Rather trade for Aaron Gordon, he's a better fit on offense AND defense. Jahlil does jack on D, especially weak on switches.
The reason Ariza is so sought after from other teams is because he is very durable and is made to play 30+ minutes every game. I don't know how you can say one player who plays a completely different position should play less than another. As much as I'd like to see Paul on the floor more, we need him healthy for the playoffs.
John Stockton averaged sub 30 minutes per game after coming off of injury (his first) in his 14th season. He never missed another game for the rest of his career. Chris Paul is in his 13th season now. Maybe sub-30 minutes isn't a bad thing?
CP3 should play 30 or fewer minutes in the RS. He can play more in the PS. Keep him fresh and healthy.
My names was created after watching Harden refuse to rest and wincing knowing that it was a bad decision leading up to the playoffs of last year. I know why he made that decision: he wanted to go into the playoffs playing well and was consciously aware of somewhat choking the previous years. He thought that that might be the cure to his problems. It obviously wasn't going to be. Nothing is more important than rest when you played as much as he did.
That's an interesting comment. The reason I would say one player should play more than another is that of the overall value which they offer, as well as assessing things like what we would be like with Harden defending SF for those minutes. I think there's little doubt that the value of Paul + Gordon + Harden could equal what Ariza would bring to the table. Now the only thing the Rockets really care about, before the finals, is going up against the Warriors and they definitely wouldn't want Harden defending Durant. But what if Harden was playing SF defense while Durant wasn't on the court. Food for thought. As for resting Paul, the largest problem a team has after trades is getting them accustomed to one another. For that reason most teams don't win the first year they are together (see Miami Heat the first year after Lebron's trade -- not to be confused when someone like Durant goes to the Warriors and they become 25% better than most other teams). I certainly wouldn't be worried about resting Paul at this stage at all. I would be far more concerned with him not having enough playing time to have gotten to know his teammates enough to win a championship. We definitely have a chance of winning . . . but that's thanks to Paul being so intelligent. The other thing about Paul's minutes is that, while they are close to 30 a game, they are generally "easy minutes" in the sense that he isn't doing a whole lot . . . not that much is being asked of him. I think if you were to ask him how he feels he'd say this has been the easiest season of his career from a physical standpoint (outside of injuries).
