Author Topic: Hornets, Nets, Rockets, and Pacers working on deal  (Read 10621 times)

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Re: Hornets, Nets, Rockets, and Pacers working on deal
« Reply #60 on: August 12, 2010, 07:26:57 AM »

Offline the_Bird

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No, they did not. They gave Ariza that money to play his game.

The only reason Ariza was given the ball that much last season was because of the injuries and losses of Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest. Those losses gave them an opportunity to try out players in different roles and see how they would respond. Ariza was given a shot and he couldn't handle it.

That is all that happened.

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Far too much is being made about Ariza's high number of shot attempts and low percentages last season ...

Once Kevin Martin arrived at midseason, Ariza's role began to shrink offensively back to the role they wanted him to take and his efficiency jumped right back up.  He was allowed to play off of his teammates (Martin, Scola, Brooks and Lowry) rather than being asked to create his own shot. He posted a TS% of 55.5% after the All-Star break compared to the 48% he was hitting prior to that.

This was the Ariza that we saw in LA and the Ariza we were going to see next season.

Meh, Yao was hurt in the playoffs the year before - pretty sure Houston knew he was going to be out for a while when they signed Ariza.  I can't remember if Ariza signed in Houston first, or Artest signed in LA, but in any case when they signed Ariza they knew Artest wasn't coming back.  McGrady only played in 35 games that year; were they really counting on him to be their scorer?

When Houston signed Ariza, they knew their primary scorers were gone or hurting.  Sure, Ariza was able to settle into a better role when Kevin Martin was added - of course.  Had Ariza been able to become a #1 or #2 scorer for them, they might never have made that trade.

I'm sticking with it, when they signed Ariza it was with the expectation that he would take a much bigger role in the offense than he had in LA  or in New York or in Orlando.  
« Last Edit: August 12, 2010, 07:43:22 AM by the_Bird »