With the arrival of a shooting guard in Houston, Ariza and Battier can no longer both start for this team. Who do you bring off the bench? Battier: veteran, solidifies defense with leadership and shooting. Ariza: younger, more athletic, paid him to assume this role on a championship team - do you give it to him now?
I'll say Battier. I wouldnt be shocked if there is a last second trade involving 1 of them though....
Voted Ariza, but the most likely is Martin. As he can take care of the scoring we lost with Landry and the Ballhanding we lose when Brooks rests.
Who deserves to be benched? Ariza Even before this trade he should not have been starting. With this trade, I think he would fit better running with Kyle and Bud off the bench, he would be more successful. That being said, he seems to be weak mentally and I don't think his ego would be able to take a benching. I feel like Battier would fit much better with a Brooks/Marton guard combo, but he would have no problem coming off the bench, where Ariza probably would. So, Ariza SHOULD go to the bench, but Shane WILL
Ideally you would bench Ariza. He's not performing as well as Battier is, plain and simple. But we seem to have promised him a bigger role, and putting him on the bench could shake him up or make him angry and ruin chemistry, so Battier will likely lose the starting spot. Shane's a pro's pro.
Now that the Rockets have a big time primary scorer I wonder how Brooks would be playing with Martin. They have essentially two SG's playing in the backcourt so it would be interesting if this combination will work.
Can the captain come off the bench? If there was ever a leader with the maturity to handle those juxtapositioned roles, it's Shane F'in Battier. He's proven a class act no matter what and will likely take advantage of bench time and become a clean up style 6th man.
