Lakers question-and-answer

Readers' questions for Lakers beat reporter Mike Bresnahan of The Times:

Q: Are we going to trade one or two players? They look bewildered.

-- Paul C., Plano, Texas

A: Hey, it's the first Q&A of the season, so let's break into some new territory right off the top!

I get this question all the time, so that's not new, and it always cracks me up to see fans react so adversely by demanding someone not only be traded from the team, but also have his luxury cars impounded, Costco membership revoked and DirecTV dishes snapped in half before getting noisily and painfully ejected from the universe.

Here's the new part, though: I've never, ever seen this question so early in a season.

It arrived in my inbox two days ago. The Lakers were 1-1. There were still 80 games left in the regular season. It wasn't even November.

Impatience, be thy name!

Now, I'm sure the Lakers wouldn't mind trading Sasha Vujacic if there's not marked improvement in his scoring average of 0.7 points a game (not a typo). But where's the market for a struggling player who will make almost $11 million over the next two seasons?

I know, I know. Memphis. The Grizzlies gave Pau Gasol and the Larry O'Brien Trophy to the Lakers. They'd send O.J. Mayo out here for a box of basketballs.

But this is a tricky economy. Many NBA owners are nervous. They don't want a guy who has lost his shooting touch but still has a salary with lots of zeros at the end of it.

The trade deadline is Feb. 18. Let's revisit the topic a little closer to that time.

Q: Have we seen enough of Ron "Me-First, Look-at-Me" Artest yet to realize what a poison this person will be for this team? I hope I'm wrong, but I figured our season was doomed the day he signed.

-- John Zimmermann, Long Beach

A: For good measure, John also wrote "Fakers" in the memo line of his e-mail. I'm beginning to think that loss to Dallas really affected people.

I was surprised by it too. I mean, I spent an entire month writing how great the Lakers were going to be, and then they lose to the Mavericks, at home, against a starting lineup with an average age of 67.3. Nice job, guys.

Through three games, the Lakers have played only two or three dominant quarters. They had a strong fourth quarter against the Clippers and a fantastic third quarter against Atlanta. Maybe I missed one somewhere else, but these guys aren't exactly lighting it up.

Artest is shooting horribly (32.1%) while Trevor Ariza is playing pretty well for Houston. On one hand, Ariza is getting an opportunity to be the top dog because Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are out. Artest, meanwhile, is adapting from being a No. 1 or No. 2 option to No. 3 or 4.

It's too early to call a winner, but Week 1 definitely goes to Ariza.

Q: I was appalled to hear that Sun Yue will get a ring while Chris Mihm and Vlade Radmanovic will not. In my opinion, Sun Yue contributed nothing to the Lakers' championship while the other two did. I feel the same about Adam Morrison. In fact, neither he nor Sun Yue even played in the postseason.