Can Ariza defend Harden as well as Aminu did? Probably a wash. Aminu definitely shoots better than Ariza, and finishes around the rim better than Ariza. Watching Ariza's bricks after bricks is painful. Watching Ariza driving to the basket is even worse.
you guys are severely under rating Ariza. Aminu is what Ariza was before we signed him the first time. Ariza has fine the growing and maturing. He is better defensively and offensively. He had a great series and is really growing but hes closer to brewer than Ariza. And yes Ariza is better than brewer.
I like Ariza and I support him even when he struggles. With that said .... Ariza is NOT better than Brewer. No way no how.
I don't understand. Brewer is an elite player in transition and can finish around the rim but he can't pass, defend or shoot consistently ( at least trevor shot from three 36.4 , 40.7 and 35 the last three years.). Brewer gambles so much for steals. I don't trust him at all as a starting SF.
Y'all are getting real juiced up on Aminu, man. He's the type of players Carrol Dawson would throw the full MLE at, print jerseys, start him, then dangle him for peanuts begging to get out of the contract 2 years down the line. Cuban got him on good value. That's over now. He's impact to salary ratio is about to make him a liability.
brewer is not a true starter in this league. he's only effective when the team gets out in transition. other than then he does not effect the game like ariza can as a full time starter.
I don't know if he was necessarily the "Best" player in that series for the Mav, but I do know he was really the most important. Sort of like Kawhi for the Spurs. He was making life hell for Harden, and had the athleticism on the other end to make plays, and bit shots to keep them in the game. This kid is night and day from where he was a year or two ago. He found a motor to match his athletic ability, and refined his 3 point shot. He's going to be starting for some team next year. It should be the Mavs if they were smart, but looks like Cuban is still praying for a silver bullet player to chase in free agency & will overlook the non-big name players like Aminu who are probably more important to the team long term building past Dirk's tenure. Honestly Crowder, Wright, Aminu, Parsons, Monta, Dirk, Chandler, a first round draftee, etc. looks a whole lot more promising than Dirk, Parsons, Aldridge, and vet min contract guys. I kinda sorta hope they end up going that route actually. Put all their money into poor defensive players and have to play mix matched lineups next year.
WTF? Prior to this season Aminu was cut by two different teams despite being a former lottery pick, if he had been diligently working on his game all these years and was on his way to all stardom then the Clips who drafted him wouldn't have cut him in the first place, it's not like they have an all star at SF or aren't in need of a super athletic defensive ace. The playoffs can bring out the best in people, for example Melo, Tmac, Iverson, Marbury etc. who are always slacking on D and didn't work on their game can come out and compete against the best of them in the playoffs. So just because Aminu played out of his mind in 1 series doesn't mean he has the work ethic or desire to improve his skills, those things manifest themselves in the offseason and during practice (what? Are we talking about practice???). Saying Aminu is just as good defensively as Ariza is ridiculous, first of all if Aminu was so good on D how come Harden who was his primary defensive assignment the last 3 games ended up with better playoff numbers than the regular season? On the other hand Monta Ellis who was hounded by Ariza all series long ended up having bad %s overall. For Aminu I think everything depends on whether he thinks he's amazing or he realizes he has a long way to go. If he goes the Lin route and think he's already a pretty good player and just needs "a good opportunity" to show what he can do then I'm afraid whoever signs him up will regret it. On the other hand if he realizes he's no where near good enough defensively and continues to work hard on his game then I think he will be pretty good.
I got your point that Aminu was not very good before. But that doesn't mean a young player cannot improve. Just compare his numbers vs Ariza's numbers in this series: Ariza: 36.6 MPP, 34.8% 2PT%, 28.9% 3PT%, 40.8% TS%, 9.3% Rebound%, 96 ORtg, 100 DRtg, -4 NetRtg Aminu: 30.0 MPP, 50.0% 2PT%, 63.6% 3PT%, 71.1% TS%, 12.3% Rebound%, 138 ORtg, 106 DRtg, +32 NetRtg. Ariza's numbers are brutal. And that's with Rockets having a MVP Harden creating offense, much better than what Mavericks has.
