Has Ariza improved his game since he became a rocket?

I disagree. I think the overall team defense gets better but not everyone's individual defense. Battier and Ariza will get better defensively because they are good defenders who understand how to funnel towards a big man and help when necessary. Brooks will not get better defensively. He was just as poor a defender last year as he was this year. Brooks" man may get stopped at the rim by Yao but it won't be because of anything AB has done well on that end.

 

I'm assuming you were responding to my post, DD, since you said "Shooting under 40% is not pretty well." Here's some data for you to chew on. After the first week of March, that time frame I used, Ariza has had these numbers:

.418 FG%
.384 3PT%

Considering the standards of today, that's pretty decent shooting, especially from Downtown. Certainly not "under 40%."

 

Loved his defense last night. He was holding matchups to 40% efg earlier in the season. Trevor has the potential to be a lockdown defender for us.

 

His 3pt% in that limited timeframe is great, but I can take some times where Rafer looked good shooting too over a shallow amount of games.

Why did you go "After the first week of March"?

And .418 is better but not where it should be....take a look at Chase, as a rookie he is at 44% overall and 38% from 3pt land...that is not good, that is outstanding.

DD

 

AB's will get better because they can't take him down low, because there will be a 7'6" guy there guarding the rim, he can play tighter on the perimeter because his back is protected.

DD

 

True but we still don't know what Yao is going to give us come next year. A lot of what if's right now...

 

Here:

It was a stretch of 19 games, which I used because it coincided with Ariza moving to the 3 spot. As you may have noticed, I haven't been a huge fan of Ariza's, but talk about a low blow, DD... you're comparing him to Rafer??

 

His shooting percentages are comparible.....

DD

 

hopefully the Ariza we've seen in the last month or so is the one that's here to stay. To truley answer yes he would have to sustain this level of play for a couple of months at least. He more than anyone has benefited from the Martin trade.

 

Ariza also played really well for the Lakers in the playoffs last year. Clearly he can handle the pressure. He's proven he can do it for long strethces, he just needs to put it all together and do it for a whole year.

He struggled earlier this year because he was asked to do too much. It Battier or Chase were asked to create that many shots they would have horrible percentages also.

 

There is nothing outstanding about shooting 44% and 38%.

44% field goal shooting is only 5th best for rookies and 30th best for all guards.

38% from the 3 point land is only 6th best among rookies and about 30th best for guards.

Not outstanding.

 

I think he has gotten better but that's not saying much. His shot selection and attitude have improved but he hasn't really added anything to his game. Should people really be talking up a guy who is only now beginning to prosper because he has been hidden by very good offensive players? He is just now playing at a level where he isn't a poor value. By Morey standards, I'd say he is still a poor value but I guess compared to the rest of the league he is an average value.

Up until the Kevin Martin trade he was atrocious. I expect him to be a 12ppg scorer on around 42-44% shooting with above average defense for his next five years. Funny, that's exactly what I said he would be last summer when the trade happened and half this board was on his nutsack talking about what a great player he would become.

 

Uh, if you look at the percentage of 3pt shots to 2pt shots, and how that effects his overall percentage I think you might change your mind.

He is right around 50% on 2pt shots.....but his 3pt shot percentage, which is good is dragging down his overall percentage because he takes so many of them.

Here I did it for you.

Chase is 245-554 overall for 44.2% FG

He is 92-245 on 3pt shot 37.5%

44% of his shots are 3pters.

His 2pt field goal percentage is 49.5%

The dude is playing great, and this is as a rookie.......who is only 21 years old.

DD

 

I beg to differ man. How many of those Rookies are starters and how many minutes do they play each game?

Chase has had a great rookie season man. You can't knock him...

 

I'm not knocking him, I love Chase, and I think he can eventually be a solid starter. He's been good, but NOT outstanding. Stephen Curry has been outstanding.

Chase is not a starter and only plays 20 minutes per game, so why are you even asking that?

Anyways:

-Both Brandon Jennings and Stephen Curry are starters and shoot better from 3pt land than Chase.
-Chase shoots 3.4 three's per game. Toney Douglas shoots 3.1, Curry 4.7, and Jennings 4.7, and they ALL shoot a higher percentage on three's.
- Even Marcus Thornton (who?) shoots more three's than Chase (4.3) and manages almost the same percentage- 37%.

We should be realistic about Chase since a lot of people think he should start over Ariza. Bottom line is Chase has been good, but not outstanding. And his defense still needs work.

 

Deckard, we cannot impinge on DD's meteoric rise to internet stardom. For an MLE guy (yeah I know injury exception) Ariza's been more than solid.

If people expect salaries based on Brooks, Scola, Lowry, and (formerly) Carl, I really hope Morey doesn't jump off a cliff.

 

You better consider TS%, it's better than FG%.

Budinger's TS% is exactly the same as Brooks: 54.8%, which is outstanding for a rookie wing player. Among all Rockets players, only Martin(58.2%),Scola(55.1%), Hill(57.2%) are better, and Scola and Hill are not wing players.

 

Ariza has undeniably become a better player since joining the Rockets. He may have not been the player a lot of you dreamed about before coming here but I can't see how hes been a disappointment. He came in with a lot of hype during a crushing off season and has taken a lot of brunt for the Rockets inevitable disappointment this season.

*He averaged 9 PPG game last season.
*He went from the 5th man on a team, if that, to "the man" for at least part of the season. That is a huge jump. I have played a fair amount of basketball in my life, of course no where near the NBA level, but enough to know how difficult it can be to change roles. There are going to be growing pains, including crappy shooting %'s. He went from living off Kobe,Gasol,Odom, and Bynum to taking contested pull up jumpers. Its a freaking hard transition.

We signed him for MLE money hes easily an MLE player. He is not a superstar nor should have people expected him to be. He is a great 3rd or 4th option and a nice defensive player. Playing with Martin and *hopefully* Yao next season is going to help him tremendously. I think many will be surprised by his play next season.

He may be a temperamental player but welcome to the NBA. Egos are a dime a dozen.

 

I'm pretty realistic about Chase. He's been outstanding since he gets less minutes then almost everyone you listed. Does he still need work? Sure he does but he's pretty solid with the amount of minutes he gets.

 

Guess what? Jennings's TS% is only 47.5, much worse than Budinger. His 3pt% isn't higher than Budinger.

Curry is better, 56.5% to Budingder's 54.8%, but not as big as you thoug it is.

Shooting wise, Budinger is outstanding for a rookie wing player.
Yes, he needs a lot work on defense.