Hey, anything is possible. Just look at Bobby Simmons. If you get more playing time and touches, the stats are bound to go up.
Hmmm...I would like this...that would mean good things for us, but I don't think that this will be the case. I'm sure there are plenty more people who have a lot more room to improve than Ariza. Ariza could improve on his overall 3pt percentage...I would appreciate that. His stats will/should get better though, you're right about that. But most improved? Nah.
If Ariza averages at least 20 ppg and win the Rockets some games, I could see him being voted as an All-Star. Look at Jameer Nelson, he only averaged 16 ppg and had 5-6 assists and was still voted as an All-Star.
Stupid. How about you check Bobby Simmons? He went from 7.8 ppg to 16.4 ppg and won Most improved player award. You don't have to score 20+ pts, 10+ rebounds, 10 assists+ to win it.
Unless your name is Lebron James? He'd have to average a healthy triple double to get the award, surely?
Trevor has a good chance to be meantioned but predicting how well he will do along with a number of different players around the league is difficult. I imagine he will need time to adjust to the offense but without Yao he wont be getting many open looks so his slashing ablity will need to be utilized which is a good thing in RA offense. Lets see what else happens this offseason and it will tell us more about what to expect from Trevor.
Thing is, I expected more of a explanation than "Hey Bobby Simmons did it." because you can say the same thing about every player who has a bigger role. Why not Aaron Brooks, why not a Rookie who has yet to break out like Yi? Yeah Ariza COULD win MIP, but so can a lot of players so it just seems a little pointless... I'm well aware players like Ariza can break out, happens all the time...in fact Tmac was one of those guys... I know he doesn't have to average triple double...
Except for this past championship season? I semi-agree with you though. He can't create his own shot, and doesn't even look like he has potential to do that or become a star. He looks like he has great potential great role player. Man, Bobby Simmons... what happened to him? I remember that some fans wanted him. I might have been on that bandwagon, might have not. Then he gets the full MLE and just disappears. I remember him making these crazy threes against us last season though.
Ariza is not a bench warmer, he was simply a No Minutes All Star. Frankly, it's not far-fetch for him to increase his stats by quite a bit. First, he is likely going to be loggin a lot of minutes. 35 or so is probably not unreasonable. Second, currently, he averages 13.1 pooints (on 10.7 FG attempts and 3.0 FT attems, a TS% of .544) per 36 minutes. It's not unreasonable, now that he's on a team without Kobe, Gasol, Odom, etc. that he can take, say, 3 or 4 more shots a game (which amounts to 1 extra shot per quarter or so), and score 3-4 points as a result-- meaning, it's probably not too hard to have the guy score, say, 16 or 17 ppg in the 35 or so minutes he will likely play. That kind of jump in stats can indeed get you MIP, depending on what anyone else is doing. BTW, I am not expect Ariza to become TMac or anything. He doesn't have that kind of skillset. But if a guy has a good first step (which he does), the ability to finish once he gets near the rim (which he does) and a reasonably decent J (lets see if the 23 playoff games isn't some sign of growth), you don't need to be TMac or Kobe to score 15-18 ppg in the right situation. Hell, Raja Bell even averaged almost 15 ppg for 2 straight years.
i like ariza and play and his attitude...but lets be realistic, ariza is (similar) a younger and more athletic version of shane battier. Overall, ariza has a little better offense because of his quickness and athleticism also he is a little better at creating for his shot compared to shane but shane battier has the better fundamental defense.
coz there is no one to get excited out there now. Yao went down, Tmac is out, Artest is a Faker now. Lets face it, Ariza is all this board got now.
Why everybody is so excited about this player? He is just another role player, he looks great on a contender team, but will be so so on a team like us now.
How would you compare Tayshaun Prince to Ariza at around the same age? Prince has better handles and slightly better shooting percentages. I think you could argue that Ariza could become a Prince like player within the next couple years. They both rely on their quick first step and length to shoot over defenders.
IMO, worst case scenerio he becomes bobby simmons, best case scenerio? Danny Granger. Never underestimate a player just because he played under 2 star's shadows.
He needs to get his butt in the gym and work on ballhandling drills DAY AND NIGHT. If he semi learns how to create his own shot, he will be a 16, 6, and 3 guy, and that seems well worth the contract. Trevor is young, fits in well with our future. Morey deserves some credit because while he did but a lot of marbles into Tracy, Yao and even Ron; he has acquired some young talented players that can be a part of our future. AB, Carl, Kyle, Luis, Trevor, and potentially these draft picks. I am feeling a lot better about our future than I did a few months ago.
Sure it's possible, we have not seen much of Ariza's individual game at all. The Lakers had too many talented offensive guys to feature him: Kobe, Gasol, Bynum, Odom were all options before Ariza. We have no idea if he can run pick and roll because Kobe or Odom or Fisher did all the pick and roll stuff. I remember seeing him try to post Aaron Brooks a couple of times, but that was all in terms of post ups. I don't ever remember Ariza getting an iso called for him. Maybe Ariza has a nice offensive game and we just never saw it because of all the other talent on the Lakers.
