http://www.82games.com/0910/0910HOU.HTM http://www.82games.com/0910/0910LAL.HTM Player Min Own Opp Net On Off Net Rating Artest 77% 14.5 9.1 +5.4 +11.4 -24.2 +35.7 +17.5 Ariza 80% 15.9 17.5 -1.6 +3.3 +5.7 -2.4 -1.9 Ariza isn't exactly a good defender this year.
ariza had probably only 2 games so far where he played ok to good defense. in every other game he was not even average defensively. he needs to focus on it more to be a more complete player. so far, all he's gained offensively he has lost defensively. his stats are better only because he plays more minutes and his outside shot is falling. on the other hand ron artest is playing pretty good for the lakers. he hasn't shot well in the first couple of games but that has changed quite a bit in the last 2 or 3. so far, he looks a lot better defensively than last year and he has really accepted his role as a role player with the lakers. but that was to be expected because it wasn't any different last year with the rockets. it took him a while to show his real face...
Based on this analysis...if I'm getting this right... Everytime Brian Cook touches the floor, Rockets=instant loss.
it's not only about stats. you just have to watch the games. ariza was worse than expected until now (i didn't expect shane battier type of defense...) and artest seems better than last year. now if the stats back those observations up - fine, case closed.
6 games is actually enough to recognize a trend. nobody's saying that it'll continue to be this way until the end of the season but you have to recognize a weakness first in order to work on it to get better. that's all.
No surprise that Ron's On/Off rating would be better. He's playing on a better starting unit, and the Lakers bench isn't very good. Rockets, by comparison, are more balanced 1 to 8. And the counterpart stats can be very misleading only a few games into the season. I usually don't read too much into those. It's pretty unreliable also, considering all the cross-matchups that go on at SG/SF.
i think it's known ariza is not a good 1-on-1 defender. he's more of a passing lane type of guy, and he made a ton of highlights playing the passing lane in the playoffs.
If you look at +/- numbers it seems like artest is doing better that ariza. Ariza is not very good defensively, and he his shot selection could be better.
Um, not really considering 2 of the games were against the same team and 4 of the 6 games had a super-star or on the verge or super-stardom wing player. Give him a break.
"Man we got Ariza?!?! Why did Morey sign him? We already have Battier! What we need is OFFENSE!" -collective clutchfans reaction when Ariza signed "Man, all Ariza does now is try to score. Sure he's averaging 20 points per game while shooting 45% from three point land but man, he doesn't play defense!" -collective clutchfans reaction SIX games into the season
I think Rockets fans' idea of good defense is warped by having had players like Shane Battier, Chuck Hayes, and Deke on our team. Many of us just have ridiculous standards. If you don't think Trevor Ariza is at least an above average wing defender then you aren't paying enough attention to the rest of the nba's awful perimeter defenders.
LAC, DAL, ATL, OKC, HOU, MEM - LAL Schedule POR, GSW, POR, UTA, LAL, OKC - HOU Schedule Houston looks like it had a harder SOS than LAL in that stretch of 6 games. I would think Ron's defensive prowess is a bit inflated in those statistics. If we wanted to compare apples to apples I would think the only game we could compare Ron and Ariza's defense, if we could really do that, is to compare the OKC game. Although I'm not sure if a Home versus Away game would make you a better/worse offensive/defensive player since LAL played OKC in Oklahoma and Houston played OKC at home.
oh, without a doubt he is. he also has all the tools to become an elite wing defender. we don't have to argue about those things. still, he was lost on defense a lot of times. he was lost chasing guys around screens. and he had some horrendous mistakes because he didn't pay attention that resulted in quite a few very, very easy baskets for the opponent. it'll be easy for him to work on his mistakes since it's all about being smart and staying focused. nonetheless, his defense wasn't as good as expected until now. and like i said, the expectations weren't really shane battier's type of defense. i hope he isn't satisfied with the way he defended in his first 6 games with the rockets because that would really be a bad sign. he has to be a complete player in order to take the next step individually.
