ShareThisTrevor Ariza was the forgotten injured Los Angeles Laker when the postseason began last year.
The wounded wonder everyone made a fuss over, of course, was the large guy in the middle, Andrew Bynum. By the time Boston finished bulldozing the Lakers in six games in the NBA Finals, even Bynum was citing himself as the difference-maker, the man who could have saved his team from disaster.
Ariza actually made it back from a broken foot to play in eight games in the 2008 playoffs, but he was only an afterthought in the post-Finals mourning.
Think he'd be missed this time?
In less than a year, the 23-year-old, fourth-year pro from UCLA has maneuvered his way from athletic role player, to an alpha dog of the Lakers' "Bench Mob,'' to a starting spot.
Tuesday, before the Lakers took on Utah in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series, Ariza even got a mention in the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year voting. So maybe it was just one third-place vote, but only 21 players in the league even turned up in the balloting.
"I'm happy people are talking about me in that sense," said the 6-8, 210-pound forward before the game.
They are also waking up to his scoring ability. His 21 points in Game 1 Sunday came within the flow of the game, and were second on the team to Kobe Bryant's 24. Ariza finished Game 2's 119-109 win with 13 points, including a crucial late three-pointer, nine assists and four rebounds.
For those casual observers just tuning in for the postseason again, Ariza isn't just a spectacular garbage-time dunker anymore.
Ariza arrived via trade with Orlando early last season, valued as a defensive player on a Lakers team full of offensive players and dilettante defenders.
"If that's what it took to get me on the floor, I was OK with that," said Ariza of his reputation.
What it took to keep him on the floor was an offensive game -- more specifically a reliable jump shot, which he brought back with him this season. His ability to drain the three-pointer, as well as run the floor for easy transition points, has made him one of the most intriguing of the Lakers young players.
Intriguing, and perplexing, since Ariza is having his breakout year on a championship caliber team just as his he enters the summer of his unrestricted free agency.
The Lakers already have some tough decisions to make. They are over the salary cap, even before they think about re-signing Ariza, or their other key free agents, Lamar Odom and surprisingly effective guard Shannon Brown.
Since Ariza has displaced Odom as a starter, and, up to now anyway, was viewed as the less expensive option, it was always more likely Ariza would be back than the 29-year-old Odom.
But with every steal he makes (he was ninth in the NBA with 1.67 per game), rebound he pulls down, and three-pointer he sticks, the more attractive he looks to those around the league who might be in a spending mood.
Now he's even got that little mention on the list of the league's top defenders, the kind of positive reinforcement that can push a player a little further down the developmental road.
"Trevor has always had that as part of himself, his identity," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson before the game. "He's had the capacity to steal balls. It's getting through picks, and playing defense for 24 seconds of the clock, that's something he's still learning about."
That's OK. A lot of people are just learning about him.
(Reach Gregg Patton at gpatton@PE.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
