I'm sorry but it's past time to sit Ariza. He may be a valuable rotation player at this point in his career but he's not a starter. We would field a much better starting 5 if MDA would start Luc or Tucker at the 3. I know Ariza is a good friend to everyone in the organization but he needs to swallow his pride and come off the bench.
He certainly has not been very good at all this year, but it’s mostly just his shooting. The team as a whole has really struggled to shoot the 3 mostly because of how tightly they are being guarded around the arc so far. It seems like OKC shared their report on Hou from the playoffs and every team adopted their defensive strategy, but the Rockets can still win games going to the rim. However it makes guys like Ariza and Anderson worthless on the offensive end.
He had a great start to preseason, but he needs a lot of rest. Not a fan of sitting him, but definitely a fan of capping his minutes at say 28 a game? He's clearly a better shooter when rested. He's also asked to do more with Paul out. SiL
i dont mind him starting if he's the best of mbah and pj but as always he plays way too much. i dunno how he stay shealthy when he's milked for every single iota
Indeed, he's not young anymore and should not play this amount of minutes. Mbah and Tucker also struggled from the field, but were doing fine defensively so give some of those minutes to them. Ariza cannot sustain these type of minutes, when will MDA get that through his thick skull??
i believe the reason he plays so many minutes is because his transition defense is the best. And of course, harden and anderson's are the worst. Therefore, there always needs to be someone on the floor who can hurry back on defense to stop the snowbirding and fast breaks, and he is the fastest in the full-court, if i'm not mistaken. Yes, his offense is effected, but stopping an easy two points is just as good as scoring on the other end.
Ok maybe a reduction in his minutes would help. But something needs to be done because in my opinion his defense isn't good enough anymore to excuse his deficiencies on the offensive end.
Ariza has had awful offense and mediocre defense the past season or two. He gets to play so much because he knows how to play politics with the players and coaches.
People here love Ariza for whatever reason, but the guy is objectively just not a very good basketball player. If we're trading one person on this team in order to get even a semi-decent starter at the forward position, Ariza should be the first one to go (Because Ryno clearly sucks, he's not a valuable trade asset.) I made this point repeatedly back when Melo trade rumors were floating around, and people just didn't listen. The guy is overrated on defense and extremely limited on offense. How many more atrocious games do people need to watch to get this.
I can instantly tell when people don't actually know all that much about basketball when they think Trevor Ariza isn't a good player. He only plays all these minutes because he's so damn likable. Phil Jackson, Kevin McHale, Mike D'Antoni, and a few others guys that played him over the last decade. It wasn't because he was a smart, reliable, athletic ballplayer...they really just liked him.
Ariza keeps his head down and does what he is asked. He is on a value contract and is valued by other teams in the league. Knee jerk reactions is not a good way to run a team. I do wish we could play him less minutes. He got ran in the ground last couple years because there was no one who could do what he can do. Now the team has options and Coach will decide who he needs on the floor to win the most games.
Ariza can still disrupt the opposing team's 1-3 at a high level - which is rare. I would definitely like to see his minutes decrease, particularly in the regular season, but when he's out things tend to breakdown. That's why it seems like he's always on the court. His shooting comes and goes. Both from long distance and finishing at the rim. Always has. I'm fine with it. Unlike Ryan Anderson who can only do 1 thing -- I'm not okay when he's missing or hesitating. A lot of good teams (Memphis, Boston, Spurs last year) have added several long, athletic wings that never stop running and don't command the ball. Those teams are going to be the ones that continue to give Ariza problems, especially since he cant focus on shutting any single 1 of those guys down when they aren't elite scoring options. It'd definitely be nice to add someone younger and more athletic. We seem to be the only team without one of these new-age wings. These long, athletic wings are also the guys giving Ryan Anderson trouble because they have no problem challenging his long 3 with their long wingspan and quick closeouts. Supposedly we tried to land Shumpert, he isn't long, but I do see how he could have helped.
