was a great move for the Laker in every aspect. Of course that is if Artest doesn't cause any problems.

[Kevin]

Of course that is if Artest doesn't cause any problems.

HeHeHe