That's something that haunts me to this day, when we did that deal with the Hornets we should have gotten JR Smith instead of Kirk Snyder but I think JVG didn't want him because he was such a head case.
The idea that, "It's only pre-season" isn't a very good argument. These players are highly competitive and aren't just having some friendly game of streetball - as if when the pre-season's over they're going to get serious and turn on their magical after-burners.
Except in the regular season you won't see Brian Cook play for half the game and Chuck Hayes sit out completely. Oh god, the tank BS. At any rate, there's a third option: stockpile young tradeable assets and ship them off for a superstar like the Celtics did. We can easily do that, and not signing Ariza would have been a waste of the DPE anyways.
The Rockets didn't sign Ariza just because they were hoping he could be the #1 option on offense this season. They signed him because they want to see exactly what his capabilities are with the ball in his hands. If it turns out that he isn't very good with the ball in his hands, then that's fine, they'll just use him as a role player next season when Yao comes back and we get a true #1 scoring option on the wing.
lol i guess he forgot he never played for the blazers. but seriously, i think he skipped over the trailblazers reference.
Believe me I wouldn't be pissed if we bomb the season. There's some serious talent with size in this draft. This is probably the best draft since Lebron came into the league probably better. Theres frnachise palyers in this one. But we have too much heart and talent to not be in the playoff hunt all season. A couple of injuries on other contending team could give us even better position. Remember we've made the playoffs with a lot worse teams in a better Western conference.
Shandon Anderson in my mind the whole time. Always these high projections of a player coming into "our" system fitting so well his play improves leaps and bounds. When with free agency you're getting close to the same player you saw the year before, give or take a point, rebound, etc. Their stats might look better cuz generally the new team gives them more minutes to justify the signing. I dont know why the Rockets undersold Gortat that much, but thats already passed now gotta go with what we got. Now you're just trying too hard to insert some critical analysis. Now every game the Rockets are going to give up 110 points, after a couple games in a row beating teams who've won half the NBA titles in this decade. From now on all the players will display their worst side and play to their weaknesses.
Everyone Knows fools don't play as hard in the pre-season. Also a lot of guys are trying to find their rhythm. No it's not streetball or summer league, but pre-season is awaste of time to vets. Rooks and scrubs are trying to make teams and get minutes so you expect to see them bring their A game. the season is a different beast as is the playoffs baby. So come on man get real.
Ok... Ariza is a young player that probably wants to make a good impression on his new team. I'm quite sure that he's not just "wasting time." He hasn't looked very good thus far. He's a perimeter guy that can also run, but can't really create. Unfortunately, his perimeter shots haven't been falling - but then he's only killing time waiting for the season to start right?
How much did Marvin Williams resign for? I rather have him than Ariza. I'll still give Ariza more chances. Before T-Mac comes, (which is likely early December maybe?) he better step up though.
Some people just seem to be permanently contradicting themselves. They don't like that Ariza isn't a superstar, yet they want us to get one by sucking. The obvious responses are: 1. You should be HAPPY Ariza is sucking for us now. That means that our team won't win much and that we'll get a high draft pick later. Then, when Yao comes back, Ariza can settle into his role as future Battier--a SF who can defend and make other teams pay when they shade off of him to double up the post. Even though he's not as good a 3pt shooter as Battier, he still shoots well enough to keep teams honest and his penetration ability is FAR superior to Battier's, which was never good even in college. 2. The idea that if we didn't sign Ariza we would have signed no one and had that cap space for next year is preposterous. The fan base would not have allowed the team to leave that much of a chunk of the cap go un-used; for the most part, people would have been screaming for us to spend it on Artest, or Gortat. And in 2010 when Yao came back we would have been strapped for a good player at SF with Battier on the last year of his contract and on the wrong side of 30. 3. Morey has said repeatedly in the past that there are three ways to get a superstar: A. via the draft (which I'm afraid to say wasn't going to be happening this year even if we didn't sign Ariza; this team with all role players sans Ariza is STILL not bad enough to get a 1 seed beyond the truly godawful teams of the NBA that have effectively sold off all their players like Milwaukee, New Jersey, Sacramento and Minnesota); B. through a max contract in free agency (again, highly unlikely with Lebron and Wade, and not even worth it in the case of Bosh); and C. through a trade with a team going under. If you ask me, based on his radio interviews he sounds like he is still patiently waiting for option C to happen, as it is clear we won't be "rebuilding" as long as Yao is still with us and with the nature of this NBA season going the way it appears to, there are going to be a couple of teams that are a LOT worse than they had hoped they would be. Half the teams sold all-stars to a handful of the top teams this offseason, and teams that thought they would be competitive might turn out to be a lot worse than they'd hoped. I'm looking at New Orleans, Dallas (who would never trade with us I suppose), Phoenix, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Washington to name a few. When that situation happens, a few teams will find themselves hemorrhaging money and Morey will be the top suitor in line with cheap talented assets (+ a certain $23M expiring contract) to swap in for their overpriced all-stars. He'll have the #1 waiver priority, if you will. Now none of this will do anything to help our chances this year, but if you ask me whether or not I think Morey is doing the best job he can to get us in as best position as possible to compete with a healthy Yao in 2010, then my answer is an emphatic HELL YES.
We gave him the MLE money. He's not here to be the savior. If you expect him to the main scorer, it is you who should adjust your expectations.
Agreed, I think he is trying to do things he is not comfortable doing, and may never be comfortable doing. That is what the preseason is for though, to find your comfort zone. DD
i don't think he is worth his contract, he is not a bad player, but i think he is more of an additional scorer that will help spread the floor when yao is healthy, to me this seems like a more down the line move, perhaps a yao mcgrady ariza trio? or substitute mcgrady with whomever they decide
