My immediate reaction is dislike. Time will tell, but I can't help but think we are losing a young plus very good starting defensive player and getting back a decent back up at the two. Like Battier and think that without him the team would lose his great leadership but outside of his leadership and wisdom, I'd prefer to see Ariza starting at the SF position.
How is ariza a better defender than battier? And Lee has been a starter for his entire career, including on a team in the NBA finals. He is at least as good as Ariza defensively plus he can actually knock down an open shot
I'm not sure if anyone said he was better, but Ariza is certainly a capable defender. He's also younger and would have been around longer. Additionally, he's better at play making, rebounding, getting assists, finishing in the lane, slashing to the basket, running fast breaks, etc. He has a more well-rounded game than Shane. Last year is overall field goal percentage was just as good as Shane's. You can also rely on him to consistently score 10ppg, whereas Battier will frequently completely disappear on offense and put up 0-6 points in a game. He started over J.J. Redick and started on a team that had the worst record in the NBA. He's never had any competition and would not start on many NBA teams. His stats were also horrible last year. Not even comparable to Ariza's across the board.
You can't really compare that because of the length of Ariza's deal. Who knows what Courtney Lee will be making in two years.
Yes you can, because you have 2 years of upcomming data to compare it to, and any deal Lee signs will be under the new CBA. This deal is so good, on so many levels. DD
Your original post was asking what would happen if Battier gets injured, and I just answered it. Lee would start at the four, and C-bud and JT would backup the SF and SG spots. If your scenario is battier becoming injured, how the hell can battier be our backup at both positions? What the hell are you smoking? Also Battier sucks at the SG position. He doesn't have the speed anymore to keep up with the guards. I'd rather have Lee, Lowry and JT at the SG spot.
But Ariza's deal has four more years. Maybe in Morey's mind, that is about as long as he will keep any player. Luis and Kyle were the first ones to be paid since he got here. The deal makes us worse on the court right now. There is no way if you are trying to win NOW you give up that much length and athleticism. Ariza was so much better once he got a solid wing scorer and he wasn't taking as many shots off the dribble. He shot 43% after the all star break, 39% from 3. He took four less shots a game. He brought his average up from 37% to 39% for the season. I would take that production from our number 5 offensive option any day. So would any NBA team. We essentially added another good bench player. We have plenty of them. I understand that a huge part of this is the trade exception for the future, but RIGHT NOW what we have on the court is not as good as it was yesterday morning.
The deal makes us better right now. Replace Trevor's production post all star break with Cbuds. 49% shooting 41% 3pters..... And then you add in a healthy Martin and Lee.... Better team overall now. DD
This is so plainly obvious I don't know how others are not seeing it. People are completely ignoring how Trevor turned it around mid-season. Hell, I was even calling for us to get rid of him after the first few months, but when he started playing better I changed my mind. The stats in my sig tell the story. Not many players, much less small forward can fill out a stat sheet like Ariza did when Martin came to the team.
Yet Chase's biggest downfall is defense. Which is the whole reason you don't just let go a 6'9" dude with seven foot wingspan who can jump out the building and guard any player in the league. The offensive numbers are just supplement. Especially for a fifth option.
After the all star break Bud 21MPG, 9.9PPG, 46%FG, 37%3P, 1.22APG, 3RPG, .2BPG, .5SPG Ariza 33MPG, 13PPG, 43%FG, 38%3P, 4.4APG, 5.9RPG, 1.7SPG, 0.9BPG I love Bud's offense, but anyone saying he was better than Ariza after the all-star break is extremely biased. This doesn't even factor then the lesser defense.
I'm not sure Morey and Adelman saw Trevor that way. If you look at his career percentages from the arc last season, as frustrating as his shooting was much of the season before the Martin trade, they represent the best 3 point percentage for his career at .334%, not exactly an awesome season percentage from Downtown. Yes, his numbers improved a great deal when Martin arrived, but would it last? His two seasons with LA, with arguably the most talented wing in the league playing next to him, were ever worse. And he is a lousy free throw shooter, with career numbers all over the map and no consistency at all. That's telling, IMO, about his mental toughness. Scola, for example, scared us with his free throw shooting during his "rookie" season, but has improved every year since, and now shoots a respectable .779%. Ariza certainly does many other things very, very well, but being able to shoot at a good %, on the court and at the line, is a big part of Adelman's system. That Trevor may have had some locker room issues (not sure about that, but there have been rumors), could have been the tipping point, especially considering his contract. Morey is the classic chess player, always looking several moves into the future. After a season to get a good read on Ariza's fit, he must have decided that in the Ariza game, it was time to tip over his king and play another game. And that game isn't over. I see Morey making more moves by the deadline that may shead more light on the reasoning behind this deal, in my opinion, besides the obvious reason of saving a lot of payroll going forward. I think it was more than the money driving this.
This trade aside, when are we going to stop trading guys before we get to actually see what they can do? You better hope Cbud doesn't get big minutes and start putting up numbers, or Morey will ship him out of here before he has to pay him.
Then why would Morey give him a five year deal if he wasn't completely sold? Maybe it was the locker room or whatever, and I hope you're right about the moves this deadline. I feel like we abandoned a five year plan after one year when we knew the guy was going to be a project from the start.
Honestly, I don't see why you wouldn't let him stick around and see. Especially since he didn't even play with Yao, which was the entire plan from beginning. If he produces anywhere near those post-all-star numbers in New Orleans ...yikes.
Morey is not a GOD! It's one thing to factor everything in about what you know about a player before you get him, and quite another when you've had him for a while and truly get a read on the "fit."
