Yea he did that the last few games and most of the times its Arizas own fault he always penetrates too deep in the lane and shane is just going to crash boards and ariza gets all pissed like its shanes fault anyways after last nights game seriously someone else needs to take more shot other than ariza and id rather start chase than ariza he really pissed me off last night
A trip into the mind of Trevor Ariza....... (inner monologue) I've got the ball at the top of the three point line where I can work my magic. Damn, the lane looks congested. There must be three guys all packed in there protecting the rim. I see Brooks to my left yelling for the ball and Shane in the corner wide open waiting for a catch and shoot. What do I do? Should I dribble toward Shane so that we're not so far apart? Hmmmmm, no Adelman said something about space or spacing in practice...or did he call me a space cadet? I've got it!! I'll dribble into the lane with all those defenders and just...well....improvise. I read on Clutchfans this summer how athletic I am and how I'm a star in the making. Here I goooooo!!
arriza tries too much period....he is not a good shooter or scorer, he is a hustle player with lenght, reminds me of a little much improved version of jamario moon
Ariza is sorta forced into this situation. You can't have him on the floor with Battier and not be aggressive. And you add in the Chuckster next to him, and unless you expect Brooks and Scola to jack up about 25 shots each (which would certainly drop their productivity anyways), then Ariza <b>has</b> to stay aggressive, if only to keep defenses honest. I think the bigger problem here is that Battier pulls the disappearing act soooo often (ex, last night he was 0/5 before hitting a couple late 3s), that Ariza finds himself with the ball and thinks he has to create.....I think with a more offensive minded 2 guard next to him, we'd see his shot selection improve drastically.
There is a lot of truth to this. That's why Battriza is such a poor combination. My problem with Ariza is that he takes a decent possession and turns it into a bad one. I get that he has to be aggressive but he doesn't have to drive into a crowded lane, he doesn't have to dribble toward a team mate and just stand there (destroying the spacing) and for the love of God will this guy stop avoiding contact at the rim! I watched him last night and he had some decent drives but even on those he drifted away from contact and barely finished what should have been an and-1 situation. I can understand he is in over his head a bit. I can live with catch and shoot jumpers that don't go in but the poor decision making and the attitude toward his team mates on the court is so bad it actually makes me not want to watch the Rockets with him on the floor. He has far surpassed Rafer when it comes to making the offense look ugly.
I think the key here is to be patient and appreciate the other things he does well, 16 pts, 5.8 rebs, 3.9 assists (under appreciated), 1.8 steals (top 10 in NBA)....this is why I dont like the Rafer comaprisons, Ariza is clearly a better player than Rafer in most other areas but FG %. And remember, Rafer was a chucker even <i>with TMAC and Yao </i>on the floor ! Also Ariza is trying to be more efficient. I actually see him give up the 3 to drive more now. The problem is....well, you stated it, his avoiding contact.....but he has had more dunks recently than earlier in the year....Again, more patience is required....Also, this is a perfect experimental year for him to do this, kinda work on his game, during actual games. Because as much as winning has become important now (lets be honest no one predicted us as a 6th seed before the year started), so is judging our talent. And somehow RA is finding a way to win <b> while </b> experimenting with Ariza, Anderson, Landry etc. I think if Ariza was detrimental to our winning, which I don't think is the case, (and in Rafer's case it clearly was!) I'll continue to give him the benefit of the doubt. And to be honest with you, I did not know Ariza could put up averages of 16, 6, 4, 2 as a Rocket this season, and if his FG % goes up, which I'm sure it will, we'll be getting much more than our moneys worth.
This is the part I often forget based on this team's success. It's often easy to forget that this team isn't a contender and that this season is about developing talent/chemistry first and trying to win playoff games second.
