The Evidence Suggests That Ron’s Only Really Trying Now

Posted by on Monday, December 7, 2009 1 Comment

Evidently, Artest has evolved into an inside-outside threat for the Lakers as nearly 81 percent of his shots come from behind the arc or around the hoop. Just two years ago in Sacramento, Artest’s mid-range game took up nearly half of his shot selection. This adjustment should serve him well since he’s a horrid shooter from these areas. Ultimately, the cut in long-range jumpers represents the most dramatic shift in Artest’s game. He has actually shot a tick above the league average from 16-23 feet the last few years but he’ll be better off getting higher percentage shots around the basket. Looking at last year’s shot distribution, Yao Ming could have had a negative effect on Artest’s ability to get to the rim.

Keep in mind where Artest gets his shots this year as we look into Trevor Ariza’s shot distribution. You’ll notice the two are strikingly similar.

via Hoopdata – Revisiting the Artest-Ariza ‘Trade’.

What, Phil just finally got through to him, magically after all these years? It’s insane, what guys are willing to do when they go to that team. I will say that no one handles egos better than Jackson.

It’s shocking to see Trevor Ariza convincing himself that he’s a sharpshooter over the past three years, and Jackson has a lot to do with it. If you’re not elite, Jackson is going to make you into a drive and kick shooter. So Ariza had to learn that. Unfortunately he’s convinced himself that he’s Jason Kapono, apparently. It’s stunning to see Ariza’s spike in this article.

And for all the talk about Artest shooting LA out of it, he’s only taking shots he could and hardly any others. Fact is, the Artest deal has worked out brilliantly for the Lakers so far, again.

Oster-Tags: , , , , ,

About Matt Moore: Matt Moore is a Senior NBA Blogger for CBSSports.com's Eye on Basketball blog, weekend editor of Pro Basketball Talk on NBCSports.com, and co-editor of Voice on the Floor. He lives in Kansas City due to an unbelievably complex set of circumstances and enjoys mid-90's pop rock, long walks on the beach and the novels of Tim Sandlin.

All Posts by  |  Personal Blog  |  Twitter  |  Share By Email
Post comment as
twitter logo facebook logo
Sort: Newest | Oldest
WildYams

The scoring efficiency from Artest is just one of a few offensive surprises the Lakers have received (or at least that Laker fans like myself have noticed). Artest seems to be, for the most part, very adept at running the triangle offense, and that is definitely something I would think many people had a lot of questions about. Artest's playmaking and passing are things that I for one really did not expect at all. I figured if he could just stay out of the way on offense and just spot up for open threes, and then focus on defense then the Lakers would be happy. But while Artest does do a lot of that, he's also proven to be quite effective at passing out of the high post and even driving and creating for teammates (two things that Ariza never really even attempted to do).

Also, defensively I think Artest is proving to be a pretty clear upgrade over Ariza (who is quite a good defender himself). Artest can't guard point guards the way Ariza can, and Artest is not at all a weakside shot blocker, but that's really the only things that Ariza does better than Artest defensively (maybe he jumps the passing lanes better, but that's even debatable). Artest's on ball defense is light years ahead of Ariza's though, and Artest's help defense is at worst just as good as Ariza's. The fact is the Lakers are a much, much better team defensively with Artest than they were with Ariza. Artest is also much more suited to playing bigger minutes than Ariza was.

Artest still, as always, remains a potential ticking time bomb, but oddly enough the more attention he's getting for his crazy antics from the media as a result of being in LA seems to be satiating his ego in a lot of ways, for now at least. He seems less prone to doing anything crazy on the court or in a way that might hurt the team, and looks instead like he's channeling that into relatively harmless stuff like appearing on Jimmy Kimmel wearing just his shorts. You never know when a meltdown might be looming though.

As for Ariza, I think that article you're referencing has it right when it says you really need to wait and see on Ariza, since even though he's being asked to be "The Man" for now, that's not really the role Houston acquired him for. I can see him blossoming when playing again with superstars like Yao and T-Mac (or whomever Houston replaces T-Mac with). So you gotta wait and see with Ariza, just like you gotta wait and see with Artest (who's signing will only be considered a success if the Lakers win it again this year).

share
  • spam
  • offensive
  • disagree
  • off topic
 Like