Don't forget the 106% more turnovers. Oh, and the 376% more in salary. Great statistical analysis otherwise. Great = Dumb. The words.
I think this move makes the Rockets roster uneven on the wings. Not enough minutes at SG but leaving Battier as the starting SF when he should be coming off the bench.
Seems like a financial move, but IMO Ariza just never seemed to fit in here. I am not sure why. He had his moments, but proved he wasn't the scorer that he thought he was. I know virtually nothing about Lee. If Martin and Lee are friends that seems to add to the chemistry issue. Like any trade, the proof is in the outcomes.
I had to think about it for a bit because I would have liked to see Ariza play with Yao, but I like the trade for the following reasons: 1) Basketball-wise (immediate impact) This seems to assure that Battier will not be traded. We cannot afford to lose both our premier wing defenders. I like this a lot, as Battier is one of my favorite players, and I still think that his value goes far beyond the box score (even if leebigez and Kwame will never understand that). It does not seem like we would get much worse with this deal, just comparing Ariza and Lee. Ariza is taller, gets more steals and rebounds, but Lee does not seem less athletic, and has better shooting percentages, and should be the better dribbler and possibly passer. Looking at where the minutes would go, we might actually get better with the deal, because this frees up minutes for the emerging Chase Budinger. Chase will hopefully already be too good to play the same minutes he played last year, and I don't think giving Ariza minutes over giving them to Battier would have made us better, so assuming both Budinger and Battier are healthy, Ariza would have had to play reduced minutes anyway. With Martin on board and Brooks playing minutes at SG when Lowry and Brooks are both on the court (and with having seen that Ariza doesn't really feel that comfortable at SG), there weren't many minutes for Ariza to be had at the SG position, and between Battier, Budinger and Ariza at SF, something had to give. Now, I would see the likely minute distribution as follows: PG: Brooks (28), Lowry (20) SG: Martin (34), Lee (10), Brooks (4), Taylor SF: Battier (24), Budinger (20), C. Lee (4), Harris PF: Scola (34), Hayes (10), P. Patterson (4), Jeffries C: Yao Ming (22), B. Miller (18), J. Hill (8) Looking at it, I actually don't even see where the minutes for Ariza would have been, really. Ariza's attitude: While I appreciated Ariza's athleticism, there was something I did not like about his body language and facial expressions. He sometimes made this mad face at his teammates. I also didn't like when sometimes he would think he was Kobe and try to dribble (which was clearly a weak point in his game) and take people 1-on-1. Basically, I didn't like the guy too much, especially compared to other Rockets like Yao, Scola, Battier, Lowry, Brooks. 2) The position it puts us in from a financial perspective and from a trade flexibility standpoint (with the ultimate goal of getting better) We save money. Many will say we as fans should not care, but the less we have already committed, the more likely it is that we will spend a bit more than we are already spending, in order to get a real impact (star) player. This has an impact not only on this season, but also on the next few seasons. Basically, the extra money we have to pay to retain Scola and Lowry and actually pay them market value (as opposed to the last couple of seasons when we got them under market value) has to come from somewhere, and if it can be done by getting a player that is not much worse than Ariza, but saving almost 6 million/year in the process (which is close to what we now have to pay more for Scola and Lowry compared to previous years), then that is a good thing in my book, because I value Scola and Lowry much more as players and as Rocket guys than Ariza. We get a sizable trade exception in the deal, which, considering Morey is our GM, should put us in a position to be predators if and when a good player comes on the market. This seems to make Jermaine Taylor expandable as an additional trade chip. There might be teams interested in Taylor and his scoring ability at a bargain price, just as there might be teams interested in Jeffries' expiring contract. These two combined might make an attractive asset and land us a contributor - or actually get us under the luxury tax after all, which is money saved we would hopefully spend when and if the opportunity presents itself to get a star
I didn't vote because i'm still in shock!! I'm not dissapointed but I don't really understand why we did it! I've always liked lee but I still really like ariza! I guess I'll give my openion when we see how it works out!! I just dont know!!
**** this trade, bullcrap trade... we shoulda kept this team for another year before they traded ariza.. BOO!
I like the trade. I think it makes the Rockets better. Courtney Lee moves well without the ball and can shoot. He's above average athletic as well. It may be a slight upgrade, but it's an upgrade to me nonetheless. His defense is his identity as well (aside from the missed layup in the Finals). Probably equal on defense to Ariza, Lee is IMO the better offensive player. Lee moves well without the ball. This is awesome news for Brad Miller and Adelman's high post offense. I think Lee will have a breakout year this year. What I don't get is why trade a small forward for another shooting guard. Battier/Budinger will be manning the 3 spot. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that. C-Bud is awesome, but I don't feel he's ready to take the next step and become a stabilizing rotation player. I think it's at least a half season too early. Battier is also injury prone now, which makes it the small forward position even more unstable. Kevin Martin will play a lot of minutes but is very injury prone. With Lee in the fold, I am more comfortable with 2 guard position.
IMO it sould've been Battier instead of Ariza, but I understand that battier's contract expires after this season so I can't complain.
My first reaction: damn we got center David lee???? Wow morey! Then: aww damn Courtney lee? Morey??? After: mmm never liked arizas attitude.. I like it!
by that time Ariza's trade value may have gone down further. cut your losses sooner than later if Morey saw it that way.
This is nothing more than an admission that they've had a failed offseason and Les is not going to go into luxury tax land when they have no chance whatsoever of competing with either the Lakers or Heat. This was purely a salary dump because they traded one wing player for another and the truth of the matter is Ariza could have played the SG just as well as Lee. Salary dump, nothing more, nothing less.
A little too much positivity and optimism on Clutchfans for this trade to truly be Rafer/Lowry 2.0. Ariza was far and away the better player compared to Rafer anyways. Still, a few more "**** this trade!" and "Morey is overrated!" and we can have full faith that this can at least be a Rafer/Lowry Lite.
Ariza left with a triple double. Who's to say this wouldn't be a break-out season for him? All I know is that we could have gotten someone better for Ariza. Courtney Lee is overrated, but I see why he did it. This better mean that you're making another trade otherwise this was a stupid move.
All these minor pluses and minuses do not mean much when looked at the big picture. The Rockets are going to be a mediocore team team for years to come.
This was not a good or solid trade. It was a downgrade to save money. So much for Les being ready to open the checkbook to win games. Knew that was too good to be true. I'm very disappointed we dumped Ariza after one season where he didn't even get the chance to play around Yao.
So wait...I thought we were going all in and that luxury tax wasn't going to be a problem as long as we were winning? Now we're dumping decent players for scrubs?
you are an obviously great poster. if you can read, "marginally better" should not include turnovers.
