Artest for Ariza!

Sorry bloggers for the long lay off, but I'm back.

Now to the top story of today, which is Ron Artest coming to LA, while Ariza is probably heading to Houston.

At first, I was like WOAH!!!

But after thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense. Artest and Ariza are about the same type of player, except Artest has more experience. However, I think Artest is going to fit in perfectly with the Lakers compared to what others think, because he doesn't have to do it all like he did in Houston.

He knows that this is Kobe's team and Kobe's show, so he'll just step in and play his role to the best of his ability.

To be honest, Artest is just an older Ariza. He's going to be their lock down defender who holds all the opposing teams star players (which was Kobe's job). And on the offense end, he'll be a threat from the three point line, but his best attribute will be his ability to drive the line which opens up more opportunities for his teammates.

As for Ariza, he should be feeling stupid right now. All he had to do, was accept a mid-level contract and he would've won more championships, and became a bigger household name.

But he got greedy, and wanted more and now he's going to probably end up in Houston, where Yao and T-Mac are going to be out for most of the season. I would regret that decision as well if I was Ariza, but I hope he likes settling for ten points a game, because that's all he's going to get.

But the bigger picture is that LA is going to keep Lamar Odom, who I think can mesh perfect with Artest. Both are big, physical guys who will give teams more than they can handle.

I always thought that they should keep Odom if given the chance because he's proven himself time and time again. He's more of a threat, and by coming off the bench makes LA the most dangerous team in the West, and even the league.

Every team in the West was improving during this off-season, and for a minute I was a bit worried about LA's chances. But now after getting Artest, I'm more confident that they'll repeat as NBA champions next year because their defense is going to be unstoppable while their offense is going to be at the top again.

See you on the next go round Ariza!!