The Lakers have signed 29-year old SG/SF Ron Artest to a long term deal. Artest played in 69 games (55 starts) for the Rockets last season and he averaged 35.5 minutes, 17.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He has now played in 604 games (562 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 34.8 minutes, 16.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.1 steals per game. Artest is a good offensive player but a great defensive player. He should do a good job for the Lakers and Phil Jackson has a history of getting the best out of perceived troubled players (Dennis Rodman) in the past.

The Lakers finally selected a player with the 59th pick in the NBA Draft. They sold their first round pick to the Knicks for $3 million bucks and they traded their first pick of the 2nd round to the Heat. The Lakers will use the money from the Knicks to help re-sign Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza. The 22-year old Elonu played in 90 games at Texas A&M and he averaged 5.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. He will take a lot of time to develop.

The Lakers have finally decided to do something in the off-season as they have signed F/C Josh Powell to essentially replace Ronny Turiaf off the bench. Powell played in 64 games (25 starts) last season for the rival Clippers and he averaged 19.2 minutes, 5.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Look for Powell to do a good job off of the bench for the Lakers as he should fit right in. Powell has now played in 138 games (27 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 14.6 minutes, 4.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. This was a good signing for the Lakers.

By the time the Lakers picked in the NBA Draft there wasn’t much left to choose from so they selected shooting guard Joe Crawford. Crawford is 6′5″, 207 pounds and he’s a polished player. He played in 127 games (76 starts) at Kentucky and he averaged 11.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. Don’t look for him to get much playing time in the near future for the Lakers as he will be way too far down the depth chart.

The Lakers never had a chance on Tuesday Night against the Celtics. Kobe Bryant had an off night only shooting 7 of 22 from the floor but he still finished with 22 points and 3 rebounds to lead the way for the Lakers. Lamar Odom also had a solid game finishing with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Jordan Farmar pitched in with 12 points in 26 minutes off the bench. The Celtics won the NBA Finals 4-2 over the Lakers.