can we stop giving Ariza the credit for the defense now ??

Uh, Trevor was a lockdown defender capable of guarding 3 positions.

We played great team D tonight and our wings played well but he is missed.

 

No. Ariza is a decent, but declining defensive player, very smart, studies the game and the scouting reports, and has a positive team impact on defense.

Luckily Tucker has become our alpha dog and Clark is a revelation. Ennis is raw but mold-able.

I don't get this polarized world where every scrub has to be a secret superstar and every role player has to be reviled garbage.

 

We allow a whooping 95 ppg over the past 7 games. We can't do it without you Ariza.

 

Alright guys, who cares what the media says. The fact that we can still play high level defense is no reason to diminish what he was for our team. Why cant we just respect our former players.

 

Clark is not a revelation. I said that guy is going to be good from preseason.

 

Whew. I stand corrected.

 

Ariza gets paid 15 mill to do the same thing he did here.

Get scored on by every player he guards. Attempt 12 threes a night.

This guy is trash and I’m so glad he’s not here.

 

Tonight Paul was a defensive force .

Harden has quietly become an above average defensive player in ALL facets . He is less quietly a VERY good post defender .

James has really stepped it up defensively during this recent stretch

 

You're absolutely right. It WASN'T Ariza that was the key to our defense last year.

It was this guy.

 

Ariza would still be great for this team still. His decline in lateral quickness is pretty apparent even last season where quicker guards just blow right past him.

However, his hustle and defensive IQ was still there, so he never makes mistakes on switches and help defense. He was also great at guard bigger wings like Durant.

His impact overall was overblown imo, he didn't make the system, Bzdelik did. Also I thought Luc played better defense in general than Ariza anyway all of last year

 

Bzdelik is a good coach, but give D'Antoni and the current staff credit. They turned this defense around with out coach B. After that meeting where he decided not to eliminate the switching and eventually just benched Melo the defense has been good and getting better.

 

Um, you are very likely the only person who has every used the phrase "lockdown defender" in a sentence containing Trevor Ariza's name.

Don't get me wrong, he's a quality defender. Lockdown? Nah.

 

He'd still be great to have at a low price. Hopefully he gets bought out and can be someone that comes off the bench. It'd be better than giving Gerald Green minutes.

Gerald Green is just our mascot. We need him for the Htown pride.

 

I love Trevor Ariza. He was often underappreciated on this board. He did lots of things that helped us win but didn't show up in stats. There's a reason D'Antoni played him huge minutes as often as possible.

But the idea that losing him (and Luc, whom I also love) is what ruined our defense this season is a lazy media spin. Two guys leave, the talking heads don't know jack about Ennis or Gary Clark, they know Melo doesn't like defense, and that's enough to create an initial story, which then spreads because each guy wearing makeup has heard it from another guy wearing makeup.

Our defense declined because we were integrating new players in a complex switching defense, but mostly because we lost our focus. Anyone watching the games closely could see that even some of our ostensibly best defenders weren't locked in or were making mistakes.

Now we're focusing. I doubt we'll keep it up consistently for the rest of the regular season. But we can do it in the playoffs.

 

This is some of the best defense I've seen from Harden as a Rocket and he just looks really strong out there on that end. It's almost as if he worked on that aspect of his game this off-season. Hope he keeps it up.

With that said, its been what, an eight of the season? I really like what I'm seeing from Enis and our rookies, but I'd rather wait until the WCF or something before I start to proclaim that they were suitable replacements to the players, including Ariza, we had last year.

As it stands, this makes me cautiously optimistic for the Rockets this season, which is more than I expected with the way things were a couple of weeks ago.

 

U forgot about Lucamamutee.. hold on Richard Luamute.. camute or however every analyst butches his name when they say his name.

Luc and Ariza were good fit here for defense specially Luc before getting hurt he was very good with us. I wish we had at least kept Luc but we were trying to save it for Melo which now we know it didn’t work out.

We do need like 2 or 1 more 3&and guy and one backup center. But we will be fine now that MCW has been bench and everyone seems to be on the same page in defense and offense.
We might get Trevor back though I doubt we can get Luc back. So we need one more guy like them.

 

Media likes to think we lost big by losing Ariza, but they don't mention much that CP3 is on the All-Defensive Team year-after year. Ariza is a good defender because of his body length similar to Pippen. If he is totally committed to defense, he would of been on the book like CP3 on being All-Defensive Team year-after year. Good defender he is, but he isn't the whole team like the media wants us to believe when we lost him and Moute. 3-11 is what is representing Ariza. And congrats to the Suns for beating the Spurs without Freeza.

 

For sure . But what excites me now is the potential for improvement .

Clark and hartenstein are ROOKIES . We should expect ups and downs from them ... but if I had to bet , they will be better at the end of the season than they are now .

Ennis , I'm fairly sold on . He was recommended by PJ, that alone lets me know he's a ****ing dog .

We've got 8 ... and the rookies won't always play as well as they did tonight . They will have their fair share of dumb mistakes and foul trouble ... BUT , harden and Clint were fairly subdued tonight offensively . They will be better too.

I'm just excited about the team now . We've got to keep this chemistry going , and eventually find some rest for James and Chris and frankly all the guys as we move towards the playoffs .... but that's a long ways away .

Just keep winning and things will fall into place .

Edit ...

The pieces might already be on our team . If we keep rolling we have the luxury of time . Brandon knight could be the perfect 4th guard to help James Chris and Eric rest . I feel confident giving minutes to Gerald green if PJ , Ennis , or Clark need a night off as well .