Ariza Watch

Is it possible the dream to repeat is unraveling already?

The Lakers have just two primary objectives this off-season, re-signing Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza.  Thus far things are going well enough with Lamar Odom, but the Ariza situation has taken a dramatic turn for the worse (allegedly).

For a guy who proclaims to bleed purple and gold, Trevor Ariza sure seems to be flirting with a lot of other teams.  That’s like having your girlfriend tell you she wants to marry you and then immediately heading out to the clubs and giving half the dudes lap dances.  Not that that sort of thing ever happens… let’s move on.  Free agency is only one day old, but Ariza has already been linked to several teams. The question though is whether or not Ariza’s flirting is because he is looking to find a new mate or just trying to convince his current one who likes it to put a ring on it.

A lame metaphor, yes, but also a great excuse to post a pic of Beyonce.

Ariza first potential courter was the Detroit Pistons, but they already flushed their money down the toilet used up most of their cap space on Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva.  But since then several other squads have shown interest in the Lakers’ young, but hopefully not former, small forward.

Two of the few teams that have legitimate cap room left, Portland and Toronto, have kicked the tires on Ariza but currently seem preoccupied on the man Ariza just finished bottling up in the NBA Finals, Hedo Turkoglu.  The best case scenario here would be for one of the two to sign Turkoglu, rather than him heading back to Orlando, and take themselves out of the running for Ariza who is obviously Plan B for each franchise (and why wouldn’t he be since Ariza is younger, more athetetic, a better defender and not mirror-shatteringly ugly).  That would at least give the Lakers some leverage since all they realistically have to deal with is one competitor for Ariza’s services provided the Sacramento Kings or Memphis Grizzlies don’t get a wild hare up their backsides and decide to enter the fray.

The only real potential complication is if the Lakers prove to be as cheap as they are currently reported to be and refuse to budge off surpassing the mid-level exception in their offers to Ariza.  If they take the hard line there, then suddenly a number of other teams pose a threat to the Lakers’ efforts to keep their defensive ace.  The Cavs and Rockets have made their interest in Ariza known (so have the Clippers, but come on, seriously) and no doubt any other contender armed with a mid-level exception would gladly throw their line in the water if it meant potentially snaring a young talent like Ariza for a relatively meager price tag.  The Lakers are many things, but they aren’t dumb enough to let half a million dollars come between them and keeping a player they like for themselves and away from one of the teams poised to knock them out of their throne.

So, ESPN can report all they like that Ariza is inches away from jumping ship to join the Cavaliers, but the math just doesn’t add up.  Ariza (more likely his agent) knows that the clock is ticking on his ability to coax the Lakers into upping their offer.  The second that Portland (i.e. signing Hedo Turkoglu or Andre Miller) and Toronto (i.e. re-signing Shawn Marion) use up their cap space, then there are no remaining suitors who can outbid the Lakers.  As such, Ariza would be stupid to not act like he is ready to take a matching offer elsewhere in an effort to induce the Lakers into upping their offer in a panic.  It is the same reason the Lakers are allegedly looking into signing Ron Artest.  They don’t really want to sign his crazy ass; they just want to scare Ariza into thinking they are ready to replace him if he doesn’t accept their current offer.

All of these rumors and posturing are nothing more than two parties doing business as usual in the NBA, so unclinch your sphincters, Laker fans.  At the end of the day both Ariza and the Lakers know they would be stupid to part ways.  Once each side is done making their bluffs, they’ll realize that they are made for each other and make the plunge into contractual matrimony.

Tags: Free Agency, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers, Ron Artest, Rumors, Toronto Raptors Cleveland Cavaliers, Trevor Ariza