I should know better? Your going from the topic of Ariza's bad shooting performances to now claiming that he's a cancer and a tyrant. Your "reality" is clouded by bias and your gauge of performace by players is becoming outright laughible. you used to be annoying and clever but now your just being annoying. new system, teammates, coach, city, expectations...all for an MLE contract.
I don't think he is a cancer, or tyrant? Where do you get this stuff? I said he is sucking right now, and needs to play withing himself and that he has a history of being a punk, and is showing some of that in Houston too. All true, I might add. Some fans criticize, some are more sunshiny, clearly I am not one of them.... DD™
That LA game was terrible, every time he put the ball on the floor. He would fall down. Whatever happened to putting your best players in the best position to score that suits their abilities. Under no circumstance should ariza be allowed to put his head down and drive to the basket when there's more than 1 defender in front of him.
Ariza should not be a top option on offense on any team. He was at best L.A.'s 4th and should not be any higher for the rockets. Coming in here he was given the impression he needed to be a leader even giving him T-macs #1 as if he was Mcgradys replacement. If anything he was Artests replacement. A lockdown defender who can put up decent numbers on offense when he's not trying to do it all himself. Artest didn't understand that and neither does Ariza. The sooner he realizes he's on a team with some better scoring weapons the better he will be and if not I wouldn't be surprised to see him go in a trade this offseason.
I've always enjoyed some of the "subplots" of Rockets games. My two favorites are watching Battier and Hayes play man defense on elite scorers and watching Lowry off the ball (especially on the offensive glass). You can now add watching Ariza to that list although not for positive reasons. It's still very entertaining to watch him. You're bound to get a hands on the hips, palms up in the air shrug or throw of the hand in frustration at least half a dozen times a game. Thanks for contributing something, Trevor. :grin:
Why do uninformed people keep saying this crap? McGrady switched to #3 to promote his Darfur charities, and Ariza elected to take #1. We didn't "give" him #1, he chose it since it was available. Stop trying to make it look like something it isn't.
Damn you guys are too hard on the guy. The guy obviously plays hard and I am sure their is a huge pressure on his shoulder to perform. Hell many of you still think he is the number 1 option on this team. He was brought in as a MLE player, who was promised the ability to show his offensive skills. Sure its not great, its not awesome but for what he is doing, I am happy with the MLE. You don't get many players who want to play both ends of the court with intensity. He may not be the brightest offensive option, the best defender. But he is solid for MLE. IF you want to blame anybody blame GM or Coach who continue to allow him be in the top 10 for minutes and allow him to shoot alot of 3's. He is doing what he is asked to do. Give him some slack. I want a decent regular season player and a playoff performer who knows how to win and can step up. Ariza fits that bill.
Actually he isn't obviously playing hard. This thread is about Ariza's body language as it appears on the court. Look at Dave_78's post above. He says nothing about his numbers on offense or anything about his defense(good or bad). He points to negative things he does like putting his hands on his hips while on offense away from the ball. Throwing his hands up when the ball goes the other way. This is an attitude thread, not a production thread. And his attitude has been suspect at best.
Mid-Level Exception player Ariza signed with the Rockets for the Mid-level which is what each team over the salary cap is given to sign a player or their own FA. It is usually the mean of all player salaries in the league so it usually revolves around the 5-7 million dollar range if I am not mistaken. MLE players are generally hit or miss, rarely do you see a player that signs for the mid-level that is worth the mid-level. Teams either get lucky and get a much better player (hopefully that is the case with ariza) or they overpay for a role player. Really thats all teams should expect with a MLE signing, a role player..an all-star or any other star will command more money. I think MightyMog's point is that people here are expecting Ariza to be an all-star type player when in reality he isnt and may never be. Considering the price and role he has been asked to perform this year I think he has exceeded the value of his contract. He just needs to have better shot selection and bring that fg% up. A lot of the unnecessary heat on Ariza was actually brought on by the team's success, now that the team has a realistic shot at making the playoffs any mistakes/deficiencies by any player will be magnified. Its just that Ariza is being looked to be a primary option by the coaches so he will be scrutinized the most.
I don't think anyone expects him to be a star player, just a guy that plays his role and is efficient while doing it. But your point is valid, Rafer and Mike James were both MLE players.. DD
Great point... Kobe does the same things to his teammates but no one can complain... he's Kobe!... the best player on his team and he find ways to help his team win. Ariza's not even the second best player on our team but somehow he feels entitled to take on that role. Quite possibly, like another poster wrote, he might have picked that up from Kobe. My question is - If we were winning games would this (his attitude) even be an issue?
Nobody expects him to be an All-Star caliber player but is it too much to ask that he shoots better than 38% from the field, 31% from behind the arc, and 66% from the free throw line?!?! I mean these are terrible numbers accompanied by a bad attitude that might be ruining team chemistry.
You know, it doesn't seem to hurt the horse, and the guy seems to be releasing a good deal of frustration, so, I guess it's O.K. Of course, I am open to other opinions. Oh no! I wasted my 7000th post on trivia!!!!!
In previous post I called him a scrub for I was angry with him yelling at Battier. I take it back. I don't hate the guy. I don't dislike him. I know he is doing what he is asked and allowed to do. I want him to be successful as a Rocket player. However, I am not convinced he is going the right way. This is attitude I've seen before. Somebody should straighten man up, cause eventually this attitude might start killing team chemistry If it hasn't allready.
