I think neither player is what we need. As upset as I have been about this off-season i and am still checking the bbs because surely this spells the end of shane. We've all disagreed with morey before, but he always comes out smelling like a rose. Geez, Gortat would've been perfect. My opinion of this signing isn't in until we know what will happen to shane. Basically, if one of shane or ariza come off the bench, at 6.5 mil per, that is almost what our entire bench made last season. Lowry 2, hayes 2, landry 3, Von/Deke 1. This exludes Barry and Cook because they barely contributed. Sorry if the numbers aren't perfect but i believe these to be accurate.
I am saying Von is a better option because he is cheaper, and about the same age, and can do more offensively than Trevor can..... We don't need Battier and Ariza that is not a winning combination. IMO. DD
I would like to know the terms we offered Gortat. Wasn't the speculation that it was only a couple of years at less than MLE, or something? I don't see how Ariza is worth the full MLE over 5 years and Gortat isn't. I also think Battier could make Ariza a much better player. I would be hesitant to give him away. Learning from Battier for a year would do wonders for Ariza.
Depending upon Yao's condition, I don't think you should sign ANY Free agent for the MLE.... Ariza is not worth that money, he doesn't have the game......he can't dribble.... And now, we have a guy tied up beyond 2010...for a pretty good chunk of change. DD
C'mon DD, the turnover is more of a result of the situation involving Tmac and Yao. If their health wasn't an issue we wouldn't be doing this. We would be building on what we did getting to the 2nd round. But while we all get this fuzzy feel good feeling about our 'gritty talent' (and I REALLY like and root for those guys) the reality is we really caught the tail of a hurricane in the playoffs. I don't discount chemistry. But that is more the "icing on the cake" to a quality team. Talent is the foundation and we just don't have that foundation. In the regular season we can 'chemistry our way' through games but in the playoffs other quality teams get in another gear....a gear that our role players dont have. So we have to find a happy medium here.
Ok, now we are getting somewhere, if we are building without Tmac and Yao..... Then I do not think Ariza was the right way to go....we need versatile players, and Ariza is not that... I like Trevor, but he is not worth the full MLE, IMO. DD
In my opinion DD I disagree with you there. I know Ariza is not the superstar player that's versatile on offense, but he could grow into that role. His 24 and he can get better. But on Defense his very versatile, he can guard the 1-2-3, sometime in the Rockets and Lakers series he guarded Brooks a bit He may not have did that good because Brooks destroyed the Lakers but he still pretty versatile.
He could, but in all honesty in my 37+ years of watching the Rockets, I can not recall a player who could not dribble or create, developing into that. Most of the wings either had it or didn't.... Maybe someone can offer up a solution of a young guy like Ariza who was a good defender, who slashes and plays off of others who became a good penetrating/creating/dribbling player. Because I sure can't. DD
I think you guys overrating Ariza's potential a bit. He will never be known as a guy who can create for others or himself. The second round pick shows that. He could be a REALLY good role player though.
That's true, but I think if your building a championship team you add a player like Ariza. That's why I think Morey will retool not rebuild this roster. I really think the Rockets will add and legit 2 to this roster that can do SOME of those things you were talking about above. I'm not sure who, but I will let Morey do his magic. Ariza may not can do those things you were talking about, but "hopefully" with more additions we wont need him to do those things.
I think that Morey would have to agree with all of the overraters on this board though. I mean, if he's not going to even offer the full MLE to Gortat, who not only plays at a position of greater need, but whom Morey stated is fully capable of starting (and would be starting for us), then what does that say about what he thinks about Ariza as just a "roleplayer?"
I just think he has some room to grow, with a coach like RA he could get the best out of him, you never know. But I do agree if nothing else he will be a great role player.
I see Trevor Ariza as nothing more than a Robert Horry. Excellent cornerstone to complete a roster for a championship run. NOT a guy that can carry a team for extended periods. He's the 3-4th scorer. I'd say the same thing about Ron Artest. Except Ariza is younger, faster, better shooter, better rebounder. I think it's a great pick up, but without Yao we're lottery bound (and shouldn't try to be anything other than that). It's the San Antonio Spurs in 96-97. Let the whole team recover from injuries, get lottery pick. AVOID the Yao situation being Ralph Sampson part 2 at all costs (last I checked, Chuck Hayes isn't the Nigerian Nightmare).
The Rockets are not lottery bound this season. Morey still will make the team competitive enough to make the playoffs this year. The team will surprise most of the doom and gloom lottery bound folks on the BBS. I hope that Yao will be able to come back this season in may and the team goes from there, it will be keeping the team above .500 till Yao gets back that will be tought but I am sure the team will do it.
Well, the Rockets are rapidly becoming one of the most athletic teams in the league. They may not win a lot next year, but they will be fun to watch. If they can somehow keep Wafer, they will really have a lot of speed.
i think you have to take his age into consideration. ariza can still improve his game at age 24. with all those attributes he showed during the playoffs and providing an intelligent, defensive minded, and disciplined presence, i think he is definitely worth the money. like we've said, we are not athletic as a team, but we just added athleticism and length. as to your other concern, of having both battier and ariza on the same team. it is a legit concern but since both have manageable contracts. one getting older and on the decline and a contract that is running out and the other being young and just beginning on a 5 year contract. i think we are in a great situation at small forward with both guys being able to play at the SG as well. i don't see the conflict because i know shane isn't gonna be around for ever.
for christ sake, we only gave him the mid level in all honesty, who do we expect to get for the MLE? ariza was a great option. we can't expect to get a superstar or someone with potential to be a superstar with that kind of money. hell even guys like hedo got like 10 mil. most of these guys are either way overpriced or locked up by their teams. i would hope the next versatile player coming in with the offense and shot creation being at the shooting guard position. but lets be real, the MLE isn't gonna land you such a player. that's more for a MAX contract kind of guy. we are basically building up our assets and role players before we can land another star caliber player. jeez, i don't know what DD is thinking, you gotta pay the players. we got lucky on guys like scola and also drafted nicely on landry and brooks but hell, signing free agents cost alot of money.
