Quote:
Originally Posted by PHLIP
I figure if Ariza wants to play hardball and show that it is about the money and not basketball, then Artest (so long as he behaves) is a good signing.
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Totally agreed. Kobe set the example by just getting it out of the way as quickly as possible with as little drama as possible. Apparently Ariza and his agent decided that he had to make
more millions of dollars per year. Honestly who cares about money at that point?
I am not so worried about Artest's behavior at least for the first season. He is completely happy and is on almost certainly the best team in the league and on top of that two of his good "NBA buddies" are playing with him. Artest will be an angel by comparison next season. Besides Phil coached Rodman. I mean REALLY, how much worse could Artest POSSIBLY be. In the longer term Artest will certainly have behavior problems, but it'll take a season or two for that to happen IMO.
The bottom line is that if it wasn't for Artest's history of mis-behaving NOBODY would be questioning this trade very much. I wish Ariza would have stayed, but Artest is a completely satisfactory replacement in my book.