No more fighting from these two. Chris Bosh and Hedo Turkoglu will be teammates in Toronto.
- Let's start with Ron Artest heading to the Los Angles Lakers.
It is amazing how championship teams can get better overnight because players or agents lose perspective and try and bite off more than they can chew.
Trevor Ariza has not been the first or nor will he be the last player to give up something good because the player feels there is better things to come. I loved watching Ariza in the playoffs and to me, he became the James Posey of this year's championship run.
But, you cannot buy into the hype when you become a successful role player on a very good basketball team. For crying out loud, the Lakers offered him $33 million for his services, the same as what he received in Houston.
Instead, someone from within his "family" got all puff chested and tried to prove a point. Backfire, big time.
Enter Ron Artest to LA and Ariza to Houston.
Still on Ariza for now. Still only 24 he has time to fix this problem. If he plays out this contract with the Rockets, he will be young enough (but hopefully learnt a lesson) that he will appreciate what he had and be able to put himself into a better situation to finish out his career.
Now to Artest. Talk about spoon feeding a guy his ideal situation. "Tru Warrior" can now show everyone he is a winner. He will do this in his sleep because he will go out and cause trouble (dirty work) on both ends of the floor and be happy to watch Kobe close out games.
Slowly but surely Artest will show people he can play the game without the craziness that has plagued him for most of his career.
Add in that Kobe has to be loving the addition as Artest will take some of the tougher defensive assignments off his hands and allow Bryant the excel as an off the ball defender.
All around, the Lakers get better and Trevor Ariza will learn a lesson the hard way.
I never saw Turkoglu fitting in with the Trailblazers anyway. Brandon Roy is the man in the Northwest so where would have that left the "Turkish Delight"?
Hedo has won me over with his clutch play throughout the last season but he was not going to waltz into Portland and take the reins off of B-Roy.
There is no doubt Hedo will assist Chris Bosh win a few more games in Toronto (Hedo's wife prefers Toronto, so that's where he ended up) but they certainly do not become an instant contender in the east.
I ask, why didn't Hedo try (a little harder) and stay in Orlando to make a legitimate run at the title and Bosh needs to call Pau Gasol and ask the now champion Laker what it is like to play second fiddle but win a title?
- The Australian Emus have advanced to the Final Eight of the World Championship for u/19 men being held in New Zealand.
They will play Kazakhstan in their quarter final game on Monday at 3pm.
The Australian World Uni Games team has not been so lucky. They lost their opening game to the Greeks 89-72.
Townsville Crocodile Cameran Tovey led the team with 20pts and 7rebs. Ben Madgen who plays his college ball at Augusta State was next best with 15pts and 5rebs. Perth Wildcats rookie Jesse Wagstaff chipped in with 12pts and 4rebs.
Their next game is against the host nation, Serbia.
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