Lakers/Magic Trade

[Suns_fan69]

Curious that Orlando would mess with a group that's working pretty well for them but: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3121132

Looks like the bane of Abomb and Donald is no longer with LA.

 

[azirish]

Curious deal. I know there are a lot of Suns fans that would like to have picked up Cook, but there is no way the Lakers would deal within the division.

 

[jbeecham]

IMO, Ariza is nothing special and I'd rather have Cook and Maurice Evans. I think this trade makes the Lakers worse this season.

 

[cly2tw]

Ariza used to be performing always well against the Suns while being on the Knicks. He was very athletic. What happened to him with the Magic that they didn't want him anymore? Playing time? Cook also only looks good against the Suns, it appears.

 

[dodie53]

Curious deal. I know there are a lot of Suns fans that would like to have picked up Cook, but there is no way the Lakers would deal within the division.

maybe the suns and magic will make a deal involving Cook in the future

 

[D-Dogg]

IMO, Ariza is nothing special and I'd rather have Cook and Maurice Evans. I think this trade makes the Lakers worse this season.

stop it! stop it! I can't breathe!!

 

[jbeecham]

Obviously I don't watch the Lakers unless they're playing the Suns, but Cook has had some nice games against the Suns. I haven't seen much of Maurice Evans, but he seemed like a decent player. From what I've seen of Ariza, he's a very poor man's Shawn Marion.

 

[CaptainInsano]

I don't know what happened but cook has been absolutely atrocious this year.

He was actually a good bench player the year before, but so far this year just abysmal.

No idea what cooks problem is, but it looks lakers managed to dodge a mini-diaw situation here.

 

[D-Dogg]

Obviously I don't watch the Lakers unless they're playing the Suns, but Cook has had some nice games against the Suns. I haven't seen much of Maurice Evans, but he seemed like a decent player. From what I've seen of Ariza, he's a very poor man's Shawn Marion.

Cook is one dimensional...a three point shooter. That's it. He's a TERRIBLE defender. Just terrible. Can't rebound and is a waste of size. Can't create his shot, can't do much of anything but shoot the three and grin like a goof.

Mo is an energy guy who made horrible decisions with the ball...if hot, he'd shoot...if cold, he'd shoot. Played ok defense at times. His athleticism was his primary upside.

Between the two of them they made 5 million. Ariza makes 2.5 (they had a trade exception).

If Ariza is a very poor man's marion then this trade was Grand Larceny by Mitch. Any better and Mitch should be put in the federal pen.

Ariza brings defense to a team that is focusing on playing defense and scoring the ball.

Mo and Cook were my 11th and 12th favorite Lakers, if that tells you something. I couldn't have pulled the trigger on this trade fast enough. It makes this team a lot better...and improved its depth which has already been a strength of the team thus far.

 

[oneofthesedays]

If anyone has watched the Lakers this year our problem isn't finding guys who can score the ball. We have enough scoring options, what we need is defense.

Cook couldn't defend a chair, seriously. I think his PER is -24 or something like that. For every shot he makes he's giving up 2 baskets on the other end. In short, given Cook's contract this was pure addition by subtraction. Mo Evans was actually a good bench player, but he's redundant and won't be missed. We can have Sasha or Critter backing up Kobe.

The Lakers win even if Ariza turns out to be a bust.

 

[mojorizen7]

Curious deal. I know there are a lot of Suns fans that would like to have picked up Cook, but there is no way the Lakers would deal within the division.

I agree. This deal doesn't make alot of sense & is pretty irrelivant IMO.
The Magic are rolling & i don't understand why & why now?

 

[TucsonDevil]

If it's true that Cook can't play defense and can only hit the occasional 3-pt shot... then Coach D'Antoni is probably driving Steve Kerr crazy right now trying to get him from the Magic. Sounds like the perfect 'D'Antoni' system type player.

 

[D-Dogg]

I agree. This deal doesn't make alot of sense & is pretty irrelivant IMO.
The Magic are rolling & i don't understand why & why now?

Because they had a 2.7 million trade exception from Battie's injury that expired in early december.

 

[Bufalay]

are you seriously calling him critter?

 

[Errntknght]

PJ said that Ariza is a good defender and athletic... I don't know about the defender part but Ariza did look fairly athletic to me. In any case, if Phil thinks that, its reason enough to shed Cook. Evans is probably the player the Magic want and I believe they wanted to give Ariza a chance to go where he has more opportunity to play.

 

[dodie53]

imo,
if given opportunity,
Ariza can become the Lakers starting SF

 

[F-Dog]

The Lakers' problem with Brian Cook was, if Radmanovic is healthy, Cook is entirely redundant. It was a head-scratcher when they signed Radman in the first place, and an even bigger head-scratcher when they extended Cook with Radman already on board.

Evans is a guy who does a little bit of everything, but not a lot of anything. He's the basketball version of the 'replacement-level player'.


Thanks to Tony Battie's injury, the Magic found a game plan they believe will work, playing Rashard Lewis at PF and surrounding Dwight Howard with four quality 3pt shooters. Their problem was, they were short a PF and didn't have enough shooters on their bench--Redick sucks and Pat Garrity is done--and instead of having backup centers who can shoot from mid-range, they now have Adonal Foyle, so Ariza was struggling to find space for his 'offense', which consists of Ceballos-style garbage buckets and occasional drives to the basket.

(Ariza looked good with the Knicks, but most rookies look good there, because the veterans underachieve. He came to the NBA as a 6'9" athlete with few skills, and he's pretty much the same player today.)


Obviously, the Lakers would like it if Ariza suddenly blossomed two years from now, a la Gerald Wallace; however, Wallace spent two years carrying more than his share of the load in a historically bad offense before he started to look like he does today. More likely, Ariza will come home, get comfortable, his improvement will tail off, and he'll have a short career.

IMO this is the order of importance of the Lakers' priorities:

1. Avoid the luxury tax by clearing salary
2. Dump Brian Cook's contract
3. Send Cook as far away as possible

...for all of Cook's weaknesses, top-level shooters with his size are unusual, and in Houston or Phoenix, he could cause a lot of trouble coming off the bench. And since the Lakers are going to get waxed in the first round anyway, I'm sure they'd prefer to avoid any more criticism of their front office...

4. Diversify their bench a bit by replacing Evans with Ariza.

So, even if Ariza is a complete bust, the Lakers have already accomplished most of what they set out to do.

 

[D-Dogg]

imo,
if given opportunity,
Ariza can become the Lakers starting SF

Doubtful. Lamar is the starting SF. Ronny starts at the PF or Vlad when Ronny isn't healthy.

SF is Lamar's natural position, regardless of his size.

 

[dodie53]

Doubtful. Lamar is the starting SF. Ronny starts at the PF or Vlad when Ronny isn't healthy.

SF is Lamar's natural position, regardless of his size.

as of now,
i prefer if Lamar plays PF,
Walton at SF.

 

[TheHopToad]

Lakers playing Boston tonight. I remember the golden days when this was THE game. Now ESPN has picked the Rockets/Heat game instead of this one. My how times have changed.

BTW....Lakers on their way to getting thrashed tonight, but it's early.

 

[D-Dogg]

as of now,
i prefer if Lamar plays PF,
Walton at SF.

No thanks. Lamar isn't a PF...he gets dominated and injured playing against those guys. He's not a banger...he can't defend them...and it throws his whole game off.

Luke's a good 6th man...I don't really like him as a starter.

I much prefer the Lamar SF and Vlad or Ronny at PF depending upon matchups.

 

[LV-Suns]

as of now,
i prefer if Lamar plays PF,
Walton at SF.

Walton is too inconsistent sometimes.