Hopefully, Sam Dekker becomes that guy that can give Ariza a breather and eventually start over him. While I would not hold my breath on it at least for this season, he has some of the skill sets to contribute offensively. IMHO Ariza really needs rest and Brewer is not playing consistently well enough to take much of Trevors minutes. That is a big problem for this team! Suggesting we replace Ariza with KJ Mc Daniels is just not a good idea, offensively just has a too long way to go.
Ariza has not been good and is a huge reason why this team is sputtering. He also kills ball movement, when he gets the ball with space and can only dribble 5 or so feet before he has to pick up the ball. If his defense doesn't pick up, they need to look to move him ASAP.
While I really cannot disagree with you especially for this season; I am honestly still holding out hope that contribute in a similar fashion to what Clinton Capela last year. Not by skill and talent necessarily, but hustle and in Dekkers case BBall IQ. Arizas shot selection has been horrible this season.
When your star player is blowing coverages as well as not communicating and staying on script on switches it is going to cause your primary defender fits because he isn't know how to cover the switches. Also harden isn't showing on the defensive end on picks to allow Ariza to recover. Look at the line up combination of when Ariza plays. Then find the constant line up and then remove harden. Your quoting of the stat is flawed because you are looking at it in a high overall level. From my perspective it isn't all hardens fault but our d is very simple in terms of coverages and when a piece of the cog is not in line. It will throw everything off, which has been the case and very evident.
too many knee jerk poster. One good game or one bad game, you can be star or scrub. With $8 M, he is doing his job.
Ariza plays too much and is asked to do too much offensively. No ball handling, no driving. Just camp out behind 3, play D, and he should play 28-30mpg. Not much more.
Ariza has been one of the more consistent players for anyone actually watching the games. Why would we want to move him over a T Jones or KJ?
Yet, Ariza's defense has been slightly worse when Harden isn't on the floor. Is Harden somehow effecting Ariza's defense from the bench? Have you watched Ariza's defense this year? He's having trouble staying in front of his man. That has nothing to do with Harden or team defense. Guy are flat out beating him off of the dribble and than didn't happen nearly this frequently before. I'm not sure why it's happening but it's an issue and it has nothing to do with Harden.
Ariza is a good player on a very reasonable declining salary for two more years. He is at least an excellent backup. If we're getting a good SF then it's Brewer who has to bounce. In fact, I want to see KJ on the floor with Smoove and see how that works. Wasn't there a stat someone posted some time back which showed Ariza simply plays worse when there are less days AND when his minutes go up near 40? Why do we keep abusing that, give Brewer or KJ more minutes and keep Ariza fresh.
What's the love for KJ? I never got it. Is it cause he's young and athletic, but doesn't play? Whenever he plays, albeit a small sample size, the dude just looks straight up lost and ha a T-Jones BBall IQ(from watching D-League). He's great at weakside shot blocking, that's something he'll definitely bring. But in regards to the flow of the offense, he is really dumb out there. At least he seems so, he doesn't even take advantage of his limited minutes and play hard when he gets a slim chance to see the court. I'm all for giving him a shot when **** goes haywire though(losing a lead, players not playing hard, etc.). Just to change it up and see what happens.
