Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 2:05 am  |  145 responses

Ron Ron Comes to Hollywood

A shrewd move or precursor to destruction?

by Marcel Mutoni

During the 2009 Playoffs, Ron-Ron spent nearly as much time inside the Staples Center as Jack Nicholson (as both an opposing player and member of the crowd.) Next season, he will make it his permanent home.

Artest told CBS Sports first last night that he will soon be a Los Angeles Laker in a matter of days:

“I’m definitely going to L.A. — to sign, yeah,” Artest said in a phone interview. “Lakers, Lakers, Lakers. I’m in L.A. right now.”

“I don’t really care about the money,” Artest said. “I’ll play there for nothing…L.A. was very interested in me, and they got me.”

Despite the enthusiasm, Ron won’t be playing for nothing. He reportedly agreed to a three-year deal worth approximately $18 million.

So, can Artest fit into the triangle offense, how much defense does he have left in him (especially with Trevor Ariza now being a Rocket), will poor Pau Gasol ever see the basketball again, what about Lamar Odom, and most importantly, can all of those egos on the Laker roster mesh?

I don’t have the answer to any of those questions; all I know is that it’s going to a be a wild ride in L.A.

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  • http://www.realcavsfans.com Anton

    Kobe got a rottweiler to watch the hallway while he does his thang in the hotel room

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    Ariza is dumb, I love him on the Lakers, but for him to sign the same deal he could have gotten with the Lakes is stupid. Ariza still signed for 5.6 million a year. Ariza was not worth more, he still has to work on his game. Artest is a good sign, he will defer to Kobe and all yall punks talking about Kobe watching his back is dumb, Kobe is smart he knows how to reel Artest in and MJ was tough, but Rodman could have beat MJ down anytime he wanted, Rodman wanted to win, thats it. LAKERS 2K10 CHAMPS!!!

  • a_whiteman

    This guarentees la the title, rons antics are small potatoes compared to rodman. Like I said yesterday phil is the ONLY coach that can make this combo work. So did la re sign odom???

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    i’m thinking about this… ron is a better offensive player than ariza, but putting the ball in the basket was never a problem to begin with for LA. he will prolly not score more than 11-12 a game. because they have to feed two 7 footers and kobe. so is ron a btter defensive player than ariza at this point? it’s still a great move because they were going to lose ariza. i don’t know if it is an upgrade for the team, though.

  • T Money

    My thoughts exactly Z. The Lakers don’t need more scoring, but they certainly need the energy on both ends off the bench. How many late game steals/blocks/rebounds/deflections did Ariza get last year?

  • http://www.another48minutes.blogspot.com Gerard Himself

    My bet is Phil Jackson is behind all of this. “Sure, I won 10 championships, but where’s the challenge?”

  • JoNaBo

    Trevor wasn’t anything special. I knew they would’nt mind losing him because he is extremely replaceable. But this is better than I expected.

  • Babygab

    Signing Ron was an amazing move. If he keep his sh*t together the only other team that will be abble to compete with them for the western conference crown is San Antonio. All these contract signings give me jitters. Next season is gonna be pretty nasty. I bet some players like VC might get rejuvanated by the fact they are now playing for contenders. We are going to witness one of them season with major clashes !!!! Watch out !!!

  • lakers4life

    R.I.P.
    Trevor Ariza

    Courtesy of
    David Lee

  • Alan

    Good way to stop the King in next year’s Finals

  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    Mixed feelings about this. For one, Artest’s presence on the team has just doubled the collective testicle count in the Laker locker room, plus he got on admirably well in Houston. But for the Lakers, this is a gamble, as the old cliched adage says, “if it ain’t broke…”

  • http://www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    damn, Anton and Chintao are always marvelous on Laker stories. And after reading all opinions here, still sticking to my skepticism about this whole thing. I do know the following shall at some point be said in practice: “do you know who you’re fouling? Don’t you know it’s Ron Artest you’re touching”? And i look forward to reading about it.

  • boogster

    @ rob and fut, why on earth do you guys think Ron will fight Kobe? Didn`t he have more reason and motive during this past playoff games, and that never happened.
    Now Kobe is the Ron`s best chance to get a ring, so whupping Kobe`s ass is out of question,instead he will give Kobe more freedom to operate, make it easier for him `doing his job`.
    This year the Kobe vs. Bron thing was absolutely overhyped however next year is different story I really going to enjoy Lakers-Cavs finals.

  • boogster

    By the way, if Bron and Co win the Title next year (ain`t gonna happen) what`s Shaq gonna say, nobody is going to deny that he didn`t help 3 major players to get their rings(remember he need to help Bron 1st), but Shaq couldn`t get a ring without major help?!?!

  • boogster

    *that he helped*- i mean

  • KaponoE

    Dang! Do you realize Kobe and Artest could possibly be the best perimeter defense in the L?

  • Pingback: SLAM ONLINE | » L.A. and the Ron Artest Experiment

  • http://ballislife.com Moose

    Next season is going to be really interesting…

  • TS

    They should make a reality tv show of the lakers… featuring Kobe and Ron Ron!

  • http://www.twitter.com/Th3_R3al_Chris Young Chris MP3

    Lakers have a strong hold on the 2010 championship now. Spurs will give them comp if their big-4 stays healthy. Hopefully Lamar Odom won’t be back and it will neutralize things. Cavs and Celtics have some major work to do, though. Rasheed is NOT the answer now.

  • PeeDee

    Bulls vs lakers

    MJ – Kobe

    Goes to: MJ of course but..you know..that doesnt mean that this kobe guy is bad or something

    Ron Harper – Fish

    Goes to: draw…i give ron the D but fish the crunch

    Pip – Odom

    Goes to: Pip…but Odom aint far behind

    Toni – Pau

    goes to: Pau! Toni was a better shoter but pau is better at almost everything else

    and now:

    Worm – Warier

    goes to: uhhhh…this one is difficult. I love ronron to death but the worm was a once-in-lifetime-kind-of-player…but ron can bring some crunchtime offense…and of course will piss of alot of guys. imagine you`re lebron james, wade or joe johnson you have to deal with kobe on one end and with artest on the other, DAMN!!!!

    …and of course

    Phil Jackson – The Zen Master

    goes to: doesent matter, both are the best of their century anyway and guys like ron jeremy, doc and that fat guy screaming from the cavs bench dont hav shit on “the logo” (yeah right, phil jackson inventet KFC!!!)

  • J.B

    ow well, why dont we just lure mr dennis rodman out of retirement.

  • http://www.myspace.com/freedmusic fredd

    too bad they still don’t have a PG

  • melvin

    great move for the lakers to get Artest… he’s a tough guy… a probable defender to other roster star players…L A a super team to beat nezt season…LBJ you’ve met your match…

  • Royal

    I don’t understand why people are saying that ron-ron is a bad team-player ,he has never had any issues with his teammates.

  • basicallyinthenba21

    Phil Jackson better be coming back!

  • jumpman3224

    Actually LA does have a pg…he has four rings. Can any other team say that?

  • http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/ NICK KALATHES

    Great,great move….now we got the only guy in the league that can actually put his body in front of Lebron(and bother him a little bit cause nobody on earth can actually stop “the mutant” at this moment)….if the Lakers stay healthy (and sign Lamar) Kobe will get his 5th ring after a year(and then the kids will start again the silly M.J comparisons….).

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    guys, i hate to break it to you but this is july 2009. ron artest has the rep of a lockdown defender but i done seen brandon roy give him the bidness. kobe-artest on D is not better than kobe-ariza. ariza made turk look very,very mortal.

  • http://www.hoopsmanifesto.blogspot.com Jeff Fox

    Don’t know if I was L.A. I’d trade Ariza for Artest. Ariza is younger and less volatile.

  • http://hibachi20.blogspot.com/ RV

    the seed, you do realize LA wasn’t going to give Trevor that much, right??

  • http://hibachi20.blogspot.com/ RV

    and it’s amazing how some laker fans turn on Ariza from one day to the next…..i will say this, i always thought Ton would be on his best behavior this past season, but i also thought he would move the ball…i was wrong. He didn’t, except for one game where he refused to shoot…I alos noticed he gambled too much on D and isn’t the “lock down” defender as some of these Laker fans are saying he is…maybe once he was , now not so much, maybe in a lesser role he can go back to it…who knows..

  • http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/ NICK KALATHES

    @RV….: i know. (!!!!!)

  • Mo

    A great move for the Lakers. They basically get the same player they had in Ariza, but Artest is more consitent…this move will prove to be similar in how the Bulls added Dennis Rodman back in 96….A definite repeat is in the horizon for L.A., if not a three-peat…

  • thewize

    Ron Ron can guard Cabron James in the Finals…they didn’t have any trouble with Dwight, why would they have trouble with Shaq. Lakers repeat! hahaha so simple.

  • E.Rod

    I always defended Ron-Ron but not any more. Cant beat them then join them huh? You get elbowed in the throat by Kobe and now he joins his team? He would’ve been better with the cavs so he can help Bron and Shaq beat the Lakers. Hope he punches Kobe or better yet Sasha this season.

  • Jacob

    theres not even a point in playing next season, the Lakers are going to cruise to another championship

  • E.Rod

    Sorry man, Ron CANNOT guard LBJ. NO one in the league can guard him one on one. It took 2, 3 or sometimes the whole defense sagging since his team went cold.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    If Ron Artest is not the second or third leading scorer for the Lakers, something is wrong. Bynum is no where near the level of Artest offensively. Shiiet, Artest has a better POST UP game than Bynum now! Maybe that’s a stretch, but Ron really does have the full package. I can’t understand why people would be skeptical of this move.

  • niQ

    to be honest, i don’t understand why you would change the team if your team JUST won the finals. doesn’t that mean SOMETHING about your team was working proper? but nevertheless, i don’t see this as a downgrade. it’s definitely an upgrade.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    I h@te when people get mad when other people say “so and so can guard LeBron James or Kobe”. OBVIOUSLY LeBron and Kobe are going to get their 20-50 point games. What it means is making them LESS EFFICIENT. Artest is probably the BEST single defender of LeBron James in the NBA, the same way Shane Battier is probably the BEST single defender of Kobe Bryant in the NBA. No wonder Houston might have the best team defense in the NBA, with those two guys.
    Anyways, the most important asset Artest brings in defending LeBron is his strength. No other guard/forward in the league has the strength to keep LeBron from bulldozing through the lane. Not to mention their heights are pretty similar.
    TO E. ROD, ever wonder why LeBron scored 21 points and had 0 assists against the Rockets last season?

  • http://slamonline.com negetivekreep

    People are missing the real headline here.
    Cleveland was going after both Ariza and Artest in hopes to sign one of em. And with the very good possibility of greatly improving thier team and chances of winning a ring next year, all the while only having to fork over a mid-level deal.
    By Making this trade the lakers made sure that niether player would be suiting up for cleveland, thats called 2 birds 1 stone. Yeah it’s hard to say bye to a guy like Ariza who played his role in LA, BUT… Middle finger to Cleveland…AND sign Artest..or, decsions,decisions.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    @ RV: I’m a huge Rockets fan like you are, and I like Ariza a lot. I think the Rockets did a great job of bringing him in after Ron left.
    BUT, there is no freaking way Trevor Ariza is better than Ron Artest. Bet.

  • rav

    niQ: no matter who you are and what you have just done any team can improve – look at 2006 miami, they kept that team pretty much intact the next season and they were nowhere near as good as the year before

  • underdog

    This means two things. Lakers games gonna be even more fun to watch, and Phil needs to stay, otherwise Ron Ron blows the team up.

  • Josh D

    I wonder if this’ll lead LA to rid of Odom(by FA or Trade)

  • http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/ NICK KALATHES

    @Teddy….:some more(ok, A LOT more) solid-rational comments like the one at 1:34pm and i ‘ ll have to downgrade you from the number one spot on my list of the dumbest commenters in SLAMONLINE recent history .Eboy is a distant, (but clear nevertheless),no-2.

  • bill breedley

    i am going to get me a ron ron jersey.

  • Pardeep

    We Gonna win the NEXT 4 now

  • http://slamonline Negetivekreep

    Gasol
    Odom
    Artest
    Fisher
    Bryant

    DAMN!!!

    L.A.’s got the answer.

    With a Bynum to trump Clevelands Shaq card tell me, who’s got the squad to match up with this starting 5? A healthy boston?… maybe.
    Get ready for the KOBE dynasty.

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