What if Ariza becomes a poor man's TMAC? (that can play D)

I think Posey is the best comparison.

 

as much as i like ariza...his hustle, his D, his athleticism and length...he is just another shane battier on offense.

 

I think that Trevor Ariza has enormous potential as a player in the NBA. Hes' already got a world championship and 5 years of experience, and he's still only 24.

But another Tracy McGrady? Poor or otherwise?

I know Tracy McGrady has burned every bridge here in Houston (and if he hasn't, he's going to find the rest of them and put a torch to them soon enough)...

...but it seems to me that, since McGrady is so easy to hammer, everybody wants to just toss away how good a player he was (and may still be).

I don't know how good a player Trevor Ariza can become. We all saw what he could do when he wasn't the focal point in Los Angeles. He had a role to play. He took advantage of it. And he got some long-term financial security out of it.

He could just as easily develop into something of a McGrady-esque player. But not without understanding how good McGrady is: a top-flight scorer and passer, with a nice basketball I.Q. and exceptional athleticism. I don't know if Ariza has any of those things outside of the athleticism, or if he does, whether or not he can shape them into an all-NBA player.

From the looks of Ariza's contract, the Rockets don't think he can, and aren't expecting him to. They may be expecting Ariza to be Shane Battier v2, which in and of itself would make his acquisition a steal.

And move Battier on to greener pastures, possibly.

I think if you're looking for someone who could turn into "the-next-great player", it wouldn't be too much to look at Jermaine Taylor becoming a "Dwayne Wade" type of player for the Rockets.

Taylor has the physical tools to become what Wade is. And I don't make this assumption without realizing that Taylor didn't play against the best competition regularly at college, or lead his team to any significant postseason success.

But the NBA is about size, speed and athleticism, and Taylor has a ton of those things at the two-guard spot for a second-round pick. He'd have a better time adjusting to this level than J.J. Redick did, coming out of Duke as everybody's all-world everything...but whose lack of NBA-caliber athleticism has him as little more than a role player (which might change a bit with what's happened in Orlando recently).

Taylor was often the best player on the floor for both teams, with the opposition geared to stopping him, and he still was the third or fourth highest scoring player in college last year, with pretty decent averages, too.
Taylor can get his own shot, and could make plays for others as well.

That, to me, says more about what a player like Taylor may be able to do in the NBA than Ariza, who's never had the polished offensive game that you'd look for a future all-star or all-NBA player to have coming into the league, or hasn't really shown after 4 years.

All told, I think Ariza is an excellent piece. But that's all he is.