"Mitch Kupchak, we had you all wrong. So much for conservative and cool.

By agreeing in principle with the highly flammable but highly gifted attention magnet that is Ron Artest on Thursday, Kupchak and the Lakers proved they were not only willing to take a risk to repeat as NBA champions next year, but excited aboutit.

Which is what they should be - bold and excited, not conservative and complacent, sitting back and assuming they could do it all again next year without making any structural improvements while the rest of the league took aim at them.

The second a team wins an NBA championship, they become a target for everyone else. In the three weeks that have passed since the Lakers beat Orlando in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, no fewer than six rivals have made big moves to strengthen their teams.

Cleveland added Shaquille O'Neal, Orlando added Vince Carter, Boston's putting the blitz on Rasheed Wallace, Houston signed Trevor Ariza, San Antonio traded for Richard Jefferson and Portland is wooing Hedo Turkoglu - all moves made to keep up with the Lakers.

All moves the Lakers just answered by signing Artest.

Once the rest of the league started a nuclear arms race, the status quo and just "bringing everyone back" for next year became as risky as signing a volatile player such as Artest.

Losing a blossoming young player like Ariza to the Rockets was an unfortunate consequence of choosing Artest, but as a basketball decision, it's

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Though Artest will never live down his infamous role in the Palace of Auburn Hills brawl back in 2004, he is still a phenomenal player. More accomplished, more consistent and, right now, more well-rounded than Ariza.

Is signing Artest a risk? Of course. A huge one. Let's just say the guy has been paying extra baggage fees for years. But that's why you pay Phil Jackson $12 million a year to coach the team.

Mitch Kupchak, we had you all wrong. So much for conservative and cool.

By agreeing in principle with the highly flammable but highly gifted attention magnet that is Ron Artest on Thursday, Kupchak and the Lakers proved they were not only willing to take a risk to repeat as NBA champions next year, but excited aboutit.

Which is what they should be - bold and excited, not conservative and complacent, sitting back and assuming they could do it all again next year without making any structural improvements while the rest of the league took aim at them.

The second a team wins an NBA championship, they become a target for everyone else. In the three weeks that have passed since the Lakers beat Orlando in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, no fewer than six rivals have made big moves to strengthen their teams.

Cleveland added Shaquille O'Neal, Orlando added Vince Carter, Boston's putting the blitz on Rasheed Wallace, Houston signed Trevor Ariza, San Antonio traded for Richard Jefferson and Portland is wooing"