The analyst sees a guy who had an up and down season with his third team in as many years, but when a player is on a particular team long enough, they are better able to develop their game to fit a role on a particular team.

Now, I wouldn’t say that the Ariza for Artest deal was a mistake, as Artest has proven himself an asset in his role. But we’ll never know how Ariza would have developed had he remained a Laker these past two seasons. Remember that many a savvy hoops expert questioned that trade at the time. It was felt that Ariza was just starting to come into his own as a starter (remember that he was backing up the more expensive Walton some of that season).

What the casual observer might conclude based on these playoffs is that Ariza deserves a chance to remain within the same system for a long enough period to allow the relationship to develop. Unfortunately for him, this off-season will probably shake that up yet again.