Pincus: Cook/Evans Out, Ariza In

Hoopsworld — The Los Angeles Lakers bucked convention by making a mid-season trade with the Orlando Magic for small forward Trevor Ariza. LA sent the Magic Brian Cook and Maurice Evans.

Historically the Lakers have avoided bringing in new players past training camp considering how difficult it is to pick up the triangle offense on the fly.

Nonetheless, LA saw the opportunity to pick up an athletic, talented wing player with great height (6′8″) and a knack for defense.

The Lakers originally traded for Evans hoping he’d serve as a defensive stopper. Unfortunately he didn’t live up to the challenge. Offensively Evans just wasn’t tall enough to play small forward (6′5″) and didn’t have the initiating skills to be a guard in the triangle.

Cook played himself out of favor with Coach Phil Jackson. While he’s a tremendous shooter, Cook struggled in just about every other area. As his playing time dwindled, his relationship with Jackson visibly soured. More than once the pair had words on the sideline of a game in progress.

With neither Evans nor Cook flourishing this season, it was an easy move for the Lakers to make even if it’ll take some time for Ariza to lean the system.

The Lakers have shown that they can score, rebound, pass and shoot. Where they could stand to improve is on the defensive end and Ariza should help on that front.

Click here to read more

Who got the better end of this deal? Did the Lakers get a steal in Ariza? How will Ariza play with the Lakers? Sound off in our clublakers.com forums.