lakers dumped salary as well as two players who were essentially just overcrowding the rotation. certainly, cook fits this description, as he was well behind the high-energy turiaf and much better shooting radman on the depth chart; evans is a long, skilled slasher but vujacic has really stepped it up to replace his scoring while ariza is an upgrade on defense and in terms of athleticism.

look at the lakers depth chart now:
PG – fish, farmar, crit
SG – kobe, vujacic
SF – walton, ariza
PF – odom, vlad
C – bynum, turiaf, mihm

unbelievable – for the first time since the championship era, there are ZERO crappy players in the lakers’ rotation (OK, you might make a case for mihm, but he’s hardly playing anyways). sasha and vlad have made huge strides forward this year, while cook represented the last lazy player on the lakers’ roster.

and once kwame comes back, the lakers will have even more defensive depth (against the best teams in the west, phil should give some serious thought to odom-kwame-bynum in the frontcourt for maximum size/defense advantage). i’m a big fan of fish-kobe-odom-turiaf-kwame with farmar-sasha-ariza-radman-bynum off the bench. those are two solid 5-man units, and you can plug walton in whenever you need an extra passer in there.

GO LAKERS

SportsNation David Thorpe: In a decathlon, I’d lean to Ariza, then LeBron.
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That is pretty impressive to be consider the athlete in the league. Thorpe also ranked Lakers just behind the Big 3 in the west. Very nice words about the lakers in his chat today. Thorpe’s opinions generally seem to be non-biased and pretty level-headed so this is good to hear.

Too soon to tell for sure. Definitely better than last season, but have they made the jump to contender yet? IMO probably not until next year.

Turiaf starting at PF, with Odom and Vlad getting some time there.

Odom starting at SF, with Walton and Ariza getting time there.

I don’t think they trade for anyone, but they might sign someone to a succession of 10-day contracts as insurance policy.

2) I can’t wait to see Bynum have a 20/20. I know he’ll have one this year. If not, he’ll get awfully close.

3) The Lakers are No. 2 in Hollinger’s power rankings. THey’ve also had the toughest schedule in the league. I know they caught a lot of breaks with the Pistons, Rockets, Suns, and Bulls with injuries and second night of back-to-backs, but this has to seem pretty impressive. Anyone think this means anything?

2006-07 season:

One of Orlando’s most promising young players, Ariza took a big step forward last year by shooting a sizzling 53.9 percent from the floor and posting the sixth-best rebound rate among small forwards. He did this despite missing 25 games with injuries and needing some time to re-establish himself in the rotation once he came back, and did it without the benefit of a jump shot.

Ariza once again took nearly all his shots in the painted area, as he’s a 30-percent career shooter on long 2-pointers and hasn’t a made a 3-pointer in his year and a half in Orlando. He also struggled at the line, making 62 percent, and that has hurtful considering he had the sixth-best rate of free-throw attempts per field-goal attempt at his position. Despite those issues, Ariza ranked 16th among small forwards in true shooting percentage, and got enough opportunities around the basket to average over 15 points per 40 minutes.

Scouting report:

The 6-9 Ariza is one of the most athletic small forwards in basketball. He’s a devastating finisher in transition, and his hops make him a big asset on the glass despite a lack of muscle. He’s also quick, and those feet might make him one of the best defenders at his position in a couple years. Even last season, he ranked seventh among small forwards in steals per minute, but the 22-year-old needs more game experience to master the nuances of team defense.

Offensively, his quickness translates into penetration skills, as he was able to get to the rim fairly often despite not being a very elusive dribbler. However, his jumper is a mess and still needs lots of work. Ariza is also a sloppy ballhandler who ranked 58th at his position in turnover ratio.