Ariza's game will flourish with Martin on our team.

you are horribly misplacing faith in the wrong person... aka Ariza. You think he'll want to come off the bench? Heck no. He'll pout all season.

 

At least we don't have to see him play SG anymore.

 

I think we will be able to tell within 2 games whether Ariza is okay with the addition.

 

He will be better in that hopefully now he will realize he is the third option (at best) any time Martin and Brooks are on the court. At no time will he ever be the first option.

I feel like he has shown signs lately of being a more humble and focused player. Adding Martin should speed that process up but I don't ever expect the guy to shoot more than the low 40s from the field. He loves the jumper too much now.

 

Maybe, if Ariza sticks to his initial reaction... but I think Martin can earn respect and appreciation.

 

Kevin Martin is a finisher not a ball handler. Sadly we still might see alot of ball handling by Ariza.

But 1 thing for sure is that Ariza can now focused more on his defense.

 

Ariza will move back to his natural position an he will flourish because:

a) Defenses have to worry about AB and now Martin.

b) He could be matched up against slower moving SF.

c) he will play reduced minutes and stay fresh throughout games (He plays 40 mins. a night on the regular)

 

Maybe, but I think his time to flourish will be when Yao comes back. Then he is what, the 4th option maybe. Yao...KevMart...Brooks....then Ariza? or Scola?
Point is, he won't have near as much pressure on him. Just play great defense and make open shots.

 

I hope so, but stuck with Battriza is not a good place to be....

I like Chase and Kmart, no room for both Shane and Trevor, IMO.

DD

 

Ariza needs to revert back to his LA days of being an opportunistic scorer instead of this wannabe-pseudo-go-to-guy thing he's masquerading as. What I mean by that is this: waiting for kick-outs, setting your feet, taking smart shots, NOT FORCING DRIVES THAT AREN'T THERE, no more dribble pull-up's, etc. He's also excellent at playing the passing lanes and essentially becoming a one man fastbreak off of a steal. It's all about valuing possessions and taking the highest percentage shot available.

A Brooks/Martin backcourt is going to start creating a ton of chaos and having a spot-up shooter that can nail the open shot -AND- surprise people by putting the ball on the floor too every once in a while is going to be key for spacing and making life easier for our new backcourt. If Ariza can't learn to punish teams in this reduced yet refined role then we'll simply have to find somebody else that can.

 

I feel when Yao come back...Ariza and Battier will play about equal minutes. I even see Battier taking over Ariza in crunch time and even starting because the Rockets are thin in term of perimeter defense with Brooks and Kevin Martin...they need someone like Battier to solidify the perimeter. Now Ariza can do the same thing...but i am not sure. So we will see what happened.

And remember, Battier does the little things on the court to win games like taking charges and stuffs. We might be good enough to have 2 players that can attack the basket (Brooks & Martin) rather than three w/ Ariza.

 

Plus we need someone to spark and provide offense off the bench and we can't do that with Lowry and Battier....they're not creators. At least Ariza can do something for us off the bench. So it might be better to start Battier rather than Ariza.

 

correction...battier isn't a creator

 

True, but he is one of the best on the team feeding Yao the ball.

 

I would not say "flourish" because he simply is not that good, but he will certainly improve. His offensive game will become more efficient (it couldn't get less) as he will have the ball in his hands less and will be able to play as the role player he is.

 

I somewhat agree, because Martin will take some pressure off of all the players, but I think Brooks might be the most to benefit. Brooks has confidence issues, especially, when under pressure to finish games, to make the clutch shot. When he is more relaxed and just doesn't think as much, he is way more effective. Having a "closer" will help him.

 

They obviously cannot play together, that has been proven throughout the season. But, I think if Ariza was put into the 2nd unit with Lowry and Bud, he would play better. He could just run the court with those guys, it would suit him better. Shane could start with Martin and AB and not be such a liability because Ariza would no longer be out there with him. I also don't think Shane fits as well with the 2nd unit. In a perfect world, Ariza wouldn't be here, but they are both on the team till the end of the season.

 

Flourish? Doubtful. Improve? Yes.