Ariza leaning towards leaving LA

[Jose_TheGenius]

By Chris Broussard
ESPN.com
Archive Trevor Ariza's short but sweet stay in Los Angeles might be coming to an end.


Ariza
The 24-year-old swingman, who played a key role in the Lakers' run to their 15th NBA championship, is on the verge of leaving the club, sources close to the situation said on Wednesday.
With at least five teams pursuing Ariza, the Lakers are currently unwilling to pay him more than the $5.6 million mid-level exception.
"They're letting him go," one of the sources said.
Cleveland is making a hard push for Ariza, and the Cavaliers' coaching staff was speaking with him on Wednesday. While Cleveland can only offer the mid-level as well, Ariza's disappointment with the Lakers' stance has moved other suitors ahead of his current team.
The Rockets, Clippers, Raptors and Blazers are also showing interest in Ariza. Portland and Toronto could each offer more than the mid-level exception.
If the Lakers refuse to increase their offer, it's a clear indication that they are choosing their other big free agent forward, Lamar Odom, over the younger Ariza.
Ariza averaged 8.9 points and 4.3 rebounds in the regular season for the Lakers last season. He increased his scoring to 11.3 points and had 4.2 rebounds per game in the playoffs. He had 16 points and 15 points in the last two Lakers victories in the Finals.
Those numbers were a jump over his career averages of 6.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Ariza has played for three teams in his five-year career.

[Grego]

Wow, if Lakers aren't willing to offer the MLE for this guy.... wow... That would be a big mistake. They can match that level of contract.

Assuming Bynum plays as he has when healthy and was in rhythm....

Lakers with Ariza (without Odom) > Lakers with Odom (without Ariza)

[bobby4germany]

I really think that there is just too much hype for Ariza. Is he athletic, yes; is he going to be a star player? NO The fakers would be smart to let him go and hold on to Odom.

Ariza was only playing better in the finals because Bryant made him better, that is his job as a true all-star.

[Grego]

Originally Posted by bobby4germany

I really think that there is just too much hype for Ariza. Is he athletic, yes; is he going to be a star player? NO The fakers would be smart to let him go and hold on to Odom.

Ariza was only playing better in the finals because Bryant made him better, that is his job as a true all-star.

He deserves the MLE though when you put up against other MLE level players. He is still young and has still a good amount of potential. If he keeps working on his shot he'll be a better offensive version of Bowen.

As far as the Kobe making him better, just about any Spur's talent is boosted greatly by Duncan, especially in his best years a few seasons ago.

[grizzly_bexar]

I read the article as just saying the Lakers are not going to exceed the MLE for him. That's eminently reasonable. If anybody's going to pony up much more than that for a role player they're crazy.

Ariza fits in LA. He is not a star. He looks fantastic playing next to Kobe. But he's really not an impact player on most other teams. He's a good defender who got away with a lot because of his uniform and he's a mediocre shooter. He can't create his own shot. He's worth $4mil/year in my book.

[bobby4germany]

I agree 100%, that is what Super-Stars do! Now Ariza has a big head and thinks he worth alot more than he is, if he were smart he would re-sign with the fakers for less and make another run at a championship.

[miguelito]

Originally Posted by bobby4germany

I really think that there is just too much hype for Ariza. Is he athletic, yes; is he going to be a star player? NO The fakers would be smart to let him go and hold on to Odom.

Ariza was only playing better in the finals because Bryant made him better, that is his job as a true all-star.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Bryant doesn't make his teammates better - never has, never will - and he certainly didn't make Ariza better.

This is great news, because LA will miss Ariza terribly. They're too stupid to realize that they won the title because of Gasol and Ariza, not because of Bryant.

Even still, Boston would have beaten them again last year if Garnett weren't injred, and frankly I think the Spurs would have beaten them if Manu were healthy.

[Grego]

Originally Posted by miguelito

Nothing could be further from the truth. Bryant doesn't make his teammates better - never has, never will - and he certainly didn't make Ariza better.

This is great news, because LA will miss Ariza terribly. They're too stupid to realize that they won the title because of Gasol and Ariza, not because of Bryant.

Even still, Boston would have beaten them again last year if Garnett weren't injred, and frankly I think the Spurs would have beaten them if Manu were healthy.

No way that is true. Bonner and Mason were garbage down the stretch going into the playoffs and in the post season. Dallas might have still beaten Spurs with a healthy Manu.

[bobby4germany]

Originally Posted by Grego

No way that is true. Bonner and Mason were garbage down the stretch going into the playoffs and in the post season. Dallas might have still beaten Spurs with a healthy Manu.

+1
No way does the Spurs beat the fakers last year even with a healthy Manu, all the role players didnt even bother showing up come play-off time. I hate to say it but they were in leauge all there own.

[grizzly_bexar]

Originally Posted by miguelito

Nothing could be further from the truth. Bryant doesn't make his teammates better - never has, never will - and he certainly didn't make Ariza better.

This is great news, because LA will miss Ariza terribly. They're too stupid to realize that they won the title because of Gasol and Ariza, not because of Bryant.

Even still, Boston would have beaten them again last year if Garnett weren't injred, and frankly I think the Spurs would have beaten them if Manu were healthy.

Seriously?

I hate Kobe as much as the next guy, but you have to admit playing on the wing with Kobe made Ariza's life a lot easier. Not to mention the overall good talent on the team.

Kobe's offensive game drew all the attention of defenses, so that Ariza was consistently left wide open for 3's. Gasol played a role there too.

Kobe is an all-league defender, so he just had to worry about his man, not trying to help Kobe out defensively (like say a Bruce or Manu had to worry about helping Finley). And Ariza had Gasol/Bynum/Odom behind him to clean up his mistakes.

You can't deny that playing on the Lakers made Ariza look good-- a lot better than he ever looked with Orlando.

[TRslick81]

Trevor Ariza-F-Lakers Jul. 1 - 11:05 pm et

ESPN reports that free agent swingman Trevor Ariza is close to leaving the Lakers, possibly to sign with the Cavaliers.
The Lakers and the Cavs are both offering the mid-level exception, but Ariza is unhappy with L.A.'s blasé attitude toward his free agency. Other teams interested include the Rockets, Clippers, Raptors and Blazers.
Source: ESPN.com

if the cavs can lose pavlovic and wallace andgain shaq and ariza they might not lose a game

[one3]

Fakers are not worried about losing Ariza because they still have this guy

[spursfan9]

man , we are paying all that money for jeffersoonn!!! we could have signed ariza at a nomimal fee ... and he's only 24..

if only we had known.

we'd have had ariza for half of jefferson's cost and had crazy money to to sign a center.

ouch

[Grego]

Originally Posted by spursfan9

man , we are paying all that money for jeffersoonn!!! we could have signed ariza at a nomimal fee ... and he's only 24..

if only we had known.

we'd have had ariza for half of jefferson's cost and had crazy money to to sign a center.

ouch

You act like it's a sure thing. Spurs can still offer the MLE. Ariza wants more, but he's saying he'll sign for the MLE with another team to try to play hard ball with the Lakers. He wants to be in LA, but make more money.

Anything is possible, but all the key pieces would need to fall through for Ariza to be a Spur. Regardless, RJ is a better offensive player.

[spursfan9]

Originally Posted by Grego

You act like it's a sure thing. Spurs can still offer the MLE. Ariza wants more, but he's saying he'll sign for the MLE with another team to try to play hard ball with the Lakers. He wants to be in LA, but make more money.

Anything is possible, but all the key pieces would need to fall through for Ariza to be a Spur. Regardless, RJ is a better offensive player.

i'm not saying its a sure thing. i'm just saying, if ariza leaves, he could be signed for half of jeffersons contract... and if the spurs did that, they would have a lot more money open for getting a center.

ariza might not leave the lakers. if he does , he may have not wanted to sign w/ the spurs... and, two weeks ago, there's no way the spurs could have known this would bee a possibility. plus, we still would have had to find a way to make a trade to get rid of the contracts to free up the money.

just saying, ariza is good. and only 24. getting better and better. and we neeed a center real bad.

[Grego]

Originally Posted by spursfan9

i'm not saying its a sure thing. i'm just saying, if ariza leaves, he could be signed for half of jeffersons contract... and if the spurs did that, they would have a lot more money open for getting a center.

ariza might not leave the lakers. if he does , he may have not wanted to sign w/ the spurs... and, two weeks ago, there's no way the spurs could have known this would bee a possibility. plus, we still would have had to find a way to make a trade to get rid of the contracts to free up the money.

just saying, ariza is good. and only 24. getting better and better. and we neeed a center real bad.

To get Ariza, they'd end up using their MLE (they'd still be over the cap without the deal). They would need to at least spend the MLE.

Then there would be no other money for a guy like Sheed for example. However, in the current scenario, they is a possibility that Sheed is a Spur since they have the full exception.

[maurice13]

Originally Posted by one3

Fakers are not worried about losing Ariza because they still have this guy

But do they still have the mustache?

[Rzarector7]

Originally Posted by spursfan9

i'm not saying its a sure thing. i'm just saying, if ariza leaves, he could be signed for half of jeffersons contract... and if the spurs did that, they would have a lot more money open for getting a center.

ariza might not leave the lakers. if he does , he may have not wanted to sign w/ the spurs... and, two weeks ago, there's no way the spurs could have known this would bee a possibility. plus, we still would have had to find a way to make a trade to get rid of the contracts to free up the money.

just saying, ariza is good. and only 24. getting better and better. and we neeed a center real bad.

RJ is a 20ppg scorer, we got him for basically little! Is Ariza proven like RJ? NO. He had a decent playoff run, other than that?

Get over it already he left LA or is going to for the MLE or slightly more, we got Jefferson and it was a THEFT, we took it and ran with it.

We need a Center badly yes, we still can get one this offseason! We can get one! Did you think of that yet? I see you are panicing now and dissing our prior moves, we got a steal in Jefferson and our draft picks were great and we still got the MLE, what more do you wnat this early?

Last year we bricked on Maggette and got RMJ, plus our draft was not as good as this years, just smile and accept the FACT SA got ALOT better already and still have some moves to go, some fans are never happy it seems.

[maldoror]

Originally Posted by Grego

Wow, if Lakers aren't willing to offer the MLE for this guy.... wow... That would be a big mistake.

The Lakers are offering MLE money.

The article says:

"the Lakers are currently unwilling to pay him more than the $5.6 million mid-level exception."

If this is true it's understandable. Ariza is strictly a role player and doesn't deserve more than the MLE. The 5th best player on your team doesn't deserve more than MLE money. If Ariza wants more than the MLE (which it looks like he does) and Artest would take the MLE, that's an easy decision for the Lakers. They sign Artest. Artest is the better player in the short term anyway.