•The first thing that jumps out at me in viewing the box score is that despite scoring a career high 27 points, Carl Landry had the lowest +/- on the team at -17. Conversely, Chuck Hayes had the second highest at +4. I found this to be pretty amusing.
•With 11.6 seconds left in the 4th, Bill Worrell said, regarding Trevor Ariza, “He’s trying to assume the #1 scoring load on this team.” – No. He’s not. That’s not why he’s here. Please, stop perpetuating this myth. Trevor Ariza was not brought here to assume any type of disproportionately significant allotment of the responsibilities.
•I’m starting to grow extremely frustrated with the leash afforded to Ariza. Let me clarify. I said earlier that I had no qualms with player development and experimentation. My problem here is that this is basically futile. He had two reckless drives late in the 4th that just left you shaking your head. The distinction between Ariza and a player with growth potential is that the latter will make mistakes that can be rectified with experience (ie: charging into the defender, getting trapped on the pick and roll etc.) Ariza’s mistakes come in the form of a simple lack of skill – he has sloppy handles and absolutely horrendous body control and footwork. These aren’t aspects of one’s game that will improve through in-game conditioning. As I said, in principle, I don’t mind the experimentation, but it is incredibly difficult to watch when the possibility for return is so little.
