He has his weaknesses,but when he played within himself on the Lakers,he proved to be useful. They wouldn't have won without him.
Sure. They just needed someone who could hit wide-open shots and drive to the hoop whenever the defense is double-teaming everyone other good player on the court. Now that people are actually guarding him, it's not surprising to see how badly he is exposed...
No, they wouldn't have. They were clearly missing another perimeter defender in the 08 Finals (remember Allen dogging Sasha for the game winner), and his defense was clearly a difference maker in the WCFs (2 game winning steals) and Finals against Orlando (gave Turk hell). A Ron Artest type player isn't available every summer.*
I do agree with your points,he is useful as a complementary player. He started playing better after Martin arrived,but I feel Lee can help the latter out. We need Chase,but a future replacement for Battier will be needed. Ariza could have helped us,in that role IMO.
Honestly, I'm just glad I don't have to see Ariza pouting and demanding the ball at every possession and trying to dribble for more than a few seconds. His dribbling is worst than Artest's. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hu7LxM22Mgo?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hu7LxM22Mgo?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> You could tell he had some locker room issues with some of the guys. Lee has been a blessing in the sky for us. He actually can dribble the ball!
The reason for that trade is for the Rockets to have some cap relieft but also Morey having faith in Chase Budinger. The Rockets actually have a log jam at the 3, not the 2. Martin doesn't really have a back up 2 while the SF position is jam with Ariza, Chase, and Battier. Lee will bring just as much production as Ariza but I believe he will contribute much more. Plus Lee can play the 3 too on certain matchups. The Rockets believe Chase will have a break out year, that's why they didn't hesitate to trade Ariza. When Chase develops his defensive skills, he can easily replace Ariza. But basically Lee is on his rookie contract, which help the Rockets cap room. Plus his potential ceiling is higher and overall, he fits with this team more. His style of play and his personality. Its a good trade both on and off the court. The Rockets have been after Courtney Lee for some time now. If they wanted him that badly, he must be special. But basically Lee will be a much better player than Ariza.
People can say what the want and i like lee alot since his rookie year, but ariza has shown on the big stage that the moment isnt too big for him. Now we know DD will try to compare that to someone who didnt even play and got a ring like jack haley,but everyone know how wrong that is. Morey can say and maybe he believes lee is a lateral move and he's cheaper, cool. It was a salary dump and if thats the case, so be it. Once trevor went back to his role after the martin trade,he played like he projected to play. I never thought of ariza as anything more than 43% 12-15ppg 6 rebs 3 asst type of wing defender. A guy who can slash off the ball,finish on the break, and knock down some 3's. I mean, what else do u expect for mle money? Of course now that lee is playing on the rockets, ariza is trash. Well,anyone that watched the nets last would see the difference in lee as a magic vs lee the net. Its pretty much the same thing ariza went through last year with the rockets. Combine the fact hayes and battier were starting also and it was pretty much a forced scoring load scenerio. He will play better in new orleans because he has a great player and other good players on that team. Wish him well, move on.
The big stage, (chuckle)....yeah....lots of role players have done ok on the big stage, but chocked when they were asked to do more than they could. Ariza took a ride on the Kobe train and got a ring, BFD.....when he was asked to expand his game and role it proved what a garbage player he really was. If you can't dribble the ball, can't shoot it, can't stay in front of your man, and whine about your teamates, so much so that they have to freeze you out...why...because you suck..... Then you are not as good as you think you are....and that was the main problem......Ariza was a role player who thought he was a star ......well.....sorry charlie....good riddance. DD
Ariza only looked "bad" because it was a throw away year and management wanted him to experiment and try to expand his game in the beginning of the season. After the Martin trade his play was well worth the MLE, so I am in agreement with you here. And technically I guess the Lee trade was a "salary dump", since we did shed salary. But do you not agree this was a lateral move? Or at worst a marginal downgrade for significant savings? Do you think it was a bad move? And as much as Lee struggled last year on the Nets, take a look at his second half play and you will see similar improvement compared to Ariza. For those who think signing Ariza was a mistake: 1) Ariza is paid market value, meaning he is an asset. Letting the Injury Exception expire means you get 0 assets. 2) Without the Ariza signing you don't get Lee.
Look, we got Ariza, and flipped him for a better player, so in hindsight it worked out. You have to give Morey credit though, he gets rid of his mistakes very very fast. DD
While I love debating......comparing Lee & Ariza doesnt mean anything. How good they are individually is meaningless. The criteria should be, which player makes his team better. Lee hasnt even played a regular season game with the team yet, so estimating his value is inconclusive. Same with Ariza and the Hornets. So whats the point here? Are we asking whether the swap was a good one? Again inconclusive. Are we asking who would win in a one on one? Are we asking who has better skills?
I agree with mambajoe that this isn't just a player to player comparison. Even beyond the salary dumb aspect, it's about improving our overall wing lineup. It's similar to the Lowry/Alston trade in that regard...giving Chase more PT. I really do think that the plan is for Chase to start by the end of the season, and I bet Battier is perfectly fine with that. I'd rather have Battier mentoring Chase for so many reasons. Sure Battier won't last as long as Ariza, but Morey has plenty of time to find another SF. Morey should have the confidence by now to know that he doesn't need to worry about backup SF 2 years from now. Beyond that though, it seems that any blockbuster change is going to happen at the 3 or 4 position.
DD, so he rode kobe coattails, but what did lee do in the finals? We saw a young s jax and a rookie cassell and horry step and play well riding coatails. Well, when you prove you can do it, its alot better than thinking you can do it. It wouldve been nice if the rockets had a role player to step up and score 13 pts in a road game in the playoffs when yao and tracy were healthy. You try to minimize it like it happens alot and it doesnt. The rockets never had play like that during tracy and yao best yrs and thats why they were one and done. When they said expand his game, i dont think they ever thought of him as tracy part 2. As i said earlier,12-15 ppg 6 rebs 3 asst good defense, young growing player.If gms thought he could do more, he wouldnt be a mle player. Salmons and hedo were paid mle money and all the way up to their last 2 yrs of the contract, it was kinda like ok. Their last 2 yrs, they outperformed their contract and got paid more. I will say this, i think ariza will have a much better yr across the board than whoever starts for the rockets. Pts,fg %,rebs,and asst. He will probably be higher rated than the rockets starting 3.
Ariza was a solid piece of the puzzle for the Lakers. No matter what silly agenda anyone has, he played a lot of minutes and contributed a lot to that team. Look up the stats, he was excellent that year before struggling for half the season last year. Don't worry, you've got the truth. Like they say, opinons are like assholes.
