Comments on: More thoughts on the Houston Rockets’ trade of Trevor Ariza, acquisition of Courtney Lee

By: kevman86

kevman86 — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 06:07:29 +0000

replacing one injury prone center with another injury prone center… sounds like more of the same. if yao goes down again i say stick with miller/hill and scout the draft for a good center to develop. morey and his scouting staff are pretty darn good at recognizing potential and aldeman is pretty darn good at maximizing it.

By: Robert Mediado

Robert Mediado — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:58:17 +0000

I think the trade (Lee-Ariza) was just a beginning of change. A lot of teams are building, it is necessary for the Rockets to follow the trend. I would love to see the team get another big man in rotation. I also want to see Chris Paul and Okafor in the lineup (in exchange for Battier and Lowry and draft picks). It is interesting to see Paul and Brooks ran the fastbreak… With the two, I'm sure the Rockets will go and beat the best teams in the entire NBA.

By: JCDeucer

JCDeucer — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 07:59:59 +0000

On your last sentence: Lebron James is terrible. Okay, not terrible, but has he ever played well against the Rockets? I don't know how Rockets fans can like his game when he has something like a 3-13 record against Houston in his career. He consistently gets contained by our defense, although last year was a little worst for us. Perhaps you could use one of these slow days and go over Lebron vs Houston cause I've always wanted to see the proof that Lebron is really bad against us but can't seem to find the info myself. Does anyone here actually like Lebron? Has he done anything worthwhile ever? People say he's clutch (the 3 point shot against Orlando in Game 2 being the notable example, but they forget to mention he already lost home court advantage in Game 1 and Game Cleveland was up 20 or so points in the 4th quarter before letting that lead slip at the end, with him in the game the entire time). Just saying.

By: Rookie Contract

Rookie Contract — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 01:30:41 +0000

I like the deal, 82games.com (http://www.82games.com/0910/0910HOU2.HTM) has a nice breakdown called “5 man units” which details the performance of the top 20 most used five-man units, with percentage of total team minutes played, points scored and allowed, plus/minus and W-L stats, etc. The picture painted shows that the best or most productive unit is Brooks, Martin, Battier, Scola, Hayes (score of 88). By way of comparison, the unit with Brooks, Martin, Ariza, Scola, Hayes posts a score of 31.2, however this unit was second in terms of minutes with the unit of Brooks, Ariza, Battier, Scola, Hayes logging the most minutes (score of 39.6).
I know there has been much discussion of Ariza's improvement subsequent to the arrival of Martin i.e. allowing Ariza to play his more natural position, however, from a team perspective, the numbers don't bear this out. In fact, of the six units which played together over 100 mins (Ariza is in three) the units of which Ariza is apart (including the majority of minutes with Martin) are the worst performing units. The data is astounding. It also proves out Morey's decision, i.e. the best unit contained Battier at the three.
Lastly – yes I like parentheses

By: Bigballa

Bigballa — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:36:14 +0000

I totally agree like 3 years ago he averaged 19.5ppg

By: DaDakota

DaDakota — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 19:44:19 +0000

Very nice commentary, and I think you are spot on about Ariza and him just not fitting in on this Rocket's team.

There are several vids where his body language on the floor is noticably negative, and one can't help but think the other players on the team noticed it as well. I think this is one of those rare trades where everyone benefits.

DD

By: Cricketrules509

Cricketrules509 — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 14:30:57 +0000

Am I the only one who doesn't consider signing Ariza a mistake? Ariza would be solid for all of his years. This is going to be his prime. He seeemed to be a solid spot up shooter which was exactly what we needed this year. Also, defensively with Yao, he could have been great.

I'm still happy about the Lee trade. 6 million dollar trade exception could be useful.

By: Cricketrules509

Cricketrules509 — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 09:30:57 +0000

I'm still happy about the Lee trade. 6 million dollar trade exception could be useful.

By: Mistatexas

Mistatexas — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 05:30:10 +0000

how does everybody feel bout giving eddy curry a shot. see what he has…..

By: Stephen

Stephen — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:50:15 +0000

Rahat,
Re the TPE,don't forget it's good for 1 yr. In other words it can come in very handy during the Draft and can be used to sign player in FA to more than a MLE type deal.(Assuming that there's no lock-out and the new CBA has roughly comparable features.)
While I agree it's unlikely the TPE will be used this season,I can easily see it being used next-esp during draft to move up.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:35:45 +0000

Yeah i heard that Yao could possibly retire if his foot doesn't heal well. I like the addition Brad Miller but he's due to retire soon any idea on any centers out there that would be available or even worth our time. It seem likeall there centers are taken and there are very few of them out there. I know he's broke down so far but how do you feel about getting Greg Oden. Nobody else wants him.

By: Shemecamoore

Shemecamoore — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:24:14 +0000

Any comments on how you think the Rockets are going to be this year. What are the Rockets doing or who do they have in mind to replace Yao.

By: RFWC

RFWC — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:23:47 +0000

Replying to Jodorowsky:
That's a good point. When a roster decision does not work out as well as planned/hoped the thing about sports is that most fans who pay any attention will KNOW. Media outlets will make occasional shout, fans will have big debates on blogs like the one here on Ariza. But the bottomline is that most GM's will make the move after it's WAY OBVIOUS that this player should have been moved. Agree with giving Morey credit for moving a chip before he becomes a chip on Morey's shoulders, recognizing it as a mistake, and make the best of the situation.

Brooks may not be the prototypic player that Rockets are looking for, but if he can't play with Yao and can't get the ball to Yao in a meaningful way, I would look for him to be moved too, probably in the preseason.

By: Jodorowsky

Jodorowsky — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 22:35:02 +0000

I swear whenever I type a comment into a board its always right as a new article is posted so I apologize for repeating it here again, but… One of the things I love about Morey and maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like, compared to pretty much every other person in sports, he has no problem admitting to himself that he's made a mistake and then going about correcting it as quickly as possible. Unlike someone like Dolan who is just so hard headed that he'll keep trying to bring back someone like Isiah Thomas, almost trying to prove to everyone else that they're the ones who are wrong and then damaging the team in the process.