C's losing Powe vs. Lakers losing Ariza

[MrTripleDouble10]

Random question:  Why is it that the general media and fans seem to think that the Celtics losing Powe is a huge deal, yet the Lakers just letting the same thing happen with Ariza (letting him go) has not been as overplayed?

Celtics lose Powe, essentially replace him with Sheed, and the majority of people here want to villify Ainge/Celtics management.

Lakers lose Ariza (who, clearly helped them win a title FAR MORE than Powe helped here), and replaced him with Artest and it's the best move of the off-season.

Just a random observation... Thoughts?

[Chris]

Because we are in Boston, not LA?

Honestly, I haven't seen that much of a big deal made in the national media about Boston losing Powe.  It is a story, but no bigger than the story of Ariza leaving LA. 

The timing also makes a difference since the Ariza and Artest signings were at basically the same time.  That really helped to bury the Ariza stuff.

[RAcker]

I don't even think it's close considering how much Ariza improved last year.  Powe is a career backup for contenders and maybe a started for a terrible team.  Ariza started most of the year for an eventual championship team.

The media was just too busy praising the Artest acquisition to acknowledge how big of a chemistry blow it was for LA to lose Ariza.  Our chemistry, on the other hand, will be just fine.  Rasheed is the one wild card, but was a starter on a championship team himself who comes in to play big minutes at the position Powe played part-time.

Huge difference.

[wdleehi]

Ariza left at the same time Artest joined.  Fans look at it as an upgrade.


If Powe had left the same time Wallace had joined, same thing would have happened.


But Powe left when Williams signed.  That doesn't look like an upgrade.




It's all about timing.

[wdleehi]

I don't even think it's close considering how much Ariza improved last year.  Powe is a career backup for contenders and maybe a started for a terrible team.  Ariza started most of the year for an eventual championship team.

The media was just too busy praising the Artest acquisition to acknowledge how big of a chemistry blow it was for LA to lose Ariza.  Our chemistry, on the other hand, will be just fine.  Rasheed is the one wild card, but was a starter on a championship team himself who comes in to play big minutes at the position Powe played part-time.

Huge difference.

Did he?  Or is Ariza just a new version of Shandon Anderson?   Big playoffs lead to a oversize contract. 

[Roy Hobbs]

Because we are in Boston, not LA?

Honestly, I haven't seen that much of a big deal made in the national media about Boston losing Powe.  It is a story, but no bigger than the story of Ariza leaving LA. 

The timing also makes a difference since the Ariza and Artest signings were at basically the same time.  That really helped to bury the Ariza stuff.

I agree with all of this.  Also, Ariza didn't leave LA for a major championship-contending rival, like Powe did.  However, I don't think there's been a lot of national coverage of the Powe signing.  If there has been, it's because Marc Spears now works at Yahoo.

[RAcker]

I don't even think it's close considering how much Ariza improved last year.  Powe is a career backup for contenders and maybe a started for a terrible team.  Ariza started most of the year for an eventual championship team.

The media was just too busy praising the Artest acquisition to acknowledge how big of a chemistry blow it was for LA to lose Ariza.  Our chemistry, on the other hand, will be just fine.  Rasheed is the one wild card, but was a starter on a championship team himself who comes in to play big minutes at the position Powe played part-time.

Huge difference.

Did he?  Or is Ariza just a new version of Shandon Anderson?   Big playoffs lead to a oversize contract. 

Oh, he definitely improved.  His offensive improvement along with those clutch steals in the Denver series were huge for them.  Is this as big a deal as if Lamar Odom left them?  Heck no!  However, we are comparing the significance of his loss for the Lakers next the loss of Leon Powe by the C's.

The Powe loss will not be as significant as say the James Posey loss was.  Both did a nice job for us off the bench during 2008, but their overall impact was not even close.  That's all I'm saying.

By the way, to me, there is no doubt that he will be overpaid next year.  I'm just glad somebody didn't overpay BBD so that we could reel him back in.

[Who]

Because Boston didn't have to lose Leon Powe.

He signed for a two year minimum contract with a team option on the second year elsewhere. Nobody would be making a big deal about this if he got $25 million from someone. Fans would have said fair enough and moved on.

Meanwhile, the Lakers couldn't afford both Ariza and Artest.

[Fafnir]

I don't think people overall think its that big of a deal. The Lakers replaced Ariza with Artest.

The C's replaced Powe with Rasheed. Both teams decided to go with an older player. In the C's case a decidedly better player, Artest and Ariza are much close in value.

Mainly its Celticsblog members who liked Powe a lot that seem to think its a big deal.

[wdleehi]

I don't even think it's close considering how much Ariza improved last year.  Powe is a career backup for contenders and maybe a started for a terrible team.  Ariza started most of the year for an eventual championship team.

The media was just too busy praising the Artest acquisition to acknowledge how big of a chemistry blow it was for LA to lose Ariza.  Our chemistry, on the other hand, will be just fine.  Rasheed is the one wild card, but was a starter on a championship team himself who comes in to play big minutes at the position Powe played part-time.

Huge difference.

Did he?  Or is Ariza just a new version of Shandon Anderson?   Big playoffs lead to a oversize contract. 

Oh, he definitely improved.  His offensive improvement along with those clutch steals in the Denver series were huge for them.  Is this as big a deal as if Lamar Odom left them?  Heck no!  However, we are comparing the significance of his loss for the Lakers next the loss of Leon Powe by the C's.

The Powe loss will not be as significant as say the James Posey loss was.  Both did a nice job for us off the bench during 2008, but their overall impact was not even close.  That's all I'm saying.

By the way, to me, there is no doubt that he will be overpaid next year.  I'm just glad somebody didn't overpay BBD so that we could reel him back in.

Again, he stepped up in the playoffs.


So did Shandon Anderson, Jerome James, Austin Croshere and Mark Blount.

[Mr October]

I don't even think it's close considering how much Ariza improved last year.  Powe is a career backup for contenders and maybe a started for a terrible team.  Ariza started most of the year for an eventual championship team.

The media was just too busy praising the Artest acquisition to acknowledge how big of a chemistry blow it was for LA to lose Ariza.  Our chemistry, on the other hand, will be just fine.  Rasheed is the one wild card, but was a starter on a championship team himself who comes in to play big minutes at the position Powe played part-time.

Huge difference.

Did he?  Or is Ariza just a new version of Shandon Anderson?   Big playoffs lead to a oversize contract. 

Oh, he definitely improved.  His offensive improvement along with those clutch steals in the Denver series were huge for them.  Is this as big a deal as if Lamar Odom left them?  Heck no!  However, we are comparing the significance of his loss for the Lakers next the loss of Leon Powe by the C's.

The Powe loss will not be as significant as say the James Posey loss was.  Both did a nice job for us off the bench during 2008, but their overall impact was not even close.  That's all I'm saying.

By the way, to me, there is no doubt that he will be overpaid next year.  I'm just glad somebody didn't overpay BBD so that we could reel him back in.

Again, he stepped up in the playoffs.


So did Shandon Anderson, Jerome James, Austin Croshere and Mark Blount.

Yes Ariza stepped it up in the playoffs. But in the 08-09 regular season, he brought it on a regular basis. He played himself into that contract all year long. He's a young James Posey.

On the flip side he fit LA like a glove. Play defense, hit open shots. Will he be asked to do more in Houston? He's not going to be initiating offense or carrying a scoring load like Artest anytime soon.

I think he's worth the MLE.

[wdleehi]

I don't even think it's close considering how much Ariza improved last year.  Powe is a career backup for contenders and maybe a started for a terrible team.  Ariza started most of the year for an eventual championship team.

The media was just too busy praising the Artest acquisition to acknowledge how big of a chemistry blow it was for LA to lose Ariza.  Our chemistry, on the other hand, will be just fine.  Rasheed is the one wild card, but was a starter on a championship team himself who comes in to play big minutes at the position Powe played part-time.

Huge difference.

Did he?  Or is Ariza just a new version of Shandon Anderson?   Big playoffs lead to a oversize contract. 

Oh, he definitely improved.  His offensive improvement along with those clutch steals in the Denver series were huge for them.  Is this as big a deal as if Lamar Odom left them?  Heck no!  However, we are comparing the significance of his loss for the Lakers next the loss of Leon Powe by the C's.

The Powe loss will not be as significant as say the James Posey loss was.  Both did a nice job for us off the bench during 2008, but their overall impact was not even close.  That's all I'm saying.

By the way, to me, there is no doubt that he will be overpaid next year.  I'm just glad somebody didn't overpay BBD so that we could reel him back in.

Again, he stepped up in the playoffs.


So did Shandon Anderson, Jerome James, Austin Croshere and Mark Blount.

Yes Ariza stepped it up in the playoffs. But in the 08-09 regular season, he brought it on a regular basis. He played himself into that contract all year long. He's a young James Posey.

On the flip side he fit LA like a glove. Play defense, hit open shots. Will he be asked to do more in Houston? He's not going to be initiating offense or carrying a scoring load like Artest anytime soon.

I think he's worth the MLE.

So did those guys going into a new contract.

[Jon]

If the team stays even relatively healthy next year, no one is even going to notice Powe is gone.  Even if he was completely healthy this year, he still probably couldn't crack the C's frontcourt rotation. 

With the Cavs he might since Shaq and Z are so old and rickety; however, if they stay healthy, even if he bounces back 100% by playoff time, I don't expect for him to see a lot of PT. 

[mgent]

I think Ariza is a bigger loss than Powe, but I think Artest is a more valuable replacement for them than Rasheed is for us.  That's simply because our front court is already pretty set with Perk and KG (and Davis off the bench), whereas their SF position has been in the air the past two years.

[Fafnir]

I think Ariza is a bigger loss than Powe, but I think Artest is a more valuable replacement for them than Rasheed is for us.  That's simply because our front court is already pretty set with Perk and KG (and Davis off the bench), whereas their SF position has been in the air the past two years.

Rasheed is a ton better than BBD. I think the moves are comparable. Our first bench big was up in the air both years. Baby did well stepping in for KG but he's still only an average bench PF. Which is a to say a below average PF overall. Rasheed is a starting caliber PF or C in the league still.