Ariza is one of those guys who will fly under the radar. I can see him turning a corner eventually. I can see him in the post more this year, they need to adjust the game according to what he does really well and work from there. he has a quick first step he should be in the post more often.
I imagine you'll see some Ariza in the high post, where he can operate one one one. I also imagine the exponential rise in turnovers as a result of such will force Trev back to the perimter. Ariza is not a back to the basket, decision making player. Even as afacing the basket at the high post or elbow extended, what you're essentially asking for is an isolation setup. He doesn't have the handle and court vision to be consistently successful in that position. In short, your positioning him for failure. The low post? I'm just going to assume you don't mean here, since there is absolutely no evidence that he can play in the paint, back to the basket, passing out from a completely different field of view than he is accustomed to. I've said it before, and I'll continue to: Ariza = Elie v2.0 A tad longer, a tad more athletic, and a tad less gritty.
I said potential go-to guy. Why else would they encourage him to shoot the rock? Remember all of the talk about having a guy that could penetrate and add length? They are trying to develop him into that guy. I believe that without a shadow of a doubt. I still believe if you are putting Brooks in the go-to guy role, you will need Ariza unless you are moving him to SG. I am not sold on Brooks being that player at all. I'm not disrespecting his game, but if your PG is to be your leading scorer and he hasn't shown a consistent ability to make his team better then the team is in trouble. He's not a threat at the position like a CP3 yet. If we're talking position, Lowry is the better PG of the two. As of right now, Brooks is the better scorer of the two. Without T-Mac and Yao; Brooks, Scola and Ariza will be the go-to guys on the team. I didn't include Scola in the initial conversation tho.
I went back a looked at some of the articles that were written by J. Feigen: “I felt like I can help this team a lot more and help myself also by being here.” It took Rockets general manager Daryl Morey only seconds to add the punch line. “We need a lot of help,” he said, not only offering a moment of gallows humor but revealing much about why the Rockets appealed to Ariza.... “I think I will have more opportunity here,” the 6-8 forward said. “I was talking to coach (Rick Adelman) the other day. He was telling me that he saw what I did in the playoffs, how my game grew, and he felt there was still more room for growth and improvement, and he’s going to give me a chance to nurture that and improve as a player. “This is a great young team that has a lot of potential and is very, very scrappy. They never give up and I believe that is the type of player I am no matter what the situation is, whether we are up 100 or down 100, I’ll still fight to the end.” Morey also saw potential for Ariza, 24, to bring more than the 8.9 points and 4.3 rebounds he averaged last season or the 11.3 and 4.2 rebounds he averaged in the playoffs. But he said he would be happy with the move if only for Ariza’s ability to fit in with a team, rather than become a player to lead it. “We feel like we’ve got a complementary guy,” Morey said. “As he said, he’s a team player who can help a team win no matter his role. He mentioned he added something to his game every year — shooting, off-the-dribble game. “We see him as a young player who is going to keep improving. You don’t find many players like Trevor who come into the league at that age (19 when he left UCLA after his freshman year) that don’t continue to add to their game.” “I think Trevor is a case in point. We know what he did for the Lakers. He ran the floor and was a spot-up shooter. We're hoping he can do more with the ball. He plays hard. He passes and cuts and moves and attacks. We have to give him more chances to do that to expand his game. He fits the way we want to play.” Ariza is in many ways the prototype of the ways the Rockets want to change. This is not just because of Yao's loss. “All our acquisitions, if you trace them, especially in the last two years, have been anticipating being a more up-tempo team,” general manager Daryl Morey said. “We anticipated our second team to do that. It just happens now that it is probably going to be our first team next year. We wanted players who could play in transition, and also work in the half court with Yao. Our acquisitions have been pretty consistent — more athleticism, play in transition, defensive-minded, attack the hoop.” http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/sports/6526199.html http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/sports/6520447.html With this being said, on this current team Ariza has to be one of our go-to guys. I think they are downplaying his significance under the current team circumstances. This will have to be a team effort to be successful, which will require Scola, Brooks, and Ariza to be those guys. Right now, I am not sure who I want to have the ball for the last play with the game on the line. I think that I would rank them this way Scola, Ariza and then Brooks. May be that's a thread question...
