Comparing TMacs previous 2 seasons with Ariza this year

oh my...

 

He's played 6% of his contact. Relax.

Also, do you honestly doubt he's better than Von Wafer? Really?

 

I'm giving Ariza the benefit of the doubt that this is not his permanent role. Like we have been talking all this season, they are experimenting with the players and observing how players are going to contribute in the future.

My prayer is that Ariza's defense improves to the point I will agree with Morey that the contract is worth it for his defense alone. I think Ariza can be a very good 3rd or 4th option but for now there is not one true option in this team which is why Ariza is jacking up all those shots.

 

I was referencing the value you are getting contractually. Von was performing on about $1 million, whereas Ariza is performing on $6 million.

Trevor is a better player but not 6 times better, I don't think we are getting nearly the value we thought out of Trevor.

That is all I was saying.

DD

 

compare their playoff stats...

playoff time come, mcgrady has top 10 stats for the history of the nba.

 

Without the three 7 footers he had in LA, ariza is exposed as a passing lane jumping cherry picker who is out of position way more frequently than he should be.

McG was going against doubles more frequently and he was creating for his teammates. He also played a slower style with less perimeter help

 

I like your attempt at quantifying contract value. What does "6 times better" mean, exactly? LeBron James' salary is almost $16M. Is he 16 "times better" than Von Wafer?

A hilarious argument.

 

Oh dear god, not this crap again, it has been consistently proven that his stats are inflated because he plays more minutes and takes more shots.

His performance has actually declined statistically in the playoffs if you take into consideration things like Points per shot attempt etc....

DD

 

Is Yao 16 times better than Von?

 

Not sure if it is hilarious, and maybe you have a point about the TIMES better bit.

But to me, Von at $1 million was a much better value than Trevor at $6 million.

Agree?

Not this year.

DD

 

Yet if we take those stats, throw them out the window and simply study the game we would find out that the only reasons the Rockets were in those playoff series was because of McGrady and Yao. Our defense was stellar, but those scoring droughts were ugly. It's a shame that the Yao/McGrady duo never got a chance to play with the supporting cast we have now.

 

Most players at $1 million that provide any value whatsoever are a bargain. This generally includes well-performing rookies. So yes, Von Wafer at $1 million would be a bargain.

That said, if signing Von Wafer meant not signing Trevor Ariza, then I don't want Von. In addition, I don't think Von would have accepted $1 million (why do you think he went overseas?).

 

This is sort of true, one wonders what would have happened if they took a more team oriented approach? Perhaps the others would have performed better and both Yao and Tmac's stats would have improved in percentages at least.

DD

 

I agree with you on that point, was not saying anything about signing etc.

Was merely pointing out that up to now, Trevor has not been providing value for his contract.

IMO, he has been performing at about 50% of his value......

Just my .02.

DD

 

Dont know about others, but I dont. I'd rather have Ariza for 6 mil than Vafer of last year for 1...just IMO...

 

How are you determining value here? Is it production per dollar amount of contract? What Wafer provides isn't really rare in this league. You can get that type of production from an Eddie House or Flip Murray. His lack of defense and incapability of following direction almost nullifies his offensive production. I know, Ariza doesn't have the flashy shooting percentages you focus on but Morey thinks he adds a lot to our team and my eyes agree.

Yao is probably more valuable to the organization (Les) in a suit than Wafer would be in games. That affects our ability to buy picks (like Budinger).

 

So you're saying 17pts, 5.4 rebs, 3.4 asts, 2.1 stls, is only worth bout 3 mil ??

 

And I'm saying you cannot gauge the value of a contract 6% into it. Yeah, I'd love Ariza to be more efficient, but the only way to get better at shooting is shooting the ball. That's what Morey/Adelman are asking him to do. By having him shoot now during a year where we probably won't be making much noise, he's getting valuable experience which makes him more efficient/better in the latter 4 years of his contract. It makes perfect sense to me.

I think he's providing good value anyway for an MLE contract. Go around the league and look at everyone who is getting MLE money -- you'll find a ton of worse players. You'll find better players below his contract, and worse players above his contract, too. I'd say he's just right and his potential is through the roof; he just needs playing time and shots to get better.

All the hate on him, in my opinion, is knee-jerk at this point.

 

Lets look back at 06-07 playoffs.

If I remember correctly our rotation in the playoffs was:

C: Yao
PF: Hayes/Howard
SF: Battier
SG: McGrady/Head
PG: Rafer/Head

It was pretty much a seven man rotation, with Deke playing once in a while. That team would definitely not been that much better since Rafer and Battier have never moved great off the ball and Hayes was never all that great at making lay-ups. Head struggled against the physical defense of the Jazz plus they had size on him so he was ineffective. Juwan Howard sucked that series.

A team approach with the ball out of McGrady's hand would probably not have worked with that team.

04-05 Rockets

The rotation was:

C: Yao/Deke
PF: Bowen/Padgett
SF: McGrady/Barry
SG: Wesley/Barry/James
PG: Sura/James

This team could have definitely ran a team oriented offense where everyone shares the ball, but what made us so effective that series was that Yao and T-mac were killing the Mavs on the pick and rolls. Unfortunately at the end, our players legs were giving out plus there was some horrid officiating in that series.

 

I thought we learned our lesson with Rafer Alston.

No a player will not get better at shooting the ball if he simply is not good at it.