Why would those players want to come here? It was known before free agency that our superstars would be out a considerable amount of time next season. And how is a 24 year old not a rebuilding type player?
Those were the guys available who we should pick up as "rebuilding type players"? And they would come here for the full MLE? Let's start with Marion and Kidd. Marion, age 31, contract around $10million per year. Kidd, age 36, contract around $8 million per year. Then there's the guys who actually WEREN'T available - Shaq and Carter Shaq, age 37, contracted to a club already for $20million Carter, age 32, contracted to a club already for $16, then $17 million To get either of those guys we would've had to conjure up a trade of expiring contracts/ draft picks. No thanks? Then there's the guys who WERE available: Ben Gordon, 26, got a contract around $11 million per year. David Lee, 26, he wants a max contract - as yet nobody has signed him for anything. So which of these guys do you think we could have used the MLE to sign? And which of them is a 'building block for the future' in a better way than Ariza (let me remind you that the guy just won a ring)? Let me just point you here [ http://www.nba.com/playerfile/trevor_ariza/index.html ] to remind you of his 23 game playoff numbers (they're really very good). As a 24 year old (younger than any of those other players you mentioned) he still has room to grow his game, but if those numbers were all he brought then he'd be a MAJOR steal for the MLE. Or were there some other players you think we could've got for the MLE to be "major rebuilding blocks"???
I like the fact that we got Ariza and while I don't believe that he will be our #1 option or agree that he should be our 'focal point' in our game, I am looking forward to seeing what he can do in RA's offense. There were many times where he was invisible on the lakers offense, that is understandable because they had experience at the point in Fisher, had a good low post presence and of course Kobe, but at crunch-time, when it counted, during the playoffs he showed signs of brilliance and if it weren't for his defense Denver could have potentially won that series. I think he could become a good 2 option for us...and with us running he could get many easy points on the break.
LOL. Are you nuts? Everything in the NBA is a gamble, the only sure thing is that you will pay a player his contract until it expires or you negotiate a buyout. In fact if you actually think about DM didn't gamble at all in the Battier trade. He got the PROVEN player in Battier instead of sticking with an UNKNOWN in Gay. If Gay was a superstar version of Ariza the Grizzlies wouldn't ended up with the number 2 pick in the draft. As everyone already pointed out Gay doesn't play defense, and although he scores a lot of point he has very few fts per game and he has a low fg %. What kind of superstar doesn't play defense or score efficiently? The NBA Live kind Finally, if you think paying the MID-LEVEL for 5 years to a 24 year old proven defensive stopper is massive overpaying, you are either a troll or you're not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed...
What kind of superstar doesn't play defense or score efficiently? I don't know, Allen Iverson, Gilbert Arenas, Tracy McGrady, just to name a few who have consistently shot in the low, low 40% range (Gay is 45.5% for his short career). Where you got yourself mixed up was in calling Rudy Gay a Superstar to begin with. I said he was the Superstar Version of Ariza, ie, Ariza makes him look like a Superstar by comparison even though they are very comparable players. I'm not even a fan of Rudy Gay, I just thought it was a pretty bone headed move to trade that pick when A) You already had a good defensive stopper in Keith Bogans and B) Battier could have been had for less. Memphis started to unload their roster shortly after that trade. Morey got fleeced out of The #8 pick and then The Lakers turned around and got Gasol for nothing during a salary cap dump. If anything, the trade should have been #8 pick for Shane Battier AND Mike Miller. And lets not forget that Jerry West is the one who was after Rudy Gay. Yes, the same Jerry West who built a dynasty out of The Lakers. Then the guy goes out and averages 20ppg in his 2nd season. The bottom line is, I am no fan of Rudy Gay or drafting at #8, but most GM's would have gotten more out of that pick than that and if Morey wanted Battier that bad, he didn't even need to give up that pick. to a 24 year old proven defensive stopper Now I don't know where you got this. Proven solid defender maybe, but proven defensive stopper? I would put him more in the category of a Shawn Marion on defense than in the Bruce Bowen school of defensive stoppers. A stopper is a hard nosed smart defender. Ariza is an athletic guy who can recover quickly. I would have to watch him with The Rockets this year before proclaiming him a stopper.
AVAILABLE, as in teams were looking to trade them... And McGrady's huge contract could have drawn any one of those players. And they weren't rebuilding players, they were keeping you in the playoffs type players until you get Yao back.
But you mention rebuilding type of player in another quote?? I am assuming you would like a rebuilding type of player from the quote below. Am I reading out of context? Please correct me if I am an idiot that has trouble comprehending. Shaq and Marion? two of the biggest whining buffoons known to man kind. You expect these old timers to help us?? At this point I'd rather have scola/landry/ariza/shane over marion any day of the week. And on top of that Marion's salary equal to all 4 of these players. Trade away our only bargaining chip, tmac, for a one year rental that is going to impede the growth of our 4 solid players? Same thing goes for Lee. I'd rather have Scola any day of the week. I understand you like Jason Kidd. He is a common house hold name. A brand you can trust right? A Sony, a Lexus, a Frigidaire. It makes you feel good that you got a brand name doesn't it? Helps you sleep at night with a piece of mind knowing you got what you paid for correct? Well, don't look now because that guy over there picked up Lowery and AB for 1/2 the price you paid for Kidd. And you know what? Word around town is that these 2 pairs are actually better than Kidd. How does that make you feel? Like you were swindled right? Gordan?? come on man.. I don't need to say anything about this guy. You self imploded when you put this guy in the mix. I wouldn't mind VC, but than again what is the point? Yao isn't coming back anytime this year. There really is no point to try to explain logic to the people incapable of reasoning...
Edit... sorry, for some reason I forgot Marion just got a new contract... Scratch him equating to 4 of our players... its more like a 1:1.6 ratio.. but regardless, Marion at this point of his career is no better that Ariza/battier/scola and i'll be damn to pay him 2-3x as much as any one of those players.
Also, for clarity. He didn't mean Gay was a superstar.. oh no!! he just wrote exactly that, but he didn't mean it. No sir, what he meant was "relative to ariza Gay is a superstar." You were suppose to pick up the context clues bro. *tsk tsk* I can see you did not excel in English class. I mean, it was so transparent. I don't understand how you didn't understand what he was trying to say. Lets see how well Gay/OJ does vs Ariza/Battier. O vs D, whom will prevail?
I'm not 100% sure about this, but I thought that Carrol Dawson made the Battier/Gay trade, not Morey. If this is true, then you're entire argument is blown to smitherines. Morey has made incredibly good moves so far, especially considering that Rockets looks like an unatractive destination this offseason. How did he get Ariza to join our mediocre roster (mediocre on paper only)? I don't know. Maybe it's because Ariza played against us for 7 games and knows the true potential that the media seem to ignore. Or maybe Morey is really a genius. I do agree however that Morey still has a lot to prove. He hasn't worked out a major deal that includes superstars or big name trades yet. You never know, he may suck at those type of trades but excels at scouting no name talents that pan out to great successes.
Oh - right. So then we still could've spent the MLE )or the DPE as it turns out) on Ariza. So my point stands - mentioning players who needed to be acquired by trade is completely irrelevant as to whether or not we could sign Ariza.....
to a 24 year old proven defensive stopper Now I don't know where you got this. Proven solid defender maybe, but proven defensive stopper? I would put him more in the category of a Shawn Marion on defense than in the Bruce Bowen school of defensive stoppers. A stopper is a hard nosed smart defender. Ariza is an athletic guy who can recover quickly. I would have to watch him with The Rockets this year before proclaiming him a stopper.[/QUOTE] I'd rather have a Shawn Marion type - versatile/great help defender who could create turnovers rather than a Bruce Bowen, if Ariza becomes a smaller Marion (at his peak) then this deal is a bargain
I think Ariza is another Scola type player. By that I mean a player who has skills and works hard to win games. Definitely not a scoring champion, or a "best player in the league" media darling, or someone outrageously dominant like a DWade, Lebron, Kobe, TMac, or AI. Myself, I'm terribly interested to see what happens when you get a team of hard working winners. Genuinely curious if they will overcome. I have a good feeling. Call me a homer if you must, but I definitely think its possible the Rockets make some noise next season if the existing pieces fall together right. What makes this team work is the out and out hustle and intensity. We need to translate that into buckets though, which will be a big "if".
Actually, the real question should be, why would Trevor Ariza leave The World Champion Lakers to come to Houston when they offered him the exact same contract? Not only that, Cleveland and Lebron James made a harder push than anybody for Ariza, but they refused to just hand over a starting position for him and so he balked. I mean really, they said he would have to compete with Delonte West for the starting job. DELONTE WEST... http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4311048 In my opinion, a supposed PROVEN DEFENSIVE STOPPER would have no problem supplanting DELONTE WEST... in the starting lineup for a Championship Contender looking to get over the hump. I mean, James is doing all the heavy lifting, you have Shaq in the paint, so all you gotta do is run the floor and hit the open 3 in the corner and you average double figures. Bottom line is, the guy already won a championship and then passed up 2 contracts for a contender to goto Houston with no Yao or McGrady. My feeling is, the reason why Morey was able to get Ariza was because he was able to guarantee him a starting position, and with Yao and McGrady both on the shelf, Ariza's agent told him to goto Houston so he could be the 1rst Option on a struggling team. His agent is working on getting more money in a few years IF Ariza turns out to be a star. Infact, I am willing to bet there is an opt out somewhere around year 3 or 4 of that contract, making him a restricted Free Agent and forcing the Rockets to pony up more money to keep him. More than likely, it wasn't even Morey that orchestrated this whole thing, it was Ariza's Agent who came to Morey after Morey lost Marcin Gortat.
