A lot of you guys are missing the point. You are making the same arguments for Ariza you did last year for Artest. Artest may be the better player, but in the end Battier started. Even those who think Battier should start, you are arguing "a better fit" or "knowing the system better"[great post BTW, verse], which all may be true, but ignores THE biggest reason why Battier should, and will start. It isn't about starting your top 5 guys, it is about maximizing your whole team. Using all of them optimally, to WIN the most possible. So I ask you, what is Battier's greatest attribute? Leader, sure. Coach on the floor, of course. Space the court, team defense. Yes and yes. But at the end of the day, his greatest contribution to the team is relentlessly hounding the opposing team's top scorer, every second they are on the court together. The effects may not be evident at first, but by the end of the game, he usually wears them out. This is what we pay him $7M a year for. And why he is regarded as one of the top defenders in the league. By bringing Battier off the bench, you severely limit his greatest strength. Because he has a much lesser chance of being matched up with the other teams top scorer. Instead he will be guarding the opposing team's second unit. In essence you are wasting one of our best assets. Ariza, on the other hand, is a very different kind of defender. He is not as strong individually as Battier, but he relies on his athleticism and length to cause havoc- steals, blocks, deflections. This means you do not have to match him up with the opposing team's best player for him to be effective. He can still do all this off the bench. A steal or block for second unit is just as good as one for the first. In the end it is a choice between efficiently using all our assets, or completely wasting one, just so Ariza can start. This was the same case last year with Artest. It wasn't a choice then, and it isn't one now. Incidentally, I believe which ever we start, we still won't be able to get the most optimal usage, in the purest sense. This is because they are both starting quality players, so having both split minutes at one position, with one coming off the bench is inevitably wasting someone, or both, to some degree. It is a matter of completely wasting Battier, or marginally wasting both. If Mcgrady proves he is a starter, IMHO, one of the two has to be traded. That is the only way to use our whole team efficiently.
cxbby, I like ur write up, I just don't agree. The rrox are going to try to transition better this year. Ariza is far better at doing this than shane. In the greater scheme of things, ariza is adelmans guy. Adelman probably watched tape of the guy moving without the ball, getting out on the break even after rebs,steals,and blks and a guy who can defend. I think since adelman has gotten here, he has been trying to get more production out of shanes spot and much like hayes and rafer,adelman has never had as poor of a offensive player from the wing as shane. Start with portland and show me guys that battier fits the mold under adelmans previous stop. The rebuttal could be, look at yao. Yao is a good enough player that you alter some of your stuff, shane isn't . I will be surprised if shane is on the rox after the trade deadline. Rafer is gone, chuck doesn't play and now battier is one of the last links to the prehystoric offensive concepts run by jvg.
