Ariza was definitely healthier in the last two years. Better to have a player who is actually playing than one who just tries to recruit players while he's injured for most of the season.
Ariza maybe a better defender but Parsons playmaking skills are missing. Definitely Ariza not as good as Parson.
Parsons is either a third option at best or just an overpaid role player who dates models and is cocky Puhlease
Parsons did the stuff that the replacements just wouldn't do. He averaged the most mileage in the league in 2013-14. Played aggressive D check, made cuts to the baskets check, in transition made an effort to go hard at the rim and dunk it, check, and was a 3 ball man. But then again he got hurt and it was over... Prognosis is he'll be on the sidelines for years to come based on his injury report. Why do these boards like players that are injured? Mike Conley is injured quite often during critical stretches yet people drool over him?
Beverley, the starting PG shot 40% from 3. Ariza, the starting SF shot 37% from 3. Jason Terry, the backup PG (playing 17.5 mpg) shot 36% from 3. Lawson and Thornton shot 33% and 34% respectively. The only bad shooter in our perimeter rotation is Brewer. I think the "we lack good 3pt shooters" complaint is overstated. Our shooters aren't otherworldly like some teams. But we aren't atrocious either. The lament of lack of talent around Harden is usually referring to the offense. But our offense while not great this season is good enough. Our problem is defense. And we are supposed to have good defenders on paper: Howard, Ariza, Beverley. Even Brewer and Capela are supposed to be good at playing defense. People say the "It's all on Harden" narrative is a myth. That's true. But I'd say the "Harden doesn't have enough talent around him" narrative is also a myth. It's not talent. It's intelligence and character that this team lacks.
The playoffs were a different story, however. There was no way to keep pace with GS' scoring when the team is collectively shooting at 26.8% from 3-PT range. Spoiler
I think the talent around Harden isn't bad necessarily. Enough to get into the playoffs even in a bad year, sure. Enough to contend, though? Not even close to where it needs to be, and now that Dwight's likely gone, that's even more apparent. The Rockets need 1 more, and probably 2 more, star or near-star level players if they really want to contend. Talent is definitely still an issue. As for the shooting...once again, not bad necessarily. Certainly some capable shooters. But for as much as the Rockets rely on the 3, you'd like to see better than Trevor Ariza in terms of your designated knock down shooters.
Parsons is the closest thing we've had to a #2 option; a player that can score, play defense and create. However, due to injuries, he's no longer that player. But since he's left, Harden has had to brunt the majority of the offensive load. I think Mike Conely is an option but I would be concerned about his health. I would like to have Jeff Teague, as a #2 and add Ryan Anderson and Joakim Noah
I agree with you that our offense is not the main issue with this team. But the assertion that we have good enough perimeters shooters is simply not true. A whopping 84% of Ariza's threes were either open or wide open this year. Him shooting just 37% despite given such many good looks - probably created by Harden - does not speak well of Ariza's shooting ability. That's why he ranks at bottom 39.2 percentile in the spot-up category, because most of other spot-up shooters have better FG% and 3PT% than Ariza. http://stats.nba.com/league/player/...Regular Season&PerMode=Totals&sort=Poss&dir=1 In contrast, only 57% of Harden's threes were either open or wide open. That means 43% of Harden's 3 point attempts were somewhat or heavily contested, and he still managed to put those in at 36% clip. It's like Kobe shooting 45% and some unknown role player shooting 45% is 'qualitatively' different, 'cause Kobe takes a hell of a lot more tough shots. Terry shooting 36% is also very underwhelming for the same reason in that 72% of his shots were open/wide open. If 70~80% of your three point shots are open or wide open, you should make them at the very least at 40% clip to be considered a decent shooter, IMO. The league average 3PT% is around at 35%. If you are a spot-up shooter who doesn't have to create his own shots like Harden, and hence gets more open looks than others, your 3PT% should be hovering at around 40% to be considered somewhat good. Ariza and Terry doesn't even come close to that, let alone Brewer. Furthermore, we ranked at bottom 5th in wide-open 3PT% in the regular season. Yet another evidence that our spot-up shooters are simply not converting the open looks at a passable rate. I would say Beverly and Harden are only two serviceable perimeter shooters on this team. The rest are not very good, given their relatively low shot difficulty. All of the information above can be found at http://stats.nba.com/