Exactly, Dwight being able to walk/in contract year basically closes any chance of this, haha definitely good trade for rockets though...
I actually would be sad to see Ariza go...Yeah the guy bricks 3s and ****, but his defense is nice and I think he meshes well (personality wise). I remember this one time where mozgov pushed or did something to Harden and Ariza stook up for James, which says a lot about Ariza's character.
Since when did we start acknowledging what Mark Stein says is fact? The dude is just making stuff up because he was asked a question. I seriously doubt he actually has any source that's told him Ariza is on the block. That said, it wouldn't surprise me if Morey was open to offers. Everyone is replaceable, and none of the Rockets play like they actually like each other anyway, so why not trade them all?
i consider it cheating for a professional scooper to speak in statements like this that cant possibly be invalidated no matter how things play out. i think professional scoopers know its a grey area to use this kind of trick. at the least they know it diminishes the value of their scoop claim. so they would be careful to steer clear when they have a real scoop. therefore this is probably not a real scoop. he is either just guessing or it is based it on extremely flimsy information.
Yea true. We should go ALL offense!! Lose 160-150 But seriously Ariza is truly our only glue guy and the only guy who brings toughness to the team.
At least the games would be exciting. Not only do we lose, we lose in the most frustrating and boring fashion.
Glue guys, schmue guys... What good is a glue guy when they suck defensively and an opponent's player is going off for a season/career high? For having "3 elite defenders", Rockets defense sure does suck. And "gotta keep Trevor for James!" ... maybe James will learn to play defense again and be accountable for his man.
Do you disagree with the tweet? In essence, most every player in the NBA can be 'had'. Ariza is one of them.
Was Battier a schmue guy? :grin: Trevor hasn't regressed that much but you are right James def needs to step it up on defense. Not saying ariza is irreplaceable but I would not want to see 40 minutes of another SF next to James or worse... 40 minutes of James guarding the best wing player on opposing teams.
Very interesting idea... I would only do it though if they threw in a pick What does smiths contract look like??? I remember hearing that Mozgov came off the books after this season If smith and Mozgov came off the books and we could throw Durant the max I would do it Hire Thibs 2016-2017 Capela Love Durant Harden Beverly
JBB was the real voice the last couple of years??? Then why the hell wasn't he fired along with McHale?!!! It was his defensive genius that got us all the way to 29th or whatever in defense at that time. I guess Les doesn't buy into the common knowledge that past performance is the biggest indicator of future performance. Maybe we just need to put JBB's dad on the staff to hold his hand, since we know his dad is the only reason he has a career. Chris Finch is being groomed to be a head coach??? Is that the reason the offensive genius has done absolute squat with one of the top offensive PG's who just completely fell in his lap??? Very impressive. This site makes excuses for EVERYbody - players and coaches - except the one player who actually does well at all (and maybe Brewer at this point). The bottom line is Ariza is worse on offense than Harden ever is on defense, and Ariza's defense does not compensate for that.
Mosgov's contract expires this year. JR Smith has a player option for $5M next year, which he is likely to decline. I don't see the Cavs doing this deal, but I'd do it in a heartbeat.
i like ariza, good dude - but no problem moving him if we are going to take 1 step back (in order to take two steps forward)
Here's the positives for the Cavs.... 1) Thornton costs 20% of what Smith does and provides the exact same skills. 2) upgrade the mobility of your center. This is a big deal against a team like golden state, as we saw last year. 3) Ariza is a massive upgrade for them. A closing time lineup of Kyrie, Shumpert, Ariza, Lebron, and Dwight absolutely gives them a chance. Meanwhile, Love is unplayable in the 4th because he doesn't have an elite, mobile center to play with. I think it's a trade that makes sense for both teams. Remember it's not about whether the Cavs can run roughshod over the East....they need to beat SAS or GSW. They can't do that with their current lineup.
This season Ariza hasn't been good on either side of the ball. Offensively, he was never much more than a stationary 3 point shooter but that works in our offense. Unfortunately, this season, he hasn't shot the ball up to his normal standards. For whatever reason, Ariza hasn't been nearly as effective on the defensive end this season. This seaon our opponents eFG% is 3.7% higher when Ariza is on the floor than when he's off. Last season, our opponents eFG% was 0.4% lower when Ariza was on the floor than when he was off. So far this season our opponents eFG% is 2 points higher when Harden is on the floor than when he's off. You can't really attribute Ariza's falloff to Harden's defense since Ariza's number is almost twice as bad as Harden's. Ariza's obviously still having defensive issues even when Harden isn't on the floor. This season Ariza has gone from being a 3&D guy to just being a guy. We really need for him to get back to his normal level on at least one side of the ball.
While I agree Ariza was a HUGE reason for our 2014/15 success, he's taken fairly large steps back on Defense & 3PT Shooting, IMO. Still one of leaders in steals, but he's getting beat my his man more often than in the past.
Ariza also plays an insane amount of minutes and unlike Harden, gives 100% on both ends of the court. And this season he's the only guy making any effort on D. He could be nicked up or just plain wore out. But as much as I like him, a trade might be best for all parties.
