Has Ariza improved his game since he became a rocket?

He's an X-factor. I think next season, good performances from him will just be icing on the cake. The team won't need him to do good to win, but will definitely win if he does do good.

 

Who would you rather have pair with Yao next season? Ariza or Battier?

 

Didn't we get him for the same reason we got Artest? To be a great defensive player and he has already shown that he can help a team win a championship. To have be an scorer is just an added bonus.

 

And it's still the highest 3pt% he's ever had over a whole year lol.

.326, .312, .331, .292, .376...

Oh wait, those are the 3pt%'s that T-Mac gave us in all his years here! He must really have practiced his threes his last year, in between flying around the country diagnosis-hunting for his microfracture. Ah, there can never be too much T-Mac bashing.


My view on Ariza: through all his ups and (many) downs this year, you could never say that he slouched a single game. Furthermore, he is an absolute hoss. I forgot what natl media member mentioned it, but the dude does not sweat. He always is up for pushing the ball, and while he's not a great 3pt shooter he's still a guy you have to cover and will make you pay if he doesn't. Combine that with his defense and pricetag and he is a piece to a championship-level roster. No question. You want to know why Morey acquired him? How about this:

Martin - .381
Brooks - .379
Budinger - .379
Ariza - .317

Those are the career 3pt%'s of the four primary shooters we'll have surrounding Yao next year. Their average age is 24.5 so those percentages stand to go up as well, as vets tend to get better at 3's the longer they hang around the NBA (see Jason Kidd).

Morey has known for years that the way to make teams pay for their defense against Yao (fouling and rotating off Rafer/T-Mac) was to get some better shooting as well as some help that was, like Yao, also good at drawing fouls and getting us in the bonus ASAP.

By this time next year our team will finally have been molded in a perfect manner to complement Yao's strengths. One of those parts is Ariza. He's not a superstar by any means. But he makes 5M a year. For someone who will be asked to shoot the open shot and play lockdown D on the other team's superstar, I'll take it.

 

Trevor averaged 31 minutes a game in 23 games when the Lakers were at their very best...


They really miss him this year, ask any Laker fan...

 

Yeesss!

Welcome back from the dark side

As a consistent proponent of Trevor Ariza, I really hope he improves from this point as well (at least so I don't look like a fool later).

One of his strengths as a role-player is that he generally makes the right decision wrt his slashing to the basket... he can only do it 2-3 times a game, and he picks his moments well.

I hope we continue to see this.

 

I have, most of them prefer the stellar defense of Ron

 

Are we talking about the same Ron-Ron who got regularly lit up by Roy and Kobe in last year's playoffs? Stellar... hummn....

Trevor has played the best D on Kobe of all the games between us and them.

 

Ariza has improved OF LATE. Better late than never. In the Kings game he finally showed ability that made him an attractive player - game changing steals, stepping up with clutch shots, shutdown defense on Evans. Where was this ALL season?

Ariza had a good first 2 weeks of the season, and good last 2 weeks of the season. All the in-between was shaky.

Ariza HAS improved as a passer out of all things. Thats very nice but thats not the skill we need the most from him. IF Ariza can duplicate his post-All Star break peformance for a full season, or at least the next half-season before next year's trade deadline, that'll be good for the team.

I want to consider this years starting the season 18 inefficient PTS/game, 40+ minutes, shooting guard playing Trevor Ariza an aberration. I mean, WTF Adelman and Morey thats partly on YOU. And I'll consider the current 30 minutes, small forward Ariza the player that will go into next season.

 

I would consider the "Ariza as go-to guy" experiment that we had in the first part of the season as crucial for his evolution to the player that we saw last night. (Plus of course the KM addition.)

When he came in, TA wanted to prove something--that he could be someone more than a role player. He can't say we didn't give him the chance to try it. But now he has learned what his limitations are, and has played within himself more.

When he was struggling, RA told him to be more of a facilitator, not just looking to score. I think that's why his steals, assists and rebounds went up. And now his shot is falling from his spot up 3s. He also shot well in the 1st qtr vs. the Suns. I saw him pick up a thing or two from the offensive moves of KM in evading his defenders.

I used to be frustrated by RA but now I recognize the trust that he gives his players(esp. starters) is now starting to produce good outcomes.

 

The value I see in Ariza is his rebounding. He has the length, the jumping ability, and the drive to go after loose balls. He would have helped us in game 7 against the Jazz when we couldn't get a damn rebound to save our lives in that final minute.

 

Ariza...sigh...

Ariza has his up and downs.

The combination of a new contract, Former hated laker, Bad looking shooting from and spotty beard are hard to overcome.

One thing that can't be overlooked is his hustle. He hustles for Rebounds and loose balls like a great Rocket should. In LA he took a few plays off like Odom.

He has never had this much pressure placed on his shoulders in his career.
He's playing 12 more minutes per game than last year with no more Gasol,Kobe,Odom to create for him.

He's shown improvement in creating plays for others. He's great on P n' R's. He's a great Rebounder. He attacks the basket and that brings him more success but he has a lot of work to do over the summer. He knows it and you can see anger at himself when he fails at times.


Overall if he came here as a 65 he's improved into a 73. He's also 24. yeah, 24.

 

08-09 w/ LAL- Pts: 8.9, Reb: 4.3, Assists: 1.8, Steals: 1.7, Blocks: .3, Minutes: 24.4

09-10 w/ HOU- Pts: 14.7, Reb: 5.6, Assists: 3.7, Steals: 1.8, Blocks: .5, Minutes: 36.5

Granted, he has gotten about 12 more minutes a game this year, but every single stat improved with the exception of shooting percentage, which is kind of expected given the additional minutes/shots.

For MLE, these are pretty good stats.

 

I believe he has improved if nothing else he is meshing with his teammates better. He is getting them the ball in places where they feel comfortable. He is shooting it with more confidence, not a giant percentage. But is looks like he feels good taking the shot.

I also have been more impressed with defense recently. But I have been limited in my watching i will confess.

I think he is going to get better with Yao.

Bleed Red Rockets Red.

 

Yes he has improved but I honestly dont care about him becoming an all star averaging 20+ ppg. I care about him being the guy who can stop the all star wings like he did with Tyreke last night. He is a streaky shooter at best that has bad footwork driving to the basket and a bad finisher unless he gets the dunk off. He is best off the ball when the defense has to focus on our real offensive weapons like Martin and Brooks. Which is why you have seen him improve since Martin got to the team.

 

I think that was his biggest improvement. He could have continued to hog the ball at the wrong time, and force the action, and his scoring would have gone up. His stats would have improved. He did learn to play within the system, so he did improve.

 

He has improved in a lot of areas of his game, but his shot selection has gone away. That can be something that is hard to get back.

 

I still think he is not worth the MLE, but will wait to see how he plays next year with Brooks, Martin, Scola and Yao.....that will tell a lot about the signing.

DD

 

We had a rogch start, but I think if we give him more time to adjust to the system and his role on the team he can be a valuable piece.

 

Maybe he hasn't improved much over last year. After all, he was an integral part of a Lakers CHAMPIONSHIP team, so he was already good.

However, last night showed what he can do when he is put in the proper role. He can fill up a stat sheet, hit spot up 3's, get steals, run in transition, and play solid D. He doesn't make many stupid mistakes and he doesn't ballhog a la Ron Artest.

As a creator, he is terrible. But as a guy who can take over Battier's very important role, he looks promising.

All this, and he's still very young and relatively cheap.