We do lack balance but what I feel is that we've got too many one dimensional players. One dimensional players will equal a first round exit. Ariza was great against the thunder and unless he can play like that every game, we are not going anywhere. We are not a football team where we can have players that are either good on defence or good on offence. We need players that have that versatility. There's still so much work that this team needs to do. Back to the drawing board Morey.
Agreed after Harden we have no who can penetrate to the rim. We got supposedly better on defense but now our offense is really hurting.
So we get a good playmaking PG and we let him run the team occasionally. Will someone accustomed to initiating practically every play be satisfied with a starvation diet on Harden's leftovers? I don't. Which is why I will repeat this: any PG who's smart enough to be a playmaker is too smart to come here.
from what i've seen, he's only played one game since going down. 13 pts on 4-14 shooting, 5 AST, 5 TO in 34 mins. And yes, going through the box scores for January, Capela is killing it and Nick Johnson seems to be improving. He rebounds well for a PG and has strong Assist numbers. Box Scores here: http://dleague.nba.com/schedule/ just scroll up for games already played.
I think people seriously underestimate Ariza's contributions to this team. Every night he has to guard the other teams best offensive player and more often than not he shuts them down. There is a reason he was second in the league in minutes for most of this season. When he isn't on the floor the Rockets defense takes a significant hit. He definitely needs to be more consistent knocking down his shots, but it appears that over the last two weeks of playing less minutes his accuracy has improved tremendously. I believe during the game against Golden State it was mentioned that over the last two or three weeks his three point percentage has been up around fifty percent. Trevor isn't the problem with this team.
Beverley and Ariza share that honor - when the other team has Lillard, or Paul, or Lowry, or is PG led, Bev takes him. Both are valuable, what we are saying is that we need one of them to be able to have more of an impact on offense. DD
Ariza is WAY more valuable than Bev on defense. Ariza is a game changer - he has changed our entire team defense. He's smart and GETS defense. Bev.....is not smart. He's an agressive on ball defender but has no concept of team defense and ultimately doesn't help us overall. Morey knows this.
They are both very effective in their own way on defense, both are elite - the problem is that neither are all that good at offense. Honestly - we just got trucked by a team that had almost ALL two way players- while we chase guys that are one sided, we get beat by those that have multiple weapons. We only have one that makes everything go, others have many - that is the difference between our team and a team like Golden State - who is clearly better than us at the moment. DD
I completely agree with this take. Ariza is wayyy more important to our team defense. He has definitely transformed us. Beverley is a great "hustle defender" but he is not a smart team defender. I just don't think he contributes that much to this team. We need to be better at the PG position due to how our team is comprised.
Kyrie Irving was destroying the Rockets until Ariza started guarding him. Bev may guard the strong point guards most nights, but if it weren't for Ariza against the Cavs there is a strong possibility the Rockets lose that game. In my opinion Ariza has been a much stronger defender this season than Beverley. And while I agree the Rockets need another scorer/play maker, I believe that needs to come at either the point or at the four. DMo has shown signs that he could be the second scoring option, but the Rockets seem unwilling to give him the touches he needs to establish that post scoring presence. My guess is they fear what Dwight's response would be if he wasn't the first option in the post. Therefore I believe the best option is to try and upgrade at the point guard position and bring Beverley off the bench.
What if we started: Harden Brewer Trevor DMO Howard Bev off the bench may provide the same 'spark' Brewer provides. And Bev's style may be better used in a 20 mpg role. Plus Terry, Pap, Smoove off the pine...not too shabby Very unlikely, but that'd be an interesting starting 5.
