I've always said that Aria is the third best player on the Fakers. He comes up with those clutch steals and damaging three point shots.
Or Yoyo maybe you can look at it the other way around with a potential sign & trade for Artest in picking up some size in the frontcourt. Who know's.
If we won't give the MLE to a average center...a position of clear need...and give it to a SF when we are stacked there...then we are dumb. Ariza is not an upgrade over our current SF's.
I dont think Gortat is worth Battier's money, I believe he makes 7 mil, or even 20 % less than that which might be the case for trades to take place. Not even to mention that I'd value Battier's value on the court a LOT more than that of Gortat's. If we get Ariza, it does expend Battier, sure. But I'd not trade him for Gortat (even if Orlando agreed, which i doubt). I know he's a center, but a very big unknown....
Obviously Morey has something in mind. He isn't just going to overload us at one position for the sake of it. Plus thinking about it, are there any other worthy centers to offer money to? I'm thinking Morey might have a center in mind through trade.
You could be right. But I also think you need a solid 3 wing rotation with a Yao-less team. And if they did deal Battier it makes swallowing that loss that much easier. Really though, Morey might just use Ariza pre-deadline to use in a deal perhaps along with Cook or McGrady. Ariza may be the guy we deal in the long run. Bottom line, signing Ariza AND Artest gives us some nice flexibility and keeps us afloat.
I would prefer that but looking from a basketball standpoint as I mentioned earlier Ariza's skills are very similar to Battier's skills Artest's skills are different from either of those two players it would make the most sense then if the Rockets re-sign artest to play in houston to move Battier for help elsewhere. if the rockets land ariza (which i doubt) maybe the rockets s&t artest for help in other positions AND also trade battier for help in other positions.
I don't see how they are similar at all. They don't play the same style of defense. Shane doesn't slash to the basket while Ariza does. Ariza, although not the shooter Shane is has developed a three point shot (it's gotten old hearing that he can shoot when he proved this post season and regular season that he could). Ariza can finish at the rim and runs well to let the Rockets run. He is much better at reading the passing lanes. He is a pretty good on the ball defender and awesome team defender. Shane style is different since his defense is based on studying the game of basketball and not making mistakes. We have all watched Shane play Rocketball for the past few years and one thing he does is study his opponent. He knows where they are going, he knows what is their favorite/worst spot, etc. He plays an intellectual style of defense which I don't believe many players dedicate their time to.
you shouldn't overpay because of need. according to how DM evaluates talent, gortat as a player was not worth the MLE, but ariza is. whether they fit on the team or not, their worth is their worth. i wouldn't mind signing ariza for the MLE because we can then move shane for something of need.
If we sign Ariza it would only be the beginning of more moves to come. Ariza makes us much younger, talented and faster which I believe is where I see Morey going with all this.
His value skyrocketed due to his playoff performance but is that his normal level of play? His regular season 3pt% was only 31.9% and that scares me. He was knocking them down efficiently in the playoffs but did he just get on a hot streak or is that really what we can expect form him every night?
