Furthermore, Ariza has better career numbers then McGrady. If Ariza's shoulder got injured here, he would be tough enough to stay in the game, McGrady had to leave: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4sipHOCe5Zk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4sipHOCe5Zk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I'd like to take this thread in another direction (which I have no right to do) than T-Mac. At what point in Trevor's shooting slump do they say ok, this isn't going well, we should maybe lessen his minutes and play someone else... I mean, as someone pointed out the other night he had some great numbers...besides the shooting ones...which happen to be pretty important. So I'm not beating up on Ariza for his hustle or lack of hustle, just saying that if you continue to shoot that poorly and can't put up those pretty numbers every game...sooner or later...you're a killer... Now I don't know if he's there yet, I just wanted to get yalls opinions on when that time is...when does it become too much. Any thoughts?
let's go to the stats...trevor ariza avg 8 ppg in his career...mcgrady 22 ppg over his career. although i realize ariza is scoring 16 ppg this year with heavy minutes...tmac averaged 1 point less with 15 ppg last season with a bad knee and bad shoulder
Let's look at some more stats: Tracy McGrady second round stats - 0/0 FG, 0.00% FG, 0.00 PTS, 0.00 RBDS, 0.00 ASTS But seriously, this year is about developing younger talent and seeing what our players can do. Why should we give minutes to a guy that alienated our entire franchise?
And Iverson averaged 30 over his career. We totally should have gotten him when we had the chance. Honestly, is this the place where all the "Ariza sux and our 1337 superstar will lead the Rockets to championship" people reside? Just making sure. Because we won't get jack if T-Mac plays, and while Ariza's play is irritating, we don't lose too much from it.
Fine, then don't play him at all. Your argument doesn't work both ways...teach the youngins, don't waste even 7-8 mins on some guy who's an alien...
If you look to ariza first interview when asked about carrying the load, he even said he's gonna have to adjust to becoming a leader. Now if you look at ariza's game, he does not have a go-to move so it's un-realistic to think that he can carry a team. he's nothing more than a spot up shooter who can create after the team has swung the ball around from strong to weak side which was basically what shandan anderson or walt williams 'da wizard' used to do for the rockets.
its also a year to see wtf is going on with you go to guy after a year of injury... the excuse of developing young guys is not even valid anymore because Chase is out, and Ariza is struggling and playining 40 plus minutes so giving tmac 15 or so minutes doesn't cut into any youth development
There is NO reason NOT to play TMac now. Sure, he hasn't "earned" his playing time, but Ariza has should be out of the rotation with how badly he plays.
Playing him was a "necessary evil" in many ways. If there was a way to showcase McGrady without actually having him taking his teammates minutes, then the Rockets would have done that, as impossible as it may sound. I honestly think that at the beginning of the season, we were just testing Ariza's offensive possession. BUT, I also think that Adelman has realized that Ariza has a long way to go in becoming a good player on offense, but he really can't do anything about it until Bud or Wafer gets healthy. I'm withholding judgment until Chase comes back and coach can actually reduce Ariza's minutes/role on offense. You can already see that Taylor is getting some more playing time.
I think the time is now for lessening Ariza's role, but we have no one to play in his spot. T-Mac and C-Bud are out, Taylor's not looking good, Wafer and McCants signings didn't work out. We already know what Harris can and can't do, and he's not really a future piece to build on. We simply don't have another half-decent swingman available to take his minutes at the moment. On another note, did anyone see that sequence from today's game where Ariza was dribbling the ball near the FT line with no pressure and nearly fumbled/kicked the ball into a half-court violation as he tried to gain control? That guy has NO handles.
