Trevor Ariza hasn't exactly lit the house on fire in NO 11.1 pts, 5.6 rebs on 39.4% shooting. I wasn't against trading him, but Ariza's not worth throwing a fit over.
Really? Let's look at their young careers so far. Ariza has been in the league 4 more years than has Lee, though they are roughly the same age (born in 85). Ariza has played 431 total games, while Lee has played in only 197. They've both averaged about the same number of minutes per game (Ariza @ 24.4, Lee @ 26.5), so I won't use a per-36 minute stat for their careers. With more than twice the experience at the professional level, you'd think Ariza would have a much more developed game than Lee. So let's see if he has. Ariza has averaged 8.7 points on .435 FG%. Lee has average 9.5 on .439 FG%. Almost identicle numbers. Maybe Ariza is getting it done from either the line or from behind the arc then? Ariza has averaged .315 3PT% and .664 FT%. Lee has averaged .372 3PT% and .830 FT%. So no, Ariza isn't getting it done from there either. Lee appears to be the more efficient scorer, though their total scoring numbers look the same. Maybe he's doing it at the defensive end. Ariza has averaged 1.3 steals and 0.3 blocks per game. Lee has averaged 1.0 steals and 0.2 blocks. Ariza appears to have a slight edge here. But with 4 more years in the league, I would think that difference would be much more evident. But maybe Ariza does it with rebounding and play-making. Ariza has averaged 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, while Lee has averaged only 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists. With the same average minutes, Ariza appears to have a bigger edge here in rebounding. We know that Courtney Lee has played some minutes at PG for us this year while averaging a 1.28:1 assist to TO ratio. He takes care of the ball, but doesn't get as many assists. Ariza tried to be a playmaker for us last year when he averaged a 1.69 assist to TO ratio. So throughout their careers, Ariza has a miniscule edge in defense (though he has a record of gambling too much, finding himself out of position, while Courtney has shown an ability to stay between his man and the basket), he has a slight edge in play-making, a 1.5 times advantage in rebounding, but falls short in offensive efficiency. Yeah, Ariza appears to be a better player than Lee over their entire careers so far, but only slightly better. Now let's look at their per 36 averages this year (Ariza plays twice the minutes as Lee) and weigh their performance to their salaries. Stat - TA - CL (per 36 this season) PPG - 11.5 - 13.3 FG% - .394 - .426 3P% - .293 - .388 FT% - .705 - .734 REB - 5.8 - 4.6 AST - 2.2 - 1.9 STL - 1.7 - 1.2 BLK - 0.3 - 0.2 TOs - 1.7 - 1.5 Based on this season's per 36 numbers, CLee has a nice advantage offensively and isn't too far behind in rebounds, assists, steals or blocks. They are VERY similar producers on the court, statwise. CLee is making $1.3 million and is locked in for 2 more years at this level of salary. Ariza is making $6.3 million and is locked in for 3 more years at this level of salary. Ariza makes almost 3 times as much while showing a very similar level of production as CLee. So yeah, I guess it was a financial decision, a very smart one. But you act like Ariza is playing on a different level and that we gave the future of the franchise away when DM traded Ariza for Lee. As well, Morey has said recently that there are certain players in the league that he has his eyes on, ones that he wants for this team. And if the opportunity to grab them passes him by, then he may never get that chance again. He saw the opportunity to grab a player that he coveted and took a chance on him, just like he did with TWill. That trade was not a bad one for DM to make, either on court or financially. It was a well thought-out one to make, which freed us up to make other transactions, and secured a player that DM has wanted since 2008.
Its amazing to me that because the team isnt playing as well as last year, some people single out losing Ariza as the reason.
Oh yeah, I forgot to add to the thread topic. I saw in the Chronicle today the following: "Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said he expects the exception, which is worth $5.86 million, to go unused." "There are a lot of active exceptions in the league," Morey said. "Our exception was nothing unique and was actually smaller and expires sooner (than others). There was never a specific goal. We just looked to see if there was an opportunity to upgrade. Nothing materialized." Reported by J.Feigen. The rest of the article is here: Chron.com Article
He's nowhere near as bad as the guy he replaced but he's not the "genius" folks around here make him out to be either. As for bad moves, I absolutely detested the Artest deal. Donte Green would look good in Rockets red right now.
That's nice and all, but the Rockets are 22-27. Yes there have been other moves too, but those moves have made us a worse team compared to last year. So factually speaking the team has gotten worse, and there's no clear direction on how to rebuild/retool. Shareef Abdur Raheem used to put up nice stats. Ricky Davis was a 20 ppg scorer. Individual stats don't mean anything if the team isn't performing.
I wasn't addressing the team's performance. There may be something wrong with the team right now. But to say that it's because of the Ariza trade is silly. I was addressing that trade, not the team's performance this year. At any rate, we're 22-27 right now. We lost 5 close games to start the season when we were trying to integrate Yao Ming back into the system at 18 minutes a game. We've been playing .500 ball since those 5 losses. Is something really wrong with the team now that wasn't wrong with it last year? Or are we really playing as well as this team can play, and are having a more difficult time coping with it since we stumbled coming out of the gate this season?
Sorry I'm not trying to pick on your post, but I just don't understand the people that thinks Morey is a genius or that he can't do anything wrong. It's too early to judge him, but that doesn't automatically him a great gm. Acquiring 'assets' that other teams don't want is all I've seen so far. I do hope he pulls something off that makes us contenders in the future, but until then let's stop acting like he's a genius.
Why is he not a genius? Because he "missed" on Joey Dorsey and/or Jermaine Taylor? Tell me, what evidence do you have that Daryl Morey is NOT a genius GM, based on things WITHIN HIS CONTROL. If you appointed a chimpanzee to be the next Rockets GM, and then some stupid GM just gave away a superstar to the Rockets for nothing, would that make the chimpanzee a genius? No. So much of the job of building a winning NBA franchise is luck and getting the right opportunities from others. Morey and his crew have done, IMO, a fantastic job of putting the Rockets in a POSITION to make a move, especially given the circumstances surrounding its two stars in recent years. He can only control so much. But thanks to him being a genius (not some demigod, as you do truthfully point out about some here - although I think that's mostly just people kidding around), the Rockets are in a better position than they otherwise would be if a "lesser" GM was running this team. EDIT: I realize that different people define "genius" in different ways. I'm not trying to say that Morey is perfect or that he is to be worshipped for doing a good job in his role, but he has done more to show that he IS a genius than he has to show that he isn't one.
No worries. You're not picking on my post. You're spot on about DM. He's made some nice trades to put us in position to do just about anything. But every decision he's made so far has been toward a greater goal that hasn't happened yet, to make us contenders. So I understand anyone that isn't ready to call him a genius. And I'm with you until that happens. But the trades he has made all appear to have been well thought out. And when he's made a gamble that he later regrets, he has a history of 'taking care of the problem' fairly quickly. He doesn't deserve all the love he gets around here. But he's made great decisions so far to put us in nearly the best position in the league to make a grab for a star. Opinion of other GMs and reporters both agree with this assertion. If fans agree with it too, then it can't be held against them.
Great post, and I do agree that his moves so far have kept us flexible in the future. He hasn't made horrible moves that handcuffed the franchise for years (a la Isaiah Thomas did when he was the Knicks gm), but until we're contenders I can't call him a great gm. There hasn't been any earth shattering moves yet to make us a vastly better team.
No surprise as the exception will go unused. http://www.foxsportshouston.com/01/...ption/landing.html?blockID=401007&feedID=3714 http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/7405391.html
Everyone thinks Ariza is the reason we have gotten so much worse... Could it be that Brooks is playing nothing like he did last year? What is our record when Brooks puts up >15 points? Also could it be that alot of times when we played teams earlier in the season( I didn't notice it as much after all star break) our snappiness seamed to throw people off because with the lack of talent on our roster people thought we'd be lucky to win over 30 games.
What makes them so great ? because they lucked into superstars in the lottery in the form of Howard and Pierce ? Morey is in much the same situation as Ainge found himself when he struck the 7 for 1 deal that landed the Celtics KG. Do you really think KG would have extended with the Celtics had Pierce not been on the roster ? The best deal Ainge made was getting Ray Allen and Glen Davis for much of nothing. I think Morey has already equaled that deal with the aquisition of Martin. You apply for it because in the remote chance you can put a deal together before its expiration date it adds another resource - If you cant make use of it you havent lost anything. Its a situation where you can only win or break even .... I like those kind of odds. All of those are good decisions - might not have produced much on the court but they have left the team with no bad contracts , a lot of young players and the chance to make impact moves if that opportunity presents itself which has yet to occur. We all held our breath at the deadline last year hoping something would happen for this team , it didnt. But there was still time on the clock . This trade deadline is much more critical than the last as many of these "assets" Morey has accumulated come off the books after seasons end - Battier, Yao, Chuck Hayes, Aaron Brooks, Jared Jeffries are all in the final year of their deals. This is more of a use it or lose it situation than in the past. I suspect this is the time we see what Morey is capable of.
