“Me thinks this is a bad idea”.

A player as volatile as Artest could mess up the zen in the Laker locker room. News reports say that this trade will compensate for the loss of Trevor Ariza, but I really doubt it. Ariza’s height is listed as 6-8 and he plays like one. Artest’s height is listed as 6-7 but he plays like a 6-0 player to me.

Ariza weighs in at 210 lbs. We have a quick and athletic player. Artest weighs in at 260 lbs., which makes him slow for a guard/small forward.

And the main reason why Ariza was effective last season was the recognition that he was a 3-point shooter. If you look at his 3-pt field goal percentage, it averages at around 50%. Artest is not as reliable from the 3-pt line, only averaging about 30%. The point of having reliable 3-point shooters is to help lessen the burden on the big men, and on premier players like Kobe.

And let’s not forget about the Kobe-Artest trash talking during the games between the Lakers and the Rockets in the playoffs.

Does the Lakers team need more attention? Do they want to change their image into a bad boy one? The Bulls took Rodman because of his rebounding prowess, not his antics. I don’t see anything special Artest could bring into the Laker team that they don’t already have.

If I were part of Laker management, I’d try to find another gem of a player in the “unknown” basket… a rookie, or free agent perhaps, who does not have an ego, and will fit well in the existing system of the Lakers. This team already has stars in Kobe, Gasol, Odom, and Fisher. They should learn from their experience in 2004 that having too many “big-named” players on a team could backfire.