Ariza and Artest Trade Teams

LA Lakers forward Trevor Ariza agreed in principal to a five year contract with the Rockets yesterday, clearing salary space on the Lakers payroll for them to sign much-traveled Rockets Guard/Forward Ron Artest. I like the results.

Ariza is young, athletic and his game is growing every year. And he doesn't have an attitude that rubs his teammates the wrong way. He will also fit in well with Rick Adelman's motion offense.

Artest, on the other hand, annoyed everyone on the team at one time or another and frustrated the coaches no end. He was a black hole on offense. The ball went in but never came out. If anyone passed the ball to Ron, the offense stopped until he felt like driving into a crowded lane to put up a moving prayer. While he was a tough, hard-nosed defender, he often let his pride take over and challenged star players to a game of one-on-one, rarely winning. To put it succinctly, he thinks he's better than he is and that he knows more than the coaches. I won't miss him.

My only question now is where does that leave Shane Battier? Shane is arguably the best non-injured player on the team and he plays the same position as Ariza. Battier has the flexibility to slide over to power forward, but that is already a well-manned position for the team (Scola, Hayes, Dorsey and Landry) and Shane is not really big enough to challenge some of the NBA's more powerful forwards. Assuming the answer to my question is that Ariza is going to come off the bench behind Battier, small forward will be a very strong position for the Rockets.