It's not Ariza's choice whether he gets to start. It's Adelman's. Battier obviously has seniority, and if Trevor doesn't respect that, that's his problem. That said, I'm fine with either Battier or Ariza starting, and Adelman may plan to put Trevor back in the starting lineup as soon as he's confident the injury is fully healed.
prefer ariza to start and let shane rest his legs we all know what shane brings let ariza get more minutes and develop chemistry with martin and playing the SF spot again. though i believe with Yao in the lineup having Battier the smarter, better shooter out there would be better but thats next year not now
I think Ariza is going to start with Martin as soon as coach deems Trevor ready to. Obviously long term, Trevor and Kevin will be the starters so why not start doing that this season.
Care to back your argument up with statistics? Here are some to get you started. Trevor Ariza: 16 ppg 3.7 apg 5.5 rpg 1.7 spg Scrub Battier: 8 ppg 2.5 apg 4.7 rpg .8 spg Perhaps Ariza isn't a good starter, but he's a hell of a lot better than Scrub.
Battier is more efficient. He doesn't waste as many offensive possessions. You also didn't adjust your stats for minutes played.
I thought Battier's value was in him guarding the opponent's best scorer? The Rockets give Battier a book before each game showing the opponent's tendencies. How does he do all of that coming off the bench?
He's lost a step. That book can't doesn't change the fact that he's older and slower and could use less minutes to help keep him fresh. On the "He doesn't waste possessions" take: Did you watch the Detroit game where on a fast break in clutch time he slowed to ball down and cost us a basket that would have sealed the game?
One possession in one game is not something you can judge any player based upon. You won't even remember that it happened a year from now. Compare their shots attempted/points scored numbers and their turnovers. Trevor turns the ball over twice as much and shoots less efficiently.
Battier is a scrub? Good job at looking at stats that mean nothing. And Ariza takes a helluva lot more shots than Shane, that is why his stats are inflated. Go take a look at how ariza has the worst shooting percentage in the NBA. Shane knows he can't create a shot for himself so he doesn't attempt it. Ariza still has not figured out how terrible of an offensive player he is. Battier a scrub.....ha.....get outta here with that garbage.
Trevor already plays more minutes than Battier and the reason he even took more shots and had more turnover was because we was playing out of position at SG. Now that Trevor is back at his natural position he will be better. Is it Trevor's fault they put him at SG and told him to make plays? Fact is that if you want a Running/fastbreak offense with Martin and AB then Ariza is better for that. You're not looking at the big picture.
Ariza would run more effectively with Lowry. Cbud too. AB isn't the best decision maker in faskbreaks,
Agreed. Out of respect Battier will still get the start for the rest of this season, but will average something like 20 minutes/gm, playing more minutes when his threes are going in or when we need his D. He'll be a starter playing bench minutes (like Hayes).
For another reason that Battier is likely to continue starting, consider this: Ariza is likely a part of our future plans. His spotty play this year likely has diminished his trade value. Battier, on the other hand, can hide behind his intangibles even though it is fairly obvious he has lost a step or has not fully recovered from his ankle/foot woes of last year. And if he is to be traded next year, as many here have suggested, not mucj would devalue him more than naming him team captain and benching him in the same year. Nothing says washed up quite like losing the starting role a player has maintained for his entire career.
Adelman may not know who he wants to start at this point. I think he may play around with different player combinations for a while to see what works best. Sometimes you don't want all your best scorers in your starting five, because that makes your second unit unable to score. If we bring both Battier and Lowry off the bench we put a big burden on Chase to provide scoring. I don't think Ariza is a go to guy, as far as scoring. But, I think he is more of a scoring threat than Battier. For these reasons, I think I would rather see Battier with the first unit, and have Ariza help provide a scoring punch for the second unit.
I don't necessarily disagree, I actually don't have much of an opinion on Ariza as compared to Battier. I just think the stats you posted are a little misleading and don't tell the whole story.
Here are some more: Statisics: Ariza Battier Age 24 31 minutes 37.5 33.3 per 36 minutes made 2s 3.6 1.3 missed 2s 4.9 1.5 made 3s 1.8 1.7 missed 3s 3.9 2.9 made FTs 2.1 1.2 missed FTs 1.1 0.5 assists 3.5 2.7 turnovers 2.2 1.1 off rebounds 1.0 1.2 def rebounds 4.3 3.9 steals 1.6 0.9 blocks 0.4 1.2 charges 0.1 0.6 fouls 2.2 2.2 Summary: Edge to Ariza on 2-point scoring Edge to Battier on 3-point scoring Edge to Ariza on Freethrow scoring Edge to Ariza on assists Edge to Battier on turnovers Edge to Battier on offensive rebounds Edge to Ariza on defensive rebounds Edge to Ariza on steals Edge to Battier on blocks Edge to Battier on charges Wash on fouls committed.
