Ariza for the most part played Kawahi well tonight. The problem with him is his limited offensive game if his 3 is not falling.
He's a solid defender, nothing special anymore. Offensively he just isn't skilled. He isn't a shooter in the true sense of the word. As a bench player he'd be fine, but in our case we need him to be one of our top offensive players and our best defender. He's not good enough anymore to be the latter and has never been good enough to be the former.
I like what I'm seeing from Dekker, but I still think Ariza is solid and valuable to this team beyond the box score. Glue guy, hard worker, good defender, decent shooter. I'm hoping Dekker can eventually develop into a secondary play-maker beside Harden, AKA Chandler Parsons
Nah he's one of the better role players in the NBA & collectively he's been great for us in his 2nd stint. That being said, if KJ/Dek continue to develop well, i'd be more than open to move him.
I don't know how reliable these are (ESPN DRPM is not out for this season yet) but his NBA.com defensive stats look far from elite. Those have been admittedly questionable in the past. According to them though, he's allowing the guy he guards to shoot 7% better than their average so far this season. That is terrible.
I really dont know about ariza anymore. My opinion changes almost every day. It appears hes a fantastic teammate and for that alone we should look to keep him (even in a reduced role). But his defense is really not that good. He still gives great effort and is capable of performing great d on possessions still, but his consistency is completely gone. He gets blown by regularly now and talking about back door cuts, I thought harden was dreadful in that aspect in recent years by ariza has been caught napping so many times backdoor this season. Awful
Ariza is great IMO. Doesn't screw up coverages, hits open 3's, gets steals and deflections, and is a great locker room guy. Dekker still gives up points because he makes mistakes defensively, he's not yet ready IMO.
You think maybe that's because we're running him out there with Harden, Brewer, Anderson and Nene and the moment a switch happens we are hopeless? The team is playing atrocious D. He is not as good as he used to be, but that's not a good stat is it discounts how well the team is playing defense. There are no guys in the NBA who lock down their guy on a team that otherwise plays among the worst defense in the league, which is what we're doing right now.
Ariza is limited on offense but he's playing because of his defense. I would love for him to get it together on offense but if that means he is going to be taking shots from Ryno or Gordon, I would prefer for him not to shot. Dekker is another season or two away before he's ready for starter mins. I would only want Ariza to go if we were trading for a major piece.
I already said it was flawed, and you brought up some additional explanations. Still, when the stat is that far out, betting money is his defense hasn't been that effective this year.
I don't think so. He's playing with terrible defenders, in a league that is switching a lot more, and on a team that generates a HIGH number of posessions. Giving people +7 points sounds like he is exactly who he was last year. A good defender on a poor defensive team with especially no interior D.
Like I said, your explanations sound fair - and this stat has not shown itself to be that reliable. Still, we will have to agree to disagree that this can be totally dismissed.
