Trevor Ariza is Hardly Kobe's Pippen

Considering Ariza's big moments in this year's playoffs, many have touted him as the key role player to help Kobe and Co. win a championship. Some have even compared him to Scottie Pippen, the small forward for the Chicago Bulls who teamed up with Michael Jordan to win six rings.

Hogwash.

Scottie Pippen is one of the top 50 players to have played in the NBA. He was quite possibly the most versatile player to have played the game.

People don't know that Pippen was quite often the primary facilitator on the Bulls. Tex Winters singled Pippen out as the player who had the best grasp of the offense - almost immediately. In fact, Pippen's playmaking skills allowed Jordan to play down on the block, posting up for high percentage shots. On the other hand, Ariza has terrible ballhandling skills. The guy doesn't know how to move WITH the ball. He can do one thing, drive hard and try to dunk or lay the ball in. He can't create for others, and he's not a good playmaker at all.

He's closer to Kobe and Shaq's Rick Fox. Except he lacks Fox's lockdown defense, and instead has a playing-the-passing-lanes-gambling defense. But Ariza, despite the occasional highlight dunk in the regular season, has shown his best asset on offense to be the spot-up three-point shooter. He penalizes offenses for two-timing Kobe and Gasol, and his surprisingly effective shooting helps spread the floor.

One thing the Lakers found out is that Odom, despite being touted by Pat Riley as having Magic Johnson's abilities, is not, and never will be a player that resembles Scottie Pippen. In fact, some have noted he's much closer to Dennis Rodman, for his ability to consistently rebound (albeit at a far slower rate).

In that sense, the Lakers are better off in taking a step back and viewing Ariza for who he is: a limited role player on both ends of the floor. He had his big moments (as did Fisher, Gasol, Odom, even Shannon Brown), but he has much to improve to become a better individual defender (uses his length rather that moves his feet), and he must improve his ballhandling and playmaking skills to add another dimension to the Lakers' offense.