http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6844987.html [rquoter] ... Stay aggressive Trevor Ariza needed 21 shots to get his 21 points Sunday, including a 3-pointer that forced overtime. But though he made just seven of 21 shots and three of six free throws, he said that looking for his shot confidently can help. “That's what my team wants me to do, to be aggressive,” Ariza said. “When I'm aggressive it tends to open up things for other people so that's what I did tonight. We can say that free throws is a part of why we lost, but down the stretch we made a few mistakes offensively and I think that's what cost us more than the free throws.” [/rquoter] What do you think? Should he be more aggressive? In scatter plot above, the blue band represents league average TS%, while the red band represents Ariza's average TS% this season.
all i know is that it is impossible to compliment the guy. He hits one big shot, and then he shoots three 3s in OT alone. The guy frustrates me to no end. When a player is 2nd In 3 pt attempts, and only hits 29%, something is VERY wrong.
The part where he needs to be more aggressive in is taking that mid-range pull up jumper when he gets into or near the paint. He almost always pump-fakes, then hesitates, and throws it back out to Brooks or someone. He needs to take that shot!
the team obviously made promises to the dude if they want him to keep being aggressive. and he actually takes it to heart. i play ball myself and i know when i'm sucking or playing bad. ariza doesn't seem to get it. o well.
The guy is frustrating and I am pro Ariza but dude please stop taking so many 3's and slash to the bucket. I saw him waiving his hands waiting for the ball in the corner ready to jack up a 3, i'd rather he slash and get to the hoop.
With that starting 5, if he were to play unaggressively, things would be even tougher on Brooks and Scola as far as getting decent looks. It would be almost like having a lineup of Brooks, Battier, Battier, Scola and Hayes on the offensive end. If they don't want to change the starting 5, Ariza has to stay aggressive for the benefit of the overall offense. Obviously, his shot selection is something that needs to improve. He needs to primarily be looking to go all the way to the basket or shoot open 3s with his feet set. That doesn't mean he shouldn't ever take any other kinds of shots but those should be his priorities.
Stay aggressive meaning play bulldog defense, go after rebounds, and take the ball to the basket instead of the 3 pointer brickfest.
If by aggressive they mean going to the hole, I can live with it. As long as he doesn't take his ridiculous off-balance jumpshots...
less 3's, more slashing, and more posters <object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DLTJ5AptyPs&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/DLTJ5AptyPs&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object>
Not sure what the hell he's talking about here. FREE THROWS not the reason? You're supposed to be a professional and yet trying to sell this crap about offensive mistakes cost you the game but not free throws? This guy is something else!
I think Brooks also has the responsibility of helping Ariza take better shots by getting the ball to him in the right spots. I don't know if Brooks has the ability to improve as a playmaker and decision-maker. Those are obvious weaknesses. But it would help if he could. If you have given up on the season, I suppose all this anaylsis is irrelevant. If Ariza improves his shot selection and Brooks makes better decisions with the ball, we might win another game or two along the way. Is that ultimately going to be a good or bad thing, especially if neither of them end up being Rockets down the road?
I think he should substitute I for "we" in that quote you had there. "I made a few mistakes offensively" or "I jacked up back-to-back [3pt] clankers, which didn't help us as a team there in OT".
The backcourt violation, Brooks' missed layup, Brooks' lane violation, Landry getting stuffed at the rim, etc... all kinds of failed offensive execution. I agree with Ariza to an extent. FTs were a problem but quite possiby not the biggest, particularly late in the game. Interior defense and particularly dealing with the Nash and Amare on the pick and rolls killed us. Also, if Nash wasn't missing shots last night and the Suns weren't so impotent as a team from behind the arc and we didn't keep the turnovers down, it would have been a blowout. Ariza is right though. We made mistakes executing in crunch time. It wasn't the first time and it won't be the last with this current undersized, undertalented and inexperienced group of players.
here are starters stats from last night. I think "we" works just fine. Ariza 7-21 Brooks 8-22 Battier 3-12 Scola 6-18 Hayes 1-2 YEAH!!!
I have no idea what the team is trying to do with Ariza. Just absolutely no idea. This makes ZERO sense.
