This player is 20th among 23 qualified players at his position in point per shots. This player is 21st of 23 players in fg percentage. This player takes the 5th most shots out of 23 qualified players at his position. Who knew rafer alston still played on our team?
ahhhh give ariza a break. he's learning on the fly. with mcgrady and yao out they need a go to scorer. he wasn't even a 4th option last year. they are asking him to do alot. and apparently the organization and coaching staff believe in him. brooks is good but if you can get go2 scoring from ariza it would be better.
I just want to point out one difference, Alston did this while being a 3rd option while Ariza is being forced to be option 1a/b. We all know this isn't Ariza's role, but he is being forced into it by the coaches. In the starting line up we have two guys who rarely take shots, Battier and Hayes, do we really want to add a 3rd person?
rafer can't do that sick dunk on kamen or hit that tough layup in the 4th or nail that jumper off the dribble in the 4th.
That's an exaggeration. He has had very good moments and I'm excited about his potential but he has been somewhere between solid and above average so far.
rafer was forced into shooting late in the clock because no one guarded him. ariza shoots early in the clock, and we often get the offensive rebound. i'll take ariza's misses over rafers anyday.
Not all together but he does need to take the ball to the hole much more. If he would start driving this would set up his jumper which would make his game so much more multidimensional. There is so many instances in which he settles for the jumpshot and he has a wide open lane to the basket. Plus I wouldnt mind seeing Ariza on the top 10 every night with a sick dunk like the one on Kaman.
If Ariza could create his own every possession, he would cost more than MLE and he would not have signed with Rockets. He is worth what he is right now, a athletic wing who can shoot spot up jumper and play decent defense. After Yao come back, he will be more effective. As for right now, whatever shot creating ability we can get out him is a bonus. Don't cry for what he is not, just be glad that he is upgrade to Artest in the long run.
For all of the Rafer hate, old boy did lead the Magic to the NBA Finals. He wasn't nearly all that bad, when he wasn't supposed to be one of the top 3 options. Remember he played on a team that for a while had Chuck Hayes and Shane Battier in the starting lineup. But either way, no comparison between Alston and Ariza. Different positions and even the situations (Brooks, Scola and the rest of the bench outclass what the Rockets used to have during the JVG era), are quite a bit different.
I am surprised so many people are defending ariza were they would have crushed rafer. It is pretty unfair.
