Ariza ended up cracking the rotation and showing much promise. Unfortunately, in a practice leading up to the play-offs (which the Lakers had surprised everybody and grabbed the #1 seed in the West, #2 seed over-all), Ariza broke his foot. He’d return for the Finals, but was too rusty to log any significant minutes. I still contend, had he been healthy, the Lakers would have won the series. (Paul Pierce, who eventually won the MVP of the Finals, would have been the perfect guard for somebody like Ariza).
The injury happened to be a blessing to Ariza. With him unable to practice fully, he concentrated on the one thing he could practice (and needed to): his shooting.
In the past, teams could play off of Ariza on their defensive end since he wasn’t a consistent threat outside. While he was injured, he had fixed a few kinks in his shooting motion, and while not a consistent sharp-shooter, he was more than capable of hitting the open 3-ball. This was all the Lakers would require of him.
In a year and a half, the Lakers had turned a second round pick of the New York Knicks and NBA journeyman/bench-warmer into one of the most electrifying role-players in the NBA. I’m sure nobody reading this needs to be reminded of Ariza’s thunderous dunk to clinch the Boston-Lakers Game on Christmas Day in 2008, or the series-saving steals he made against the Nuggets in the 2009 Western Conference Finals, or any of the other big three pointers he hit for the Lakers in his year and a half in the Forum Blue and Gold.
It’s trades like the Cook/Evans for Ariza trade that separate good teams (like the Denver Nuggets) from the great teams (like the Los Angeles Lakers).
Next: The Ugly Side of Sports
