The Nostalgia

Certain Laker fans must define their kinship to the team with nostalgia.

Remember Shaq? Quite fondly.

Caron? Quite so, but maybe more so because of Kwame. Maybe.

And so it begins again.

For the casual superficial follower - the ones who don the number 24, bring the noisemakers, and are more in awe of their fellow special spectators, namely Jack Nicholson among others - question virulently the recent off-season move that basically sent a very popular Trevor Ariza to the Rockets in exchange for the less than likable creature in Ron Artest.

Artest? The one who prima donna number 24 cemented to the Toyota Center months earlier?

The casehead who lost his cool when a gaunt elbow gazed his throat hair?

That one?

It was illogical at best.

Especially when the cost was the soft-spoken, athletic wing who became so endeared that his name morphed in a household commodity - within the span of a few games.

Game 1, Game 3 against the Nuggets, Ariza made the plays...

Because of the gorilla-armed, sugar-injected Lamar Odom.

The decisive game in the Finals. Ariza keyed a 16-0 run that suffocated the Magic chances of pulling anything out of the hat. Back-to-back threes included.

Because prima donna number 24 gave him a radius of 6 feet to get those shots off.

Now, bringing in someone like Artest, he of bigger physicque, of smaller brain, but of equal pride, could very admirably fit the role Ariza played. Conditionally. That's if everything goes as planned.

It eerily sounds like the doubts when Ariza took to the starting line-up.

Miss Luke starting? Hopefully not. The Onion wrote about prima donna number 24 winning despite the red-head. Yes, I quote the Onion.

But a keen, if not crude observation nonetheless.

Artest will be an improvement to the Laker offense.

He who missed 60% of his shots last year will be ghastly more efficient.

He who believes in Asian boys producing his next 67 copy selling album will add an attitude the team needs against the attitude from a so-called "Birdman," who twitter a war, conjuring up a "congratulations Ron Artest, now you get to wear purple while the Birdman flies over you," among others.

Or a team with an awkwardly dominant power forward and a playboy loving young center - along with a heady veteran and the reluctant facilitator, a wing with a defensive - and offensive attitude - both literally and figuratively - will be necessary to battle not only the orange-jumpsuited Nuggets, but also the resurgent East.

But in the end, it didn't need to be. Nostalgia-land could have been happier. Still.

Instead, Ariza was dictated by his agent, David Lee, who despite his claims of "it was never about the money," got his 5-year-deal worth over a million more each year than Kupchaks's.

Instead it seemed, at least from the media, that it was Ariza who wanted to establish himself on a floundering Rocket team.

It will be Ariza, like the '08-09 Artest, who will have to create his own shot and may very well flounder himself on a Yao Ming-less, McGrady-less, and most importantly, a Kobe-less team.

And so, prima donna 24 has found a fiery, gifted replacement more than capable of erasing the nostalgia.

But for now, the casual Laker fan is weeping.