Ariza isn't a bad fit. Definately streaky, but his defense is always there. With Harden and DMo offensively, I'm fine with that. I think with more games, his shot and comfort with the system will even out.
This guy is pretty much perfect next to Harden. Parsons was fine too, but our defense got exposed too much
His defense on Johnson last game was outstanding...hawking him the whole time. He definitely expends a lot of energy on the defensive end.
What is the steals record? Getting 5 or 6 steals every other game is not normal. Ariza should get votes for dpoy. Even though a big man will probably win
Their IQ and length play a huge part as well. I would post highlights but I'm at work. For most of their steals you can see that they bait and anticipate passes very well.
He's averaging 3.0 steals per game (over 1 a game more than previously) over the last 10 games on 7 minutes less time. And Ariza does it without cheating. He still hawks his man tightly, even without the ball (if he's guarding a primary scorer).
This may be relevant but their should be an analysis on Ariza and Brewer for "earned" steals and "unearned" steals. Probably tedious to do but I bet it would be interesting to know. "Earned" steals being what you just described. "Unearned" errant turnovers resulting in steals not caused by the defense.
I don't know how relevant that is. That's like saying earned rebounds vs unearned. Good defenders will get more "unearned steals" because they are very active on defense and opportunistic. What would be more telling is how many missed attempts directly result in the opponents scoring or having an advantage to score. The "cheating" factor.
Yep, how many steals are "gambling" and how many failed gambles result in good shots vs opponents vs fast breaks for us.
