I agree, but we already had a better versoin of the garnish in Shane Battier....... So, unless we are going to trade him in the next year or so, Trevor is just redundant... We have two defensive wings, and we play in a league where no team has 2 offensive wings that we need to counter with.....so, we basically waste one of them each game.... Instead, the team would be better off if we had one defensive wing/spot up shooter and one offensive wing.....contrast and more options. Chase Budinger is better than both of them, and Von Wafer fits the running style better as well.... I just think we are wasting time with 2 redundant wings.....thus my Battriza nickname and thread. DD
I want me some Trevor Ariza is moderation. The guy is money when he sets his feet and shoots and he's got the build of a slasher . A smart player would learn to play to his strengths by using his range to set up his drives. But instead, Ariza seems content with essentially being the second coming of Travis Outlaw -- another monster athlete that should be attacking the basket literally all the time yet instead settles for step backs, fadeaways and other more difficult than necessary shots that drive us all crazy. I've been crying for Adelman to put the clamps on for months. It has to happen eventually. I still like the signing and it's quite obvious that he can be a two-way player that can help us a lot. It's just time we start being smart with him. Letting him do this "Do whatever you want" and go 5-16 every game thing has to be killing his confidence. Let the guy do some things he's actually good at then go from there!
The thing is with just Battier our Championship window is smaller. I think Chase as potential to be better than Ariza, but with Ariza there for when Battier finishes up we are set at those two spots if Bud develops like we want, for another Championship run. This is part of the reason for why I want Butler as well. He strengths our team up for this shot at the Championship. If we don't win with Butler and battier, we have worthy replacements in Ariza and Bud.
You really think that "if you replaced Trevor with Von... the team would be better off" (?!?) Based on what? Wafer's defense? Wafer's passing? Wafer's ability to play within the offense? Wafer's "healthy back?" One could go on. Without a doubt, Von is a much better scorer, but that is all he does. Aside from that, he couldn't shine Trevor's shoes. All Ariza needs to do is calm down, stop taking stupid shots, and play like he did against the Mavs. That, and move to the 3 spot. One thing he is not is a 2, which, I'll grant you, Von most definitely is. Chase? That's another story. As you know, I'm a big fan of his and I think he has a very high ceiling. Unlike Von or Trevor, with experience he could be a real 2 position player. I just hope his ankle gets back to 100%, like yesterday. We need him.
No inconsistencies here. McGrady had 11 years to prove he could lead a team to a second round appearance, just a freaking second round appearance, and what the teams got were a serious dose of excuses. Name an excuse about McGrady and fans like you would have surely mentioned it in the course of his career. No amount of excuses can alter the fact that he got all the chances an NBA player could hope for, and all the excuses from fans that one could hope for, and he has nothing to show for all that other than more than a decade of failure. It is already tiring and old to mention this monumental failure, so give it a rest, move on and enjoy this current blood and guts, and teeth, if you want to include that, team. Win or lose this gritty and hardworking bunch of players do not make excuses. And I believe, as tough as they are, they will not want us fans to make excuses for them either, whether because of injuries to their relatively depleted line up, or the brutal Stern engineered early schedule. A new era in Rockets basketball, indeed.
Lately he's been taking less shots and getting more rebounds and assists while Brooks, Landry and maybe Scola are getting more shots. I'd rather see Ariza being close to a triple double every night and shooting less than he was earlier in the season. This team is a work in progress AND we just came through the toughest part of the schedule with a pretty good record. If the Rockets get an impact player or a player who fills a void (shot blocking 7 footer, consistent scoring wing, etc...) for McGrady, this team could do something.
Well I would say there were many circumstances that many of us complain about all the time that affected that. Some poor officiating against Dallas, some poor officiating in favor of the Jazz. Also a poor supporting cast for Yao and Tracy. Now, fi you think last year with Tracy on the floor we would have lost to Portland you are kidding yourself. Also, if Tracy and Yao when screwed by Dallas had the guys like Brooks, Landry and Scola instead of having Bowen playing power forward, we would have most likely gotten into the second round. So there are so many other factors involved, where it makes it bull**** to blame one person. Now, the inconsistency I'm referring to is that we couldn't afford to risk losing by having Tracy get more minutes, but we can afford to risk losing with Ariza playing like ****. Now my actually opinion applied to both guys. As long as the team is still playing well Tracy should have been allowed to get his minutes and Ariza should be allowed to use games to get out of his slump. Now this is the first time since the agreement for a trade was made. i am over it, wish Tracy the best and hope we get a good deal for it. Iggy or Butler would be nice.
I agree with you. But just to point out, mathematically, making the playoffs 7 times without making it to the second round is much harder than just making it to the second round. Plus, as you mentioned, he got screwed over by the refs or had a poor supporting cast. You can't really blame one guy for something that requires a team performance. Just like you can't blame Lebron for doing worse every year in the playoffs since he made the finals. He actually became a better player over those years.
People like to throw last year in peoples faces. We made it out of the first round last year, because for the first time we have insurance. If we had that the year before when Yao went out, would we be bad mouthing Yao and not Tracy? Too many variables to thank or blame one person.
Yes Deckard I do....clearly my first choice would be Chase, but I think if you took Ariza out of the lineup and replaced him with a healthy Von, the team would be better off overall, yes. The problem with our slow 3rd quarter starts is that teams make adjustments to our starting lineups and realize that we only have 2 scorers on the floor out of five. If you put Von or Chase in there instead of Trevor, the team gets a lot better on offense. Now defensively, we are weaker with Von, but because most NBA teams do not have two quality offensive wings, you can put Von on the worst Wing and his efficient offense more than makes up for it. I prefer a flexible team with many different options, and right now Battriza is just redundant, and honestly it doesn't help that much....if we had an offensive wing in place of Trevor I think this team would be better. Also, you have to factor in the contracts, Trevor is getting paid $6+ million and you could get his production, or rather BETTER production from players paid around $1 million. Just my .02 DD
I know people don't want to hear it, but I'd still rather have Ron over Ariza. Sure Artest is kinda weird, and at times dribbles a lot. And supposedly he game a half-time motivational speech butt ass naked. But, he's still a better basketball player than Ariza.
What's better, given he jacked up stupid shots in the way that Trevor does, is way older (and thus shouldn't be in our long-term plans which is the really important thing) and frankly is a nutcase unlike Ariza? I like Artest, but I think the Rockets are much better off with Ariza.
Yep, he didn't wrap it up and it was off to the races. Maybe he needs some lessons from Pollard or Ryans or Cushing. The Texans didnt have a 6'7" starting free safety the first few weeks of the season did they?
@Kojirou Fair enough I suppose. I certainly disagree, but I'm tired and don't won't to argue. But Artest is playing with Kobe and at the front of the line to win a championship this year. Yea, Ariza has one already....but he has a long time before that boat comes back around.
Lol we all love DM moves and talk about his ability to use statistics to get good players, yet we continue to think Ariza isn't good. DM said it already, if all we get is the Ariza from the lakers, he is more than happy with MLE on Ariza. Enjoy him for the next 4 years. I will.
Trevor will be getting better as the season goes on and his dribbling will improve. As for having Von replace Trevor that must be a joke since Von has no D just O. Trevor does more on the D side that his O will eventually get better. Please TMac is no longer on the team so no more reference of him since he wants out and requested to be traded.
Jesus Christ. I wonder what Morey would say about someone suggesting that Von was a better player than Ariza? He might just poop his pants...
There is some merit to this. At the SF position, Ariza's PER is 16.8. When he plays SG (which is currently what he plays most of the time), his PER is only 13.3. In my mind he does not possess the skills necessary to be an effective 2-guard. It is no coincidence that the Rockets often look better offensively when they run a 2-PG lineup with Brooks at the SG position and Ariza/Battier at SF.
Von would be a complete sieve on defense. There is a reason he didnt get strong offers as a free agent. I agree on Chase. Im not sure how high his ceiling is, but he has been quite impressive and could be a starter of the future. Chases percentages arent very good either, but I will chalk that up to being a rookie and adjusting to the NBA. I dont think Chase will be the defender Ariza is, though.
