http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-sportsrobbins-nba-insider-13101309oct13,0,2676760.column Happy memories flooded over Trevor Ariza as he stood inside Amway Arena's visiting locker room the other night. Just four months ago, Ariza and the Los Angeles Lakers celebrated their NBA title in that cramped, rectangular room. Teammates sprayed champagne. They hugged and high-fived each other. They held the Larry O'Brien Trophy. "The carpet's still the same," Ariza said. "Everything's still the same. The table where the champagne was is right there. So, you can't help but to think about it even though it's a new season, a new situation, a new team." There are new expectations, too. Some prognosticators don't think the Houston Rockets will make the Western Conference playoffs. Houston's top three scorers from last season are coming off major injuries or are gone. Yao Ming likely will miss the entire season as he recovers from surgery to repair his left foot. Ron Artest departed in free agency. Tracy McGrady is coming off of microfracture surgery on his left knee. "We're trying to figure out what we have," Houston Coach Rick Adelman said. "We have a lot of guys missing in action." The changes leave Ariza as a go-to guy on offense — at least until McGrady returns sometime early in the season. Ariza, a small forward who played in 89 games for the Orlando Magic from 2005 to 2007, hasn't taken on that role before in his NBA career. He averaged 8.9 points per game last season on a Lakers team that — with the likes of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom — didn't want him to carry the offensive load. At the minimum, the Rockets will need Ariza to take on a more active role on offense after he signed a free-agent contract reportedly worth $34 million over five seasons. Adelman said: "We're going to ask him to do things he hasn't done before, and we're hoping he progresses and he gets better and better, especially on the offensive end." Ariza has room to develop. He's only 24 years old and he's regarded as a hard worker. His main challenge with the Rockets will be to create shots for himself and for his teammates. "There's going to be more opportunity for me to show what I can do offensively," Ariza said. "But I don't think it's going to change much, because defense wins. So, I'm always going to do that. I think I can add a little to my game every year." Still, perhaps no team in the NBA is expected to take as much of a step backward as the Rockets. Houston won 53 games last season even though McGrady missed more than half the year. Of course, the team had Yao and Artest to shoulder the load. "Me personally," Ariza said, "I've always been the underdog. So, I'm used to fighting from that position, and I'm sure everybody in here has, too. So, we don't mind it at all." Follow Josh Robbins on Twitter @JoshuaBRobbins. He can be reached at jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel
Hopefully he gets to that leader role very fast cause Luis, AB, and Battier cant do it all by themselves. From what I've seen he hasn't been impressive, and have been more intrigued by Budinger. It it just me that thinks Ariza hasn't really shown up in the preseason or what?
Yeah but at some point he's got to get into a more active role as a starter then having the mindset at being Kobe's sidekick. Not knocking the guy though
Like Ziggy said, what you see is what Ariza has always been. Alot of people took the Rockets talking up the improvements they *hoped* would occur and assuming that Ariza would be option numero uno. I doubt very seriously he ever becomes that...he is a piece to the puzzle, nothing more. It does take some time to find your place in a situation like this...the Rockets themselves are still tryin to feel out how everyone is going to work together, it isnt really reasonable to expect Ariza to click right in and produce at his normal rate, much less at the rate that some folks are expecting. the most reasonable course of action would be to wait till the preseason is over before making judgements on how he will fit in. Afterall, that is what we have camp and preseason games for.
I'm kind of hoping that we play this line-up at the beginning of the season: C - Chuck PF - Scola SF - Ariza SG - Budinger PG - Brooks I'm not liking a Battier/Ariza combination. It would really make our offense very predictable and horrible. Hopefully our second unit will be: C - Andersen PF - Landry SF - Battier SG - Taylor PG - Lowry I'm thinking our best combination in the court will probably be something like: C - Scola PF - Andersen SF - Battier SG - Ariza PG - Brooks Defensively, we wouldn't be so bad in the perimeter. Although neither Andersen nor Scola can patrol the paint I'm sure their scrappy style will lead to a few offensive fouls here and there and I'm sure sometimes they will get lucky. If anything Battier and Ariza will have to do a tremendous job patrolling the perimeter. Offensively, Brooks can score, and Andersen and Scola are both decent passers from the high post. Ariza knows how to cut and move around so hopefully he'll see some passes cutting inside and Battier can remain at his usual corner (although I prefer for him to move sometimes).
By the way, the reason I don't like Battier and Ariza in the starting line up is because they would be paired with Hayes which would not be a good combination. I believe they could work together in the 3rd line up I posted.
I think all he's missing is the right mentality kinda like what Hakeem told yao that he needed that you cant stop me mentality. he needs to be more agressive and try to create more often instead of just giving the ball up.
That's how I feel kind on what AB has done this pre-season and really since the Alston trade in which he has up-ed his game. If Ariza could do the same thing we might have a playoff team.
I would rather have an Artest then Ariza after all we could have resigned him for the same price we signed Ariza so there really is no excuses other then he rather play in L.A which is fine and dandy. Ariza has room to grow, but in a period of their contracts who makes a bigger impact and i still stick with Artest, but that is just me.
I said it in another thread and I'll say it here. In terms of offensive ability, Ariza is very similar to a young Robert Horry. If you set him up, he can be a key role player on a champion team, like he was last year for the Lakers. But don't expect him to be a go-to guy or create offense out of thin air. As was the case with mid-90's Horry, Ariza has size, speed, and athleticism, but lacks the dribbling skills to put it all together and become a complete offensive player. He might score 25 one night, but other nights he'll get 7. And I expect a lot more 7's than 25's.
I'm believed management really has put too much faith into him. Was he quite the bargain signing Artest was with the lakers? Not at all which leads me to believe they put too much faith into him.
There's still a lot of time to go. While it may be fair to say Trevor probably won't grow into an on-court leader, I think it is too premature to compare him to Artest. Given how Artest was a very mixed bag with the Rockets, Ariza at least may give us more consistency and team work, if not as much "bad-assness".
lolz i disagree, I'm talking in terms of the contract Artest is more of a impact player then Ariza will be in his next 5 seasons for the same price tag. Look at the difference of what Artest braught compared to what Ariza will bring and i think in the end everybody will be saying Artest should still be a Rocket when he wins a championship in L.a. Would Ariza have helped us get to the playoffs last season? Probably not is all i'm saying. Would have we even seen Portland or much less beat them with Ariza? They basically is asking for him to pick up where Artest left off dont you think? It's either this or they put too much faith into him. Or i'm under rating player value, if this is the case then management has overpaid for him or Artest was under paid, but either way of the 2 players Artest was the better player though probably not team mate. I just hope Ariza really can turn it around and not be a Stromile Swift mistake, where management put too much hope into him and they end up trading him later. So now they need to focus on Iverson.
Another thing. Why would we trade Rudy Gay a rookie who came up quickly for the sake of misleading people into believing it's a "win now mode" Then years later change their mind and do the same thing again by letting a older proven Artest go and signing Ariza who is younger to fill in? Again does this make sence to you if it's a "win now mode"???
Like you said, it's years later. The stars are older. We brought in Artest last year to "win now" too, but Tmac and Yao will never be healthy. The window is closed.
Well from everything i read this past week, sure there not depending much on Ariza and is only hoping he can replace Artest. As for Ron i think he just wanted to bolt to L.A and be close to his home i'm guessing. So it could be blown out of proportion just a bit.
