Trevor is a good basketball player, and I'm fine with the acquisition. He's a problem at the 2. He has trouble dribbling, shooting, and passing. His weaknesses would be less apparent in a different role. It's not a coincidence that we're hearing Iguodala trade rumors. He can come play the 2 and Ariza can move into a spot that he fits into. Morey understands our situation and it's a waiting game right now. Rockets are in fine shape. Tough loss, but we'll be back.
I'd understand if he shot 1-14 and had 7 turnovers, but the guy played a pretty solid game overall. People only want to jump on him because of the funky shot he took at the end of the game. But really, how many shot clock violations did we have this game? How many times does Brooks or Lowry dribble the ball until there's 10 seconds left on the shot clock, leading to a turnover? How many times does Battier handle the ball, hold it in the post, and kick it out with 3 seconds left? How many times does Carl waste 10 seconds trying to get good post position, only to kick it out with 4 seconds left when he can't get past his defender? It was everyone's fault.
The guy should be a 3rd option not a 1st or 2nd...He needs to learn to take care of the ball, be more selective with his shots and dribble penetrate. He needs to grow in all these areas and there is nothing that says he can't. You are telling me Morey brought him in because he thought he was a finished product...NO WAY.
And I hear you. And let me be clear, if Ariza was playing like this in the last year of his contract, I would be flaming him as much as anyone else. But he's still got a lot of room to grow. Maybe he won't grow in the statistical category or maybe his dribbling won't even get better, but let's al pray that he conforms to the team concept NEXT YEAR AND THE YEARS THAT FOLLOW. For those are the years that truly matter.
Bye bye "potential", "youth", "defense", "terrific spot-up shooter" etc. Welcome Shannon Anderson! Lot of people here are still in denial - WAKE UP.
I am fine with Ariza as role player. After 30 games, the experience of making Ariza to be Option 1,2 ,3 should be over!!!!
I hear you again. To be fair to Ariza, he sees non-stars like Brooks and Lowry around him. He sees players with offensive limitations like Battier and Hayes. He sees rookies like Budinger and Taylor. He sees McGrady on the sidelines or up in Chicago. He knows Yao is out for the year. I guess it's hard to blame him for continuing to be aggressive despite the shooting struggles. There is no real go-to option on the perimeter so he's trying to find out if he can be that guy. If he can't do it now, he'll realize he probably won't ever be able to. It's a good time for he and the Rockets to determine his potential on the offensive end. It doesn't bother me nearly as much as a lot of other folks around here. Yelling at Battier was pretty ridiculous though. Even that made me laugh more than anything. I'm not anti-Ariza.
I'd just like to say to anyone that doubts his defense: Wait until next year when we'll have Yao and maybe Iguodala, Butler, or whoever. He won't be working as hard on offense. He can go back to doing what he does best. Disrupting defenses, playing the passing lanes, and running the fast break. He just needs his legs back is all.
You know what, if we look back several games, this guy has just been outright terrible, this guy is single handedly destroying our team..........
these concerns are legit this year, but trading him now is overreacting. You move him to the SF when we get a real 2 and he'll dribble a lot less. That means less turnovers, better flow. You get Yao back and that means less shots for ariza, especially the bad shots he takes in situations where a real go to player should take shots...that means a better FG% for him. Just wait it out. He's not exactly ruining a championship season.
I just dont see Ariza growing into anything. He just does not have the skillset you can see in other prospective talents out there. You can see early on in a players career what they have going for them. You can see a defensive player becoming a good defensive player, or a passer a passer, shooter and shooter...etc. With Ariza, I just dont see anything he can be really good at. He's been in the league for 7 years now and averaging around 22 mins a game for his career so you cant say lack of playing time or opportunity. In the end, I honestly feel its just a lack of a specific skill.
Yeah, we win as a team and we lose as a team. I just wish Adelman could be more creative in the endgame. Everyone knows we would be going to AB and Carl but can't we give the ball to them in easier spots and set up better?? We melted down in the last 3 minutes. Enough time to adjust and design better plays.
^^Great stuff in that post. I agree, Ariza should not have yelled at Battier, but he was clearly frustrated, probably at himself more than anything. Sometimes we just want to blame someone else instead of ourselves. Thankfully Battier is a veteran and cool-headed guy. Battier simply smiled, probably acknowledged that it was his error (even though it was Trevor's), and gave him a pat on the back. That's what true leaders do. Hopefully Battier can teach Ariza a thing or two about sportsmanship and accepting responsibility/understanding one's role. P.S. Shane's attitude and leadership is exactly what this team needs. Good thing he's still around, and this is coming from a guy that doubted Shane's importance to this team at the beginning of the season.
