Artest had a 15.6 per last year and Ariza has a 15.3 this year. Artest had a much better +/- last year, but lets ignore that since the teams are so different. Both their defense was a lot less than we expected. Therefore why does ron get so much hate for what he did last year? I don't think ariza is much better if at all.
Where are the Artest hating threads from the last season? Ariza got multiple bashing threads already before playing 7 games for the Rockets.
you're right.. when preseason, (almost) everybody thinks he's overpaid.. and for myself, i also predict he's only averaging 12-14ppg..
Artest peaked before he came to Houston and is on the downward slope. Ariza is young and hasn't peaked yet. We win in my eyes.
2 steals a game? almost a block a game? what the hell did you expect? 4 steals and 3 blocks? 18, 5, and 4.....2 steals.....pretty damn good. better than i expected. if you expected 25, 6, and 6, then you have a problem. i loved artest. everything he brought to the team. entertainment, toughness, etc. but with that came bad shots and a horrible playoff run, where you could easily tell he's lost a step and not worth anything close to a 3 year deal let alone a 5 (what the lakers gave him) On, the other hand, i think giving Ariza a 5 year deal could work out well. he's young, and he'll only get better when he has a couple of superstars to play with. yeah his numbers might go down, but i can expect his FG%, maybe 3pt% to rise, and turnovers reduce...
What part of Ariza is improving, younger and not crazy don't you get? In purely basketball terms, Artest is a ball stopper on offense and overrated defensively. He can't guard quick players anymore and gambles too much. Artest is the better player, but he is wrong for a team like the Rockets.
Artest is just 1 of the 5 pitbulls that left the team. It doesn't make much of a difference. We still have Hayes, Scola, Battier and Lowry. These are what i considered pitbulls along with Artest from last year.
Ariza More athletic, faster, smarter defender. Works well in the system so far. No ego. Big hops. Artest Older and slower. More injury prone, hardly any jump left. Does not work well in offense, ball stopper, takes to many risks on defense and not enough speed to make up for it. Ariza is ot as strong, has less of a post up game, he cannot grab up loose balls (no homo) as well, and has no intimidation. But he is the better defender and will gain much experience this year. Possible to bloom into true offensive threat.
Ariza has more potential, without a doubt. He also fits our team better than Artest. However, I don't think we need to keep comparing the two all the time, as they are different players.
Are we talking about the same Ariza who's shooting 40% from the field and averaging 3 turnovers per game?
I understand why we got ariza instead, all I am saying is if you think ariza is good this year then you can't hate ron for last year because they are very similar player. And using just steals and block as a tool for defensive analysis is not good.
