I’m Confused…

Morey and Adelman can't be that stupid. They have shown that they are smart. To me, there can only be two possibilities:

1. Some teams are asking for Ariza and they are talking him up. If this is true, he will be traded before long.

2. They are seeing Ariza only in light of his future use, not for this team. Ariza is still a valuable role player with a reasonable contract. They just don't want to ruin this asset.

I want to believe it is #1 although #2 is much more likely. I don't agree that they should treat Ariza like this even if they expect him to be a good role player in the future.

Perhaps it's some combination of #1 and #2, that they see him as a future asset but also see real possibilities right now of packaging him for a true impact player.

The way Adelman is speaking reminds me of a woman who has been a victim of domestic violence. She keeps saying it will end, that things will get better soon. Maybe I just have to be a better woman for him... maybe he will see that he can't shoot beyond four feet and dish the ball instead of jacking up a long 3 with 18 on the shot clock. Maybe if I'm being to hard on him or expecting too much, so I should just back off. Denial is what it sounds like to me. Time to change that outlook on life and demote the scrub before it's more than a black eye or a home loss to the Bulls.

Ariza is help. Hes the mashed potatoes to a steak like kobe(no pun intended) or yao. (actually gasol was the mashed potatotes, ariza is more like the steak seasoning that you don't really notice). once we get that steak be it butler, iguodala (sp?) or bosh he will go back to his lakers role of shooting the occasional wide open three and great defensive play. I love morey and adelman but the last thing i want ariza doing is facilitating the ball. i think letting ariza have some time off is exactly what he needs. Let him see that the rockets can win games without him controlling the game; remind him that we don't him as a steak.

Every "experiment" has to meet the day of truth, meaning the evaluation of its success. With the Lakers last year, Ariza was a 46% shooter with a PER rating of 15.5 which isn't too shabby.

This year in his new, expanded role as a Rocket, he is under 38% as a shooter with a PER rating of 11.9. If anything is going to affect his confidence level, those numbers would be the reason. Having a lot of "tools" means nothing if someone can't figure out how to use them.

Those who tout Ariza's potential as a defender should note that our team defense does not show a positive affect from his presence as a defender either. An occasional steal is not a good trade off for giving up easy shots by gambling for the steal. I like his length and energy, but not the results of his work so far this season.............There's got to be better answer than continuing the status quo.

Morey and Adelman can't be that stupid. They have shown that they are smart. To me, there can only be two possibilities:

1. Some teams are asking for Ariza and they are talking him up. If this is true, he will be traded before long.

2. They are seeing Ariza only in light of his future use, not for this team. Ariza is still a valuable role player with a reasonable contract. They just don't want to ruin this asset.

I want to believe it is #1 although #2 is much more likely. I don't agree that they should treat Ariza like this even if they expect him to be a good role player in the future.

Perhaps it's some combination of #1 and #2, that they see him as a future asset but also see real possibilities right now of packaging him for a true impact player.

The way Adelman is speaking reminds me of a woman who has been a victim of domestic violence. She keeps saying it will end, that things will get better soon. Maybe I just have to be a better woman for him... maybe he will see that he can't shoot beyond four feet and dish the ball instead of jacking up a long 3 with 18 on the shot clock. Maybe if I'm being to hard on him or expecting too much, so I should just back off. Denial is what it sounds like to me. Time to change that outlook on life and demote the scrub before it's more than a black eye or a home loss to the Bulls.

Ariza is help. Hes the mashed potatoes to a steak like kobe(no pun intended) or yao. (actually gasol was the mashed potatotes, ariza is more like the steak seasoning that you don't really notice). once we get that steak be it butler, iguodala (sp?) or bosh he will go back to his lakers role of shooting the occasional wide open three and great defensive play. I love morey and adelman but the last thing i want ariza doing is facilitating the ball. i think letting ariza have some time off is exactly what he needs. Let him see that the rockets can win games without him controlling the game; remind him that we don't him as a steak.

Every "experiment" has to meet the day of truth, meaning the evaluation of its success. With the Lakers last year, Ariza was a 46% shooter with a PER rating of 15.5 which isn't too shabby.

This year in his new, expanded role as a Rocket, he is under 38% as a shooter with a PER rating of 11.9. If anything is going to affect his confidence level, those numbers would be the reason. Having a lot of "tools" means nothing if someone can't figure out how to use them.

Those who tout Ariza's potential as a defender should note that our team defense does not show a positive affect from his presence as a defender either. An occasional steal is not a good trade off for giving up easy shots by gambling for the steal. I like his length and energy, but not the results of his work so far this season.............There's got to be better answer than continuing the status quo.

I am feeling rather confused. In Morey We Trust, right? But it appears as if he and Adelman both have everything wrong on this guy. And yet its not even that they refuse to admit it. It is like they don't recognize they are wrong. Ariza could be an amazing slasher and dunker and defender. But frankly he is not a number one. He is not a good shooter and he is certainly not a facilitiator. And yet Adelman insists on using him as a replacement (and much worse) T-mac.

Is it possible that they are only talking him up and his abilities because they know they have so much respect and trust around the league that people will think if Morey and Adelman think so highly of this dude then they may trade for him? Is it possible he is trade bait at this point?

Yet that previous point brings up an even tougher question in my mind. If Morey and Adelman so clearly DO have so much trust around the league, then maybe we are wrong in questioning them. If Adelman is unquestionably a coach of the year candidate and has been for years, and if Morey is in the same case for GM of the year. If they got us to the second round last year sans Tmac and have turned scraps this year into a team fighting for a playoff spot without a single big contract or high draft pick, perhaps they just see something we don't. Could it be possible? I don't think this is the case, but maybe...

Is Adelman's quote more entertaining that Ariza's ("We kind of kept the ball on one side instead of moving it from side to side and we missed shots, too." ) post-game quote?

maybe he means he can be a facilitator for the opposition. since he has no handles and is constantly fumbling the ball away.