Ariza is built to guard small forwards such as Paul Pierce, who left Vladimir Radmanovic stuck on a snowboard last June en route to becoming the NBA Finals MVP.

With each game this season, Ariza is more of a defensive menace against point guards, too -- a statement on how he could have disordered Boston's offense by shadowing point guard Rajon Rondo.

In the Lakers' final game of last season, an overburdened Kobe Bryant tried to contain Rondo in the first quarter and Pierce in the second quarter. He failed on both counts.

"I don't know," Ariza said. "That's one of those things where you can't really cry over spilled milk. It happened. I didn't play (much). We didn't win. And this year is a new year."

Here's one reason it's easier for Ariza not to live with regret: The Lakers were right in preventing Ariza from returning sooner from his broken right foot.

Ariza insisted he was free of pain and ready to come back after a four-month layoff, even though bone scans still showed a hairline where the fracture occurred.

There was a lot of discussion about whether the foot was fully healed but the hairline would always remain. It turns out that when Ariza was examined over the summer, the hairline was gone.

Perhaps the Lakers' caution with him -- refusing to take the easy way out and bring him back prematurely, even though he wanted to return and could've helped in the title chase -- is something Ariza will keep in mind when he decides about re-signing with the Lakers this summer.

As it was, Ariza played a few acclimatizing minutes late in the Western Conference finals and was only minor assistance in the NBA Finals. This season, he is playing more than half the time and in line to do even more now that Luke Walton is out at least two weeks because of a foot injury.

Coach Phil Jackson wouldn't say Monday what he was thinking as far as replacing Walton in the starting lineup. But on Sunday night, Jackson didn't give former starter Radmanovic any starting consideration, choosing between Lamar Odom, who has basically not played small forward this season, and Ariza, who prefers his bench role.

Ariza started and was ineffective early before finding his rhythm and winding up the defensive catalyst in the victory over Portland. Jackson turned to Ariza late in the second quarter to hound Portland point guard Steve Blake, farther up court. It immediately disrupted the Trail Blazers' offensive alignments.

Radmanovic came off the bench to score a season-high 16 points, and maybe Jackson goes back to him, especially with how much Radmanovic likes to go head-to-head with New Orleans' Peja Stojakovic. Yet no matter how the games start, Ariza's emergence will continue.

He is simply a superior Basketball talent, something executives Isiah Thomas and Otis Smith identified but could not get coaches Larry Brown and Stan Van Gundy to cultivate in New York and Orlando.

Mitch Kupchak has been a fan all along, too, but the Lakers decided to draft Sasha Vujacic instead of Ariza in 2004 because they thought Ariza would take years to develop.

After all, Ariza shot 23.7 percent on 3-pointers and 50.4 percent on foul shots in his only season at UCLA. But Ariza's continued work on his form, in conjunction with Jackson reconditioning Ariza to take the open jumpers other coaches had ordered him not to, has him at 28.3 percent on 3-pointers and 68.2 percent on foul shots. Not great yet, but a threat ... and Ariza is still developing.

And Ariza has found his way into the NBA's best possible training program: being mentored by Bryant, who has been in Ariza's ear as far back as the late 1990s, when he advised Ariza on the pickup courts of Santa Monica not to be afraid to go hard at any opponent, no matter if bigger or more famous.

Now Ariza is Bryant's guy, so to speak, even wearing Bryant's personal Nike sneakers and enjoying a running gag about which of them can get more steals this season. Ariza leads, 60-47, but consider this greater verdict: When the Lakers played in New Orleans two weeks ago and point guard Derek Fisher was getting a rest, Ariza and Bryant were on the court and available to guard Paul.

Jackson had his pick, and it wasn't Team USA's renowned defensive hero.

This is what Jackson said after that Lakers victory: "That was a really critical part of the game, when Trevor took over and guarded Paul."

Lakers forward Trevor Ariza is getting more playing time this season and offers the team a viable option on defense.