Re: watching the lakers erode away their hopes for repeating

When I saw the title of this post, of course I thought the sole focus of this post would be on the Lakers' likely loss of Odom. While you mention that, your premise is that the Artest acquisition and Ariza loss is what will have the most influence.

Respectfully (always!), I disagree.

You're right - Ariza's solid. I also think it's true that Ariza can play the "backup" or "No. 3" (perhaps even No. 4 or No. 5) scoring role quite well. But, it's your characterization of Artest that I mostly disagree with.

1. Artest played well with Yao and T-Mac, then knew how to be the "leader" when T-Mac (and later Yao) went down. Despite his past reputation, Artest knows that he's lost to Kobe before and he won't be taking the "lead" of this team anytime that No. 24 is on the floor.

2. As you mentioned, Artest is a defensive stalwart. Of course, Ariza had his shining moments on the defensive end as well, but the point is this: Artest on the floor means that Kobe won't have to guard the other team's best player/scorer (be it LeBron, Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, etc.) Ariza may get to that point in his career, but he's not there yet.

3. While I'll admit to having worries about his character/attitude, I've pretty much stopped thinking about that. As I said in #1, his ego should be kept in check by Kobe, and Phil knows how to deal with people like him (i.e. Dennis Rodman). Moreover, if Odom comes back, Artest and Odom grew up together supposedly, and I'm sure that will help.

My biggest concern is the return of Odom, but frankly, I still (perhaps wrongly) believe that Odom will be back. The latest I've heard is that Odom called Jerry Buss this week to reignite talks, in the midst of Miami offering him a deal.

The Lakers can still pay Odom the most, and frankly, his little spat probably earned him a better deal than he would have got had he signed on July 1.

With Odom back, the team is virtually the same as it was last year. Artest and Ariza are a near wash in my book, though if you hold a gun to me I probably give the edge to Artest.

Without Odom is obviously a different story, but despite Bynum's disappearance in the 2009 Playoffs, you can't forget about the player he can/could/may be come the 2009-2010 season.

Always the eternal optimist, I still bet on a 2010 repeat.