http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6659333.html Trevor Ariza has struggled with his shot in his first two games of the preseason, making 3-of-8 attempts against San Antonio and just 1-of-11 against Boston on Wednesday when he seemed to grow increasingly frustrated. That brought quick advice. “The coaches told me ‘Just keep shooting,'” Ariza said, inspiring Chuck Hayes to belt out, “you did do that.” “I did. I did keep shooting,” Ariza said. “It's preseason. I'm still trying to get comfortable here. I'm going to try to not dwell on it or look into it too much because just as I can go 1-for-11, I can go 10-for-11, too. It's just one game. “I was pressing a little bit. I was rushing a little bit, was a little anxious. That's what happens when you come to a new situation. You have to fight your way through things. My teammates have given me confidence to keep shooting, as have the coaches. “That's the biggest part of it, the biggest key, not getting frustrated.” Battier targets next week Rockets forward Shane Battier has continued to step up his workouts to come back from a pulled right hamstring suffered on the first day of training camp. There is no timetable for his return, but he seems to be targeting next week's preseason games. “I don't want to come back for a game without a practice,” he said. “Whenever we practice next (either Saturday or Sunday), I'll practice and hopefully play the next game.”
Well, the mentality is right insofar as a shooter is concerned. The prerequisite, however, is having the ability to produce with such voluminous shooting and short term memory. From the beginning, I've been dubious on Ariza's offense, since I think he lacks the handles and ability to create space/separation necessary to qualify as an offensive weapon. Additionally, Trevor has a relatively slow release. I don't know if I'll ever see anything to dissuade that opinion. I've read the comments from Morey claiming Ariza's worth/value is justified solely by his defense. The claim is that if Trevor only produces for us the way that he did in LaLa land that 30M/6yr is a fair contract. Whether that's true is debateable, imo, but what I wonder is if his defensive and contractual value will be mitigated by his stated desire to increase his offensive repertoire and production on his new team. Solid defense is appreciated, but not at the cost of 3-12 type games...not for that kind of contract. Trevor thinks he will have red hot 10-11 games, and that MAY happen occasionally; however those are much more likely to happen when defenses cannot focus on him...when he can be the beneficiary of a Kobe (or, yes, McG). His statement upon signing, about (paraphrasing) having the best opportunity to blossom his offense being in Houston were quite telling. Couple that with his emerging "shooter's mentality" and the imminent return of McG (who could truly help Trev's efficiency, but at the cost of Ariza not being a decision maker but a finisher, the optimal situation, imo) and this could be an interesting situation to watch.
I wouldn't put too much stock either way (positive or negative) on Ariza's comments. It's just chit-chat until he has a good game and says, See? I told you I'd get past this. But in any case, I do hope the coaches aren't actually thinking Ariza will be more than our 3rd option on offense, maybe 4th. They might have been blinded by the 7 game series where Ariza went nuts from the 3 point line. You can improve him as much as you want but he's not a go-to guy (as we all know); not in the half-court set. Get him running, get some easy buckets, let him spot up from 3.
It's early but the more I watch him play the more I think he is a player they want to have around strictly for when they re-load with a superstar wing (or if McGrady comes back to All Star form). He is purely a guy that you want to play defense and hope he gives you something on offense. There's no way Morey and crew did all the homework they always do and came to any conclusions other than that this guy has great potential on defense but sucks offensively unless he is getting wide open jumpers. You can't look at this cat's skill set and tell me you want him for anything other than as a complimentary player to your superstars (like he was in LA). I thought the Rockets actually expected him to be a "main weapon" this season which I thought was stupid and now I see why. They don't want that from him because the guy is horrible offensively.
I remember them saying they want to include him in the motion offense. They never said he was like the No.1 or No.2 scorer. Those places were given to Brooks and Scola. With Landry's scoring emerging, he might become the 4th scorer with 11-14 points.
Ariza is learning how to create his own shot.. in a way. He will struggle early into the reagular season. He'll be fine.
Perhaps I got the from the media/Rocket announcers then. My mistake if that's the case (I'm too lazy to look). I think he is going to end up as the 5th option at best. Budinger has already shown he is light years ahead of Ariza offensively.
Dear Trevor, Go to a gym and shoot until the janitor comes in to mop the floor of your sweat. Get it dialed, then you can go home. Welcome to the Rockets.
You can't turn spots into stripes. Ariza is an elite role player, but he'll never be a go to player. Morey made a mistake by signing a guy that had an awesome playoff run playing with elite players. Just like the Texans when they sign Antonio Smith.
Trevor, in his first four seasons shot a grand total of 51 three-point shots and made 12 of them for a very subpar 23.5%. He played in a grand total of 241 games in those first four seasons, which means he took a three-point shot about every 5 games, or one three-point shot about every 84 minutes of playing time. Last season trevor, shot a grand total of 275 three-point shots and made 101 of them for a very decent 36.7%. He played in a grand total of 105 games, which means he took an average of 2.6 three-point shots per game, or about 1 three-point shot for every 10 minutes of playing time. So Trevor increased his three-point shooting frequency last season by 800-1000%, that is an 8-10x increase in volume of three-point shots in one season. So Trevor hasn't progressively taken more threes. It is a situation where he made the three-point shot a part of his game and started chucking them and then when the playoffs rolled around, he really started chucking them to the tune of over 3.5 three-point shots per game. Of course, with his slow release and the fact that he hit an incredible 47.6% of those shots. If...........and it's a big if.........Trevor can hit 38-40% of his 3 point shots and he is shooting 3 of those a game or more, then he will be worth the money he was paid. However, it is a big stretch to think that he can hit at those percentages creating for himself. His barage of three-pointers last year can be directly attributed to spotting up, receiving off Kobe's penetration and taking the WIDE OPEN uncontested shot. I just don't know if he will see that shot that often in our offense without McGrady coming back and becoming studly. And to think that Ariza is going to create his own shot is even less likely than him hitting 38% from three this year. Because he has never done that.
Proven winner where before last year? He never even played for a winning team until joining the Lakers. Stop the exaggerating. Thank you! I have been preaching this since we let Ron walk and signed Ariza. Yeah BBS folks, it's early but you all are going to see Ariza is not a go to guy. He may end up playing well with McGrady and Yao, but in the meantime, it's gonna be ugly.
Once you are a winner, you are always a winner! He has the winner mentality! He will make the shots when they count.
This is what I've been saying all along. He is who he is, and a superstar go-to player is not something he is. Oh, LOL @ Hayes.
They will never be able to turn Ariza into a scorer, he's just not that kind of player. He doesn't have the necessary handles to create his own shot on a consistant basis.
