You're completely missing the point. Teammates love Ariza. He's big with Harden and Paul, and yes Melo wanted him here too. SIL
Then how can you explain his vast playing time despite having horrific offense, mediocre defense and better subs like Tucker and Luc who can take his place ??!!
i've been complaining about ariza's streaky shot, inability to dribble, and being one of the worst transition players... for years now. but tucker is also 2-12 from the field in his last 2 games :X
Ariza has been consistently awful offensively for years as you mentioned thereupon its time to cut his playing time and take risks with others such as Luc and even Troy Williams. If something is broken, shouldn't the coach try something new? I just don't get the unconditional love of coaches for Ariza other than him being a great politician with the coaches and stars at this point.
Ariza has choked every playoffs game he played with the rockets. We cannot win with this dude starting period.
I love ariza the teammate and he gets his hands on a lot of passes, but I've been calling for a new starting SF for two seasons now. Can't dribble, can't create his own shot, shoots well once every six games and the heavy minutes have taken a toll on his lateral speed. Definitely of importance to us still and he is capable of being very good on defense still when fresh, but his offensive game is just pure trash. I'm just calling it how I see it. Every time he's had a great game (few and far between) the team looks completely different and I've pointed out how incredible it would be if we got any sort of consistent production from the SF spot. He's had two seasons in 10+ of shooting above average from three, not exactly ideal in what we are trying to do. How can you be 6'10" and be as poor of a finisher as Ariza? I honestly think he'd be far more effective off the bench for 20 minutes a night and as a small ball 4.
Only positive thing Luc/Tucker bring over Ariza is muscle. Both are worse shooters then Ariza, all 3 of them are bad at puting the ball on the floor, all 3 are good perimeter defenders. I agree his minutes should be under 30 by now, but starting PJ or Luc over Ariza is a lateral move at best.
I’m definitely in the boat of him playing less. It’ll be another year of him burning out by the all star break at this rate. If he and Nene are to miss extended time, Qi seem s like the right guy to step up. Small ball 5? Qi. Not Anderson. Paul, aanderson, Ariza, Nene....who else has nagging pains? Old man squad lol
I said this last season but the Rockets dint have enough good shooters to chuck the amount if threes they do.
I brought this issue up after the second game already. He is 32 years old already and should not be logging in as many minutes. He is here for defense and getting people on the same page with his veteran leadership. Let Tucker and Luc play more minutes.
I love Ariza but I feel like he’s declined as a player. He has no dribbling capabilities for the most part Watching him get a layup/drive it in is like holding your breathe because he’s not that athletic of a finisher but can dunk it in the open. He’s become a known bricker for days in a row but occasionally will come up clutch or have a big game Other that he brings very solid defense and seems to fit well with the team chemistry wise. He also appears to get decently open.
Just for the record I wanted him to come off the bench and play less minutes. Didn't want him hurt and out of the line-up completely.
He has led the league in corner three pointers the last two seasons, and he never misses a game. If upgrading the SF was so easy, everyone would be doing it.
This thread gets made every year He's one of the best 3 and D guys in the league, and extremely valuable at the wing
it's too late now. you started this thread and look what happened. this is on you. i hope you're happy.
We are not as good as Morey on analytical stats but we can all see that whenever our small forward scores we win! Our small forward get so much space out of offense, either open three or space to drive in. However all of us can tell Ariza just cant deliver on the offensive end. We know he is the buddy of Harden but we need someone who can score on the SF position. Even a rookie like Markkanen can help us more to win games!
