The Lakers have acquired 6′8 forward Trevor Ariza from the Orlando Magic for Maurice Evans and Brian Cook. Trevor Ariza averaged 8.9 ppg and 4.4 rpg for the Orlando Magic last season.
Was this a good move? Lakers get rid of Cook’s 3.5 million dollar contract and get an athletic 6-8 forward that finishes well around the rim? Sound off in comments!
Related:
Magic get bigger with Cook, dealing little-used Ariza
BREAKING NEWS: Lakers’ Ariza exercises ‘09 option
Ariza cleared to return soon
Ariza is adjusting after trade
Grading The Deal: Lakers Steal Ariza - Lakers = A+
BREAKING NEWS: Ariza cleared, practiced today!
Seems weird to do a trade so early. Atleast you ot rid of Cook. I think Ariza is a decent pick up. My question is this a move to Keep Kobe around or Trade him?I would think keep.
I don’t like this trade. Mo Evans plays well with the second unit and i love his hustle. His shot is not that bad and i liked him as kobe’s backup. I don’t give a rats about cook, but dammit i dont like this. Bad trade in my eyes.
We get rid of cooks salary? I thought he had a poison pill clause? That would mean the other team has 3+ mil incoming while the lakers get rid of 1+ mil outgoing. I could be wrong.
i hate this trade but good u got rid of cook but i liked mo y would u trade him he is a solid player
okay mr47 this trade is a good trade trevor who is way more athletic than evans is way better he is younger faster and more flexible watch this guys
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_p6MpMn47mE
Cookie is gone, thats good! but the Lakers are still short on their trades but im confident that tere is more to come!!!I too will miss MO, o well!!!
I don’t like getting rid of Mo, but I like that we got Cook and his salary. Ariza’s athletic ability will help and he should fit in nicely with the “Bench Mob”!
I think we all will miss Mo Evans, but Ariza is very similar to Evans. Very athletic, and has unbelivable jumping ability. Go check him out on YouTube. I think he can help us out because he shoots over 50% and we need a guy that can finish well around the basket. Although I miss Evans, just like Smush I feel getting rid of Cook is addition by subtraction!
Also, this may help get Javaris in the game!
RealGm grades Lakers an A and Orlando a D+
http://www.realgm.com/src_fromtherafters/126/20071120/grading_the_deal_lakers_steal_ariza/
Cook is self explanatory and Mo is athletic but injury prone. Great trade!
When will Ariza debut as a Laker???
That’s the #1 reason why am happy this trade happened. Extra roster spot just opened up. Oh, and Cookie leaving too.
Here’s the problem with Mo that Detroit fans told us when we got him: Very streaky (Hot Mo - Cold Mo) and not a defensive specialist. Defense comes from his athleticism. Was he that? Precisely it was. When Kobe played, the last person they wanted to guard him was Mo. Nevertheless he was a professional guy and came to do his thing on the court. (Queens fan, Detroit fans said that too). I’m content with getting Ariza who the Magic fans praise his defense for.
Cook? Frak him.
I think you will be impressed, check it out
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_p6MpMn47mE
i miss Mo =( good man
Great move. Evan’s hustle will be missed, but the team will get a younger and athletic player. I think, J-Critt will get the chance to play and show his stuff now that a playing spot has been opened. Sasha and J-Critt will sub for Kobe when he rests. Bench Mob rules!!!
I think this was a move to cut salary. I think it puts the Lakers under the luxury tax (I could be wrong but it puts them pretty close) so it saves the Lakers about 3.2 million dollars. Plus Evans contract is up after this year and will likely seek more than what he is making now, while Ariza is under contract for two more years. So from a financial point of view its a good move. I don’t know enough about Ariza to decide if its a good basketball move. Though I won’t miss Cook.
Maybe he’ll be used as trade bait???Maybe they will! offer LO to indi for JO, being that the Lakers are reluctant to trade Bynum.We’ll just have to wait and see,good addition thou!!!
great trade. we needed to get rid of cook, addition by subtraction for sure. two of the worse lakers players from last year are in florida now . evan? oh well, i wish him the best, he was a good guy. I’m excited to see ariza play. another hometown player. question. Who’s going to take cook’s spot as the daily STD?
LOL
Actually the lakers save 4.4M in this deal. 2.2 million in the salary difference, and 2.2M in luxury tax. I am sure the Lakers board is quite happy.
Great trade for the Lakers. I have literally been counting down the days to get rid of this waste of space known as Brian Cook (did he start the last game by the way?) I will miss Maurice Evans for sure, great guy and a decent role player. However, he was injured the whole second half of the year and has a bad back to start this year. He is a warrior and was gutting it out but he is injury prone. Brian Cook is the equivalent of playing 4 on 5 whenever he is in the game and had a crappy contract. Like many have said on here… a benefit to this move is opening up another roster spot for a young guy (Critt and Coby). I dont know much about Ariza but from the looks of it we are getting an energy defense guy. Basically a younger version of Evans but with much more potential.
With any trade i worry about team chemistry….
Thank God!! everytime cook shoots his flat footed threes, i scream. it sucks to lose mo but cook is gone. he is the only on on the bench who doesn’t score.
Actually from looking at his stats Ariza’s defensive numbers are horrible this year. Last year he was slightly under average. But I don’t know much about him so I am basing that just off of stats. So if anyone has seen him play they may know a little more than I do.
This better be one piece of a 100 piece puzzle, thats all i have to say
This is a trade that can go either way (very bad or very good), but the bottom line, this trade was made to cut salary. Cook is in the first of a 3 year, $10M deal. He wasn’t playing for crap and we need to dump the salary (hopefully to get below the luxury cap and sign free agents after this year). Mo Evans is a free agent next year and probably would not have been resigned by the Lakers (he’s too injury proned). Who knows, maybe the magic will buy out his contract and he could resign with the Lakers (probable, but not likely).
I don’t know much about Ariza’s performance in the NBA except Larry Brown was starting him when Larry coached the Knicks (that’s what I’ve read anyways). From what I understand, Ariza is very athletic and is a good defender. He was traded to guard guys like Marion, Steven Jackson, and other taller swingmen-like players in the west. Not to mention his salary is favorable. Over the next two years he makes less than $3M/year and can opt out after this year if he wants, so if this guy decides to opt out, the Lakers would cut more payroll and could offer more to free agents in the offseason.
Another reason this trade was made was probably to give more time to Java. Java is to be the backup to Kobe and has to be given playing time to learn.
The gamble of this trade is that the Lakers gave away a big man (even if it is Brian Cook). With Kwame on the shelf for at least a month, and Turiaf still not 100% with that ankle, not sure if we are limiting ourselves with our big men. Let’s say a prayer that no more of our big men get hurt.
now we have and empty roster spot
i love the fact that we got rid of cook. he never did anything good for the team. as for ariza is he gonna back up kobe because we have a lot of sf if so no pt for critt. also i think its a salary dump because ariza has one year left not 2 as mentioned before so with those salaries plus the 9 mil we get from kwame gone we will have around 13 mil to get a big time fa next year. good move for the lakers.
Cook is gone! An early Christmas present! I’ll miss Mo though.
THE LAKERS WILL NOT BE UNDER THE SALARY CAP NEXT YEAR EVEN WITH ALL THE MONEY COMING OFF THE BOOOKS. SO THE ONLY MONEY THEY WILL HAVE TO SIGN FA IS THE MLE. The lakers are over 15M over the cap right now, so this does not help in that department. What it does is put the lakers close to being under or just under the luxury tax. So it saves the lakers some money in that department, but it does not allow them to get under the salary cap next year. They might actually just be under by about .5M next year if Mihm opts out, Ariza opts out, and they don’t resign Turalf and let Sasha go as a FA. Not really enough to sign any big time players.
Man a trade went down, and people are debating good or bad?
Personally there is no better thing than opening up a spot on the roster for the new guys, and getting an athletic an impressive player like Ariza. One thing that hasn’t been said.
Good job Mitch.
Trevor Ariza is a solid player. More consistent than Cook and Mo Evans and plays defense. This is the highlight of Kupchak’s Career!! lol
I hate it when K-Cal airs the game on a delay wtf???vale verga ch9
Ariza was one of the guys Kobe invited to his camp to play with him during the summer. Good Move by the Lakers.
Yeah, i agree with MILO, to hell with k-cal 9, those bastards
oh and nice move by the lakeshow, Ariza looks good and can fit well with this team.
Did I read that wrong? Did Otis Smith say Cook will bring added toughness to Orlando? Wow! Good luck.
Ariza is one of those Hustle-Beasts and he is super athletic PLUS his defensive heart. GOOD TRADE INDEED. Getting rid of weak sauce Cook is a first step. I like Mo, but I don’t mind losing him.
Chris Mihm
aww leave Mihm alone. From personal experience, it’s incredibly hard to come back from such a devastating injury.
I didn’t real all the posts, so this question may have been answered: Why would Orlando agree to this trade?????
hey neo!!!
because they are sorely lacking a big man besides dwight howard…they figure that cook can spread the floor with his outside shooting and dwight can clean up down low….i’m a high school coach…lol
I live out here in Magic land.. I’m not as excited about this trade as some. Ariza is essentially a cheaper Mo Evans. So we give up two players to get one of them back. Hmmmm. The problem as we know it takes players a long time to learn the triangle so Ariza will not find his full potential this year. Ariza was barely getting any tick even in garbage time this year. I hate cook but at least both these players were getting time on a good team. The Magic are not that deep and this guy wasn’t playing. I’m sorry Mitch I need more… This reminds me of Butler and Atkins for Kwame. What are we doing. Also I’m sorry I know this opens a spot for one of the younger guys but really we all know rookies hit the wall at some point we need guys to be there all year … Look back to last year when guys hit the wall
Ahmed,
This reminds you of Kwame for Butler and Atkins…wow. Were not losing anything. I like Evans, but Ariza is esentially the same type of player. And we got rid of the worst Laker COOK. This is the same guy that threw his jersey in Phil’s lap last year. He thinks he’s better then he is and is just a tall, un-athletic, Donyell Marshall type of player but worse. He cant play D and has 10.5 million that he doesnt deserve. So we got the best part of this deal. No Doubt. Trust me you will see, and yes, extra roster spot opens it up for Jarvis to give us a little something. Think of the starters Mihm,Ronny,LO,Bryant, DFISH…and the 2nd unit Famar,Ariza,Walton,Radmanovic, and Bynum…wow Not to mention Jarvis,Sasha,Kwame…were deeeep.
godd deal opens a spot get a good young player ariza.Mo is ok he played better last year cook is a good shooter but that is about it. Finally mitch does a good trade
Good trade!We finally got rid of Cook, I was getting tired of his bad attitude and defense the guy was taking way to many shots thinking his MJ.LOL
Dbricks…don’t get me wrong getting rid of cook I love … But I don’t think we needed to trade Mo in order for this to happen …or we could have possibly gotten a little more. This trade to me shows me exactly what mode the lakers are in cutting salary. This can go one are two ways… The way we all would like is this is just part of a master plan to bring in more top notch players to help win a championship and keep Kobe happy and in LA. The other side of this could be a eventual trade of Kobe so the plan is to get cheap and young real quick. I’m not sure, I will let the dust settle but we always seem to want to give up a little to much for suspect talent
another dumb move by our dumb GM. wat ru thinkin gettin rid of mo evens. every disappointing move. i don’t realy care bout cook but mo is a great hustler n was a good fit 4 our team
mitch’s unbelievable, just get rid of this idiot b4 he trades kobe.
Aside from the caron butler and atkins for kwame comment, I see where ahmed is coming from. Getting rid of cook is great, he was dead weight, stubborn, and made little to not progress since being in the NBA. He’s a terrible player, him and smush are the only players i wanted GONE last year (radman too, but that was only because he was an idiot with his injury). I think mo evans was a solid backup to Kobe and we know he can play defense. He was familiar with the triangle and was very energetic off the bench. In other words, I think we would trade Ariza for someone like evans. There are definitely upsides to the trade ( I wanted javaris *why does everyone call him jarvis* crittenton to get more time), but giving up evans was a bad move. Overall, not happy with the trade. Here’s the math in case you guys don’t want to read this post:
Losing Evans = -10 pts
Losing Cook = +7
Gaining Ariza = +1
Which = -2 (bad move)
YEEEEEESSS!!!!Lakers fans our dreams have come true….BRIAN COOK IS GONE(Sorry Mo.Evans nothin’ against you).
There has to be another move coming, this trade makes no sense. They must be looking for another forward, especially with Brown out indefinitely.
I also think the trade was a little too early and I was starting to like Mo Evans. But at least we got rid of Brian Cook.
this sucks for Mo evans sorry and thanks for ur effort wish him the da best..but cook he never needed good luck to him too and welcome ariza..is he gonna wear #1???
i would like to see the trade in detail. i wanna know why Mo had to go =(
hmm…what an interesting trade by the lakers. i think this was an okay trade, however i think it will eventually pay off at the end because it sends out a not so great brian cook who was taking in a salary he did not deserve and an average player in maurice evans. the only thing i dont like about this trade was having to give up maurice evans because he was doing pretty well for the lakers and he was a very nice person, but he is in his last year on his contract so he was probably gonna leave either as a free agent or been traded like he was.
i like this deal because it does free up some more playing time for our other younger players and it gives the lakers some more cap space with cook’s contract being traded away. i think ariza will fit in well with the lakers system because he is a long and athletic 6′8 forward and he can play some good defense, even better than mo evans because he’s younger, longer and quicker.
good trade lakers, a sign of good things to come hopefully!
I think that this is a great trade since he is a UCLA alumni and he offers the athleticism of Maurice Evans with the size of Brian Cook and gets rid of Cook’s big contract so that next year if we don’t resign Kwame(G-d forbid that Mitch doesn’t do something that stupid) we will have enough cap space to sign an Elton Brand or another decent free agent. Good job Mitch, congrats on your first real trade that will actually make a difference and your first good move since drafting Farmar. I think that the Laker organization is starting to not look like a total embarrassment.
Could this move have been made for Webber or Pj Brown?…or are the lakers about to ship Kwame and his 9mill away
a trade? i never saw this coming..
ill miss mo.
I don’t think this is a good trade. we got rid of cap…great! we got rid of cook…even better! but a 2 for 1? come on kupchak. MO was a good player. good hustle and decent shot. he will be missed. hopefully this trade is for the better.
killo15, its 1 on 1 trade since cook is insignificant in the equation…lol
could’ve gotten more if they included sasha and kwame instead of mo…
trading cook is good. getting rid of his salary and we have guy with same abilities as brian cook in vlade.
i wish they didn’t trade mo evans but he had to go to make the numbers work. T.Ariza has some upside so hopefully he can get better during his lakers years.
i like this trade. it also gives us roster flexibility with 14 instead of 15. With this trade, lakers aren’t going to get any worse. In worst case, they saved some cap space.
Well, i think this trade is fairly good..not bad because we got rid of cookies’ big salary and we also acquired a player (Ariza) who has an expiring contract. This will urge Trevor to do better..Furthermore, he’s from LA..he will not find it hard to adopt the LA environment..
I’m gonna miss Mo’s flashy dunks but i cant wait to see trevor do his dunks..
Another good thing about this trade is that we now have 14 players only,so this may mean that we can acquire Chris Webber..lol!
I think Webber might consider to join the team because we are now one of the hottest teams in the league…Look on how the team destroyed Chicago and Indiana, they do it with the team spirit on it..glad to see Kobe increasing his field goal percentage…(almost .500 from the Field,yeah!)
Tomorrow, in Milwaukee, good luck to our team..Go Lakers!
This trade was made for Vladimir Radmanovic so that Radman could get more minutes. This is a good trade for us i hate seeing mo go but hey atleast we get ariza. Thank you Lakers for trading cookie.
He´s gone finally!!!!!
i dont know, i will have to see ariza play to give my opinion, but for now i think it was a good trade but, i miss Mo…
I hate Vujacic he sucks and needs a haircut. Why couldn’t they have shipped him out with Cookie instead. They both weren’t getting playing time and Evans was part of the bench and rotation and he’s a good backup for Kobe. Mitch you can’t even get a simple trade to go down right. Is this like the 10th SF we have on the team now?
as hard as it is to see a good person and decent player like maurice evans be traded away, i think this trade helps by making the lakers a younger team and removing cookies big contract that he doesnt deserve. the only drawback from this trade is that it does leave us a bit thin in the front court, especially with the power forward position, but we can always move odom to that spot and we still have turiaf and radmanovic there too.
now im just looking forward to ariza coming to the lakers and playing his first minutes as a laker. i like his upside because hes still very young so theres room for improvment, hes long, and very athletic. i think he can really help us defensively with his excellent 6′8 frame.
so the new lakers lineup will probably look like this now with the acquisition of ariza (keep in mind that this is gonna be with kwame brown on the injured list).
starting lineup:
pg: derek fisher
sg: kobe bryant
sf: lamar odom
pf: ronny turiaf
c: andrew bynum
bench:
pg: jordan farmar/javaris crittenton
sg: trevor ariza/sasha vujacic/coby karl
sf: luke walton
pf: vladimir radmanovic
c: chris mihm
injured: kwame brown
i think the lakers can roll with this roster till the end of the season or they can immediately fill that final roster spot with a free agent signee and it should be a veteran big man. it would just help to bolster our front court and give the team some insurance.
TLN satff, i caught on to the fact that you’re clock still has’nt been changed.Not really important, but none the less it’d be nice if you changed it!!!
I don’t know if getting Ariza is good, I guess we just got to wait and see. But trading Cook & Evans was a good move, I read alot about Mo being missed and he was a good…my opinion, I don’t think was good in the Chicago game he kept missing easy baskets, I personally don’t care about either of them being traded! I just hope Ariza can be a big Plus to our LALakers. And well I guess there won’t be any more STD’s on the LAKERS, that’s GOOD!!!!!
I like this trade. Ariza is already better than Cook and Evans. His potential is all-star level which is far higher than Evans or Cook. Ariza is better defender and better athleticism. I think we’ve gotten better by this trade. Plus we open up a roster spot for another acquisition.
Drake, weren’t you the same guy that said we should still trade Bynum for JO a few days ago? By the way, if you didn’t watch today’s game, Bynum punked JO on two blocks back to back. Also, Bynum went for 17 on 6/6 shooting and 4 blocks and got yet another double double. You, of all people have no right to question Cupcake
HAVE RESPECT FOR COOKIE I MEAN HE CAME AND WATCHED THE GAME TONIGHT BECUASE HE WAS A LITTLE MELANCHOLY AFTER FINDING OUTHE WAS TRADED. COOKIE WILL ALWAYS HAVE A PLACE IN MANY LAKER FANS HEART BUT AS KOBE SAID ITSA BUISNESS AND HE HAS TO MOVE ON.
WELCOME TREVOR ARIZA THIS YEARS SLAM DUNK CHAMPION
GREAT TRADE!!
Ariza is a great player and can guard extremely well, one of the best rebounding SFs, can finish around the rim, and shoots a higher percentage than both evans and cook.
I can’t wait to watch tomorrow ’s game.
This trade came just in time for the Boston game on Friday.
Does Trev play tomorrow?
ALL OF THE PLAYERS HAVE TO GET THEIR PHYSICALS BUT HE WILL BE WITH THE TEAM
trevor ariza will get to show off his skills and athleticism with the lakers than he ever would have in orland because he was stuck on the bench coming behind rashard lewis, hedo turkoglu, and keith bogans. i think with his high offensive and defensive energy coming off the lakers bench, it will help the team in a big way.
i think with the acquisition of ariza, he will fill the missing role of caron butler after we traded him for kwame. think about it, he is an energetic and athletic player, not as strong as caron butler, but just as tough and even larger with his 6′8 and long frame. he can really get up high for those slam dunks, im really excited about that!
just imagine, the lakers new big 3 off the bench will be andrew bynum, trevor ariza, and jordan farmar. thats a nice group of youngsters to have coming off the bench rotation. i just wanna see both bynum and ariza get all the dunks they can with farmar dishing out all those passes. its gonna be a really young and energetic bench for the lakers with jordan leading the way along with veterans radmanovic and walton to stabilize and round out the 2nd unit.
ARIZA AND GAY IN SLAM DUNK COMPETITION
Welcome Home Trevor, I’ve been speaking your praise since you got in the league and I couldn’t be happier, now if we could only get the Ravens to activate Drew Olsen.
If we can’t sign someone with the free roster spot… Hello Larry Turner?
Mo Evans was seemed like he was better last year than this year. Probably because of his injury to his back and hamstring. I hope Magic knows they are kind of getting an injured player in return. As for Cook, you know why the Lakers did so well tonight? Right … No B. Cook jackin’ shots or making poor post up moves. Cook is probably a very good catch and shoot guy. But he can never make the 3 with a defender in front of him. The Lakers have 14 now.
There has to be at least 1 more move this year the Lakers are going to make this year. Maybe signing of a free agent or maybe a team will buyout a player and Lakers will take him. (Not Marbury!)
if the lakers decide on signing another player to the vacant 15th roster spot, it should be a big man. we got thinner up front with the trade of cook, so it would make sense to get some insurance for our front court by signing a veteran big man for minimum salary.
here’s a list of some possible free agent big men:
- chris webber
- pj brown
- mike sweetney
- danny fortson
neither…a move to just make the lakers better…just like not trading bynum for Oneal was.
WE NEEED NONE OF THOSE RICKY THE YOUTH MOVEMENT IN LA IS FINE
My last memory of evans will be his follow-up dunk against the Pistons and him skipping and hopping in front of their bench. I think Evans was needed in case the Lakers ever got into a team brawl… he was pretty ripped. But no worries, Coby Karl looks tough. haha. We’ll miss you MO. Respect to cooky as well… he took good charges and was pumped up when he got the call his way… just inconsistent and didn’t seem like he was trying all that hard out there and chewed his gum a little too adomently.
Is Ariza gonna wear #1? Who is the last Laker to wear #1 …. was it one of my favorites … Anthony Peeler?
p.s. whatever happened to “The Theif” Sedale Threatt? Much respect to the struggling early 90’s squad. Built character as a Laker Fan… Lets get back on top.
Heres to a great year fans… cheers!
i would go for webber…
No Webber please. He’s too defenseless.
last player to wear # 1? Smush. Wow, he was forgotten pretty quickly. i wonder why farmar didnt take 1 this year?
Um, actually its Java who wears number 1 and before him it was Smush so i guess you are not well informed or just forgot.
Ariza has worn number 21 and 1 so far in the NBA and both those numbers are taken. 1 by Java and 21 by Ronny.
Pick a number kid. Just not 8.
nice trade!
i love Evan, but cook is really useless in lakers
time for mihn and sasha~
This is a great day. Cook was such a liability to the team in so many ways, I was thinking buyout his contract. Never thought any team would take in his salary. LOL, the Magic guy called him “tough.” HAHAHAHA. Bye Bye, Cook!
That’s two down (Smush and Cook) and one to go (Kwame “the highlight of my career was when they chant my name for making a couple wide open uncontested dunks in a series we didn’t even win” Brown).
When I saw the trade news, I was like, “FRRRRREEEEEEDDDDDOOOOMMMMMM!!!…okay, now who is Trevor Ariza?”
Thanks for posting that utube clip. Wow-wowee. This guy can fly. I love the clip of him kicking Okafor in the nuts. http://youtube.com/watch?v=s9UlwNqG3AU&feature=related
That’s what I’m talking about!!!!
And thanks for posting that realgm link. They got the trade grades right. Lakers get an A!!! We needed a defensive upgrade, and we got one big time.
Okay now a couple questions for you experts:
- Cook and Mo were averaging a combined total of 26 minutes per game. Who’s getting those minutes now?
- What’s our best rotation look like? I mean, LO at SF is looking great. And Luke is a small forward. And Ariza is listed as a small forward. So what’s the deal? Can Ariza slide over to SG and back up Kobe? Or does Crite take over as Kobe’s backup (can he play SG?)
- What’s going to happen next? Do we really need 3 centers? Is there any way in hell get Kwame off the team, in exchange for a solid power forward?
if the lakers will fill up the 15th spot in their roster…they should wait til nxt yr…their current line up now is so tough…no injuries should happpen…they should get elton brand nxt yr….
2008-2009 LA Lakers Roster
starting line up:
center: andrew bynum
pf: elton brand
sf: lamar odom
sg: koby bryant
pg: derek fisher
bench:
center: chris mhim
pf: ronny turiaf / vladimir radmanovic
sf: luke walton / trevor arriza
sg: javaris crittenton / coby karl
pg: jordan farmar / sasha vujacic
LA LAKERS NBA CHAMPION!!!
kwame brown??? bye bye….hehehehehe
Kelvz the Lakers can not get Elton Brand unless he is willing to play for the MLE. But would you walk away from 10M? Thats not going to happen. So the only way they get Brand is via a sign and trade.
Ariza is a 3, however I think that he could technically be Kobe’s back and play with the second unit with Walton. It would be a huge line up that would create match up problems. Defensively you would just put Walton on the slower man, whether thats the 3 or the 2 position.
Looking at his stats Ariza is an average defender. This year his numbers are horrible, SF are shooting 59% against him, but he has only played limited minutes so it might be due to small sample size. Last year he was average, but people who have seen him play more say he is a good defender, not a lock down defender but he stays in front of his man pretty well. Offensively he can dunk, and thats it. He has no jump shot whatsoever but should be fairly effective cutting to the basket with either Walton or Farmar looking for him and in transition.
Overall I think it was a good trade. No one will miss Cook. Mo was a good back up for Kobe and he knows the triangle, so that will be missed. Financially this was a great move, I don’t know the numbers exactly but I believe this puts the Lakers under the luxury tax so it saves them at least 4.5M (salary and tax money) this year, plus I think now they part of the money that teams who are over the luxury tax pay in. It also saves a lot of money in the long run because Cook had 3 yrs 10.5M left on his contract, while Ariza has 1 yr with a player option for 1 more worth 2.9M. So I agree with realGM and I would give the Mitch at A for this move and Orlando a C- for taking Cooks bad contract; Mo will help them so that offsets it a little bit.
There is a fairly good write up about him at http://www.forumblueandgold.com they have some insight from orlando and Knick bloggers who have seen him more.
If there’s was one player we can sacrifice to lose just to get rid of BCook’s contract it would be Mo’. I know some would argue Sasha but he adds depth to the team when we need pure shooters.
Mo’ is very undersized for his position and is also kind of inconsistent. He got mad hops and hustles but bigger SG/SF bullies him around. He was supposed to be Devean George’s role replacement (guarding the likes of VCarter, Lebron and Carmelo’s of the league) but he couldn’t match up well with them because of his size.
Ariza is athletic and has length. This will be a risky trade but we had to get rid of BCook. We all know no team will take Cook’s contract so we had to offer a bait. Mo’ was just that.
Good trade i think.
Gentlemen of the panel and Orlando Magic Fans,
Congratulations to the Magic on acquiring the second most useless power forward in Laker History. Second only to Samaki Walker, Brian Cook was the most useless piece of 6″10 space ever put in the NBA. His 3 rebounds a game should be the indication of toughness you will receive with him being on the court and if you like his 3 point shooting i hope you enjoy his career average of 0.6 made a game. As for Mo Evans, tough to lose a player like Mo. Doesnt whine or {Profanity isn't allowed on theLakersNation.com -- Please go back and edit your comment. Thank you.}, just plays tough D but to be honest, mo evans does not handle the ball very well. He has a tendency to make bad decisions. This Laker team is HOT and its not by accident. Two years ago when we were about to oust the Suns in the first round everyone was all of Mitch’s jock. Then the year after when we had magnanimous injury problems with our entire front line missing for over 30 games, people were piling on. Kobe included. But now, after our role players (especially Farmar whom i call Jafar) have stepped their game up two fold, The Lakers look like a threat in the west. Utah is inconsistent and if Houston is relying on BrokeBack T-Mac to carry them, i feel bad. He’s oh so fragile. Lakers 50-32, i called it before the season started, 4th seed in the west.
THE LEGEND