At least, it is deeper than those arguments which judge Ariza only on the basis of 2 preseason games.
abc2007: Don't assume that others have only seen Ariza play two games. Many of us follow the entire NBA and have seen Trevor since his ORL days and many since his UCLA days. He has never shown the ability to create his own shot...even in spurts. Slow release Subpar handles Inability to create space Its tantamount to thinking Mario Elie would develop into anything other than a role player (albeit a very good one). Those guys are great to have on championship teams, though 30MM/6yrs is a bit steep imo.
If Battier is making $7 mil, Ariza will probably look underpaid in a few years. Then again, I'm not as much of a Battier fan as most people around here. I think Ariza has the potential to be a better overall player than Battier.
Wouldn't the MLE be a good deal to give to an elite role player? I can't wait to watch Shane and Ariza lock some ppl up this season.
He won't improve much offensively this season. He is a role player (a good one though). It is what it is.
Somehow I think Ariza believes he is going to transform into a star like Pippen did when MJ left the first time ... I hope that's not why he came here, to leave Kobe's shadows and become an allstar, because I don't think it'll happen and I don't want him to Ricky Davis himself into getting killer numbers...
That 5 mill he's getting, will hurt us getting a good free agent next season. Instead of having like 10, 11 mill to play with for guys like David Lee or even Rudy Gay, we won't have that much to offer them.
I saw it as a desperation move. We could have just saved that money, been intent on developing Taylor and/or Budinger and thrown them right into the NBA fire and scrapped all plans for the season and get a good lottery pick to add more youth next year. The fact is that once it was learned Yao would be out this season, all hopes for any serious progress from last season went out the window.
For the record, Ariza is not an elite role player. He never has been. Could he become one? Possibly, but he has quite a bit of growing to do as a player. As it stands, we overpaid for someone that had a few good games in the playoffs.
i wish they woulda spent it on ron. because thats how close i believe this team is. but in the end - maybe that was a moneyball decision? i think ariza still has a lot to show me before i can make an honesxt decision on how talented he really is...
How many seasons do you need? I have watched this guy since he was in Orlando and honestly liked what I saw back then. Fast forward to 2009. He had a couple good playoff games after an average season. He needs to do more than be fine to earn his massive paycheck. At 24 years old he needs to turn the corner big time.
I think his shooting has been a bit overrated, but its his BEST attribute he has on the offensive side.
Just keep on shooting, its bound to go in at somepoint. This may sound like I'm an Ariza hater or basher but I expect him to go back to his Orlando and NY days and put up similar #s and being just a role player. Not much more, at least not until another proven star is out there
