This is so ridiculous. Pay attention to what you just said... ELITE SCORERS. You don’t stop ELITE scorers in the nba. There’s the media’s narrative that Ariza was god, and there’s clutchfans narrative that because he got scored on while guarding the best player every night and we went 14-1 without him he’s useless
One play... One play, where Ennis had to defend an elite iso guy in cp3, and now his reputation is of a slow footed average at best defender. One play? No, that's not how things work.... Ennis is a quality defender and will become the guy clutchfans loves, similar to lmam.
Well duh, that's what exactly my point genius. You can't stop elite scorers so he and his role are very overrated. His great defense (doesn't matter in big games against big players) and horrible erratic shooting won't be missed.
Yeah by this logic you might as well put the worst defender you have on them then. Execellent b-ball iq there
Right, so trot anybody out there against gs. You can’t stop them so just find the best scorers and try to beat them that way
man you guys are dense. you all making my point and not even realizing it. my whole point was that mcw, ennis, and melo aren't just anyone. they can defend as much as you can against elite scorers because nobody not even ariza can stop them. but what they can do his hit a damn bucket in game 7.
Agreed with both of you. So many hot takes about how bad Ennis is, when it's day 1 of practice, he's guarding the best PG in the game, and he's trying to get used to the system. Pretty sure it wasn't in his mindset to go all out, either, so there's also that. In a game situation against non-team members, I'm sure Ennis will be good.
Dude. Just re-assess your position and come back to it, no need to dig your heels in we're all supporting the same team. There is a difference in defenders and scorers, regardless of Trevor Ariza. "Stopping" an opponent is not a real objective, so it's no wonder no one met it, including your top 5 defenders in the world. But those guys are difference makers on the defensive end alone. What people are trying to do is slow or hold to average certain offensive players vs what they are feeling. Sometimes the best defense in the world can't stop a scorer. Other times Carmelo Anthony can "hold" you to 0. But most of the time, a good defender will diminish what would have been the scorer's night - and if you get a 3-4 point discount there, that could be the difference between winning and losing. Further, sometimes you're just using someone for single coverage to free up other defensive resources - for example, Ennis guards Durant man-to-man so that we don't let Curry and Thompson go wild. If this is still not convincing, think about how Harden is noticeably worse against some defenders than others. Would you rather have Carmelo Anthony or Kawhi Leonard guarding him (here I'm assuming for the sake of experimentation that Melo and Kawhi are equivalent scorers)? Obviously, as a Rocket you would take the Melo match up 10 times out of 10. It matters a lot when you hold the offense constant. Now assume one is a lesser scorer and the other a better scorer - it becomes offense minus defense. It's just more complex. There is no possible way to reach the conclusion that the defensive player doesn't matter. Something to think about.
You can’t stop them but you can slow them down. Ariza was really good on defense on Durant for majority of the time but overall no way in hell the Rockets were paying Trevor 15 or more million to return
What ariza gave us on D was elite length on the perimeter. I don't see 6'5 Ennis being able to provide us with the same disruptiveness on defense.
That's one play everybody in the league gets beat sometimes. How you know he didn't get a stop on another possession.
Less about the clip and more on Ennis... I like what he brings: 1. Defensively, a 6' 11.5" wingspan will help with guarding taller players e.g. KD; and can stay in front of his man. 2. Offensively, athleticism toward the rim is better than Ariza's who was frustratingly slow-footed 3. General mindset - he's stated that he knows and accepts his role as being a defender. He knows his purpose. My only fear for him is an inconsistent 3-ball.
KD was held to 9-24, 8-22, and 6-17 in 3 straight games of that WCF series with Ariza as his primary defender...that’s 3 straight games shooting less than 40% from the field for 1 of the game’s best shooters and most efficient scorers...the Rockets won 2 of those 3 games I guess u just didn’t notice while that series was going on... Guess how many times KD shot less than 40% from the field during his 21 game playoff run in which he shot 49% from the field overall? Just 4 times, and 3 of those were against us...
@BigMaloe @Juxtaposed Jolt this play more so just confirmed to myself and some others here what we've seen from ennis in the past, that too often he uses his arms instead of feet when playing D. i think in the reg season at least he'll probably actually give more consistent effort on D than ariza has the past few seasons, so maybe that will count for something
I loved what Ariza brought to the Rockets defensively, it's his offense that let us down! If he were to get bought out at some point and the Rockets elected to bring him back in a lesser role, I would not have a problem with it. Outside of PJ, the Rockets had not forwards during the playoffs last yr., it was mainly Harden, CP3, Gordon and Capella
Ennis' hustle numbers per 36 look better than Ariza's last season. Ennis contested more shots than Ariza and was just under Ariza in deflections. I'm not saying he's better than Ariza but he is younger and you can't discount Ariza's age because his deflections and contested shots have gone down little by little for the last 3 years.
