Posts Tagged ‘trevor ariza’
Is it just me or does Ariza not sound happy to be a Rocket in his interview? He even mentions that he had no say in what happened. Kinda a strange comment after he signed a 5 year deal with them.
As much as this hurts, let’s take a look at this signing for the Rockets.
Ariza brings a crafty type of defense to the Rockets, but was he really the player the needed? After Yao going down for the year, and T-Mac with his injuries, they needed a scorer. Just a flat out scorer. Is Ariza that player? NO.
The media has been all over this story saying that Ariza can’t create his own shot. I actually beg to differ. He occasionally can, but with the Lakers, he normally just floated around the exterior or slashed. He didn’t NEED to create his own shot. The only real weaknesses in his game at the moment that hinder him from being an explosive scorer are his handles and slow shot release.
Watch some of the clips from last year. If he wasn’t wide open, he questioned his shot a lot and would end up pump faking and either passing or trying to take it to the rack. He needed a good 5-10 feet of air space to get his shot off. If he can work on his shot a bit more and speed up the release while remaining as accurate as he was in the Playoffs, he shouldn’t have any problem… but that’s a big thing to ask of a guy that just recently became known as a shooter.
Not a bad pickup defensively for the Rockets, but they already have Battier. Overall, a possible failed experiment from a team that seems to be in rebuilding mode after the injuries to their 2 star players. At least now they have an Injury exception that they can use, but who is really left for them to pick up that can give them instant offense?
Trevor Ariza is quickly becoming the player the Lakers hoped he would become when they traded away Brian Cook and Mo Evans for him last year. He’s showing that he’s not just the defensive stopper that they knew he was, but also a deadly threat from the outside.
With Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol garnering constant double teams and occasion triple teams, Ariza can roam the perimeter and setup for wide open triples. The Utah Jazz are learning the hard way that they shouldn’t leave him to double Kobe and Gasol.
After posting a career playoff high 21 in Game 1 on 8 of 10 shooting (including 3 of 4 from behind the arc), Ariza ended Game 2 with 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting, including another 3-3 performance from downtown. He almost posted a double-double with 9 assists as well.
He’s proving to be what the Lakers missed least season in the playoffs, a defensive minded Guard/Forward with apparently deadly accuracy and toughness. A guy that showed off his skills as a defensive player is now shooting at a ridiculous 81% through 2 games in these playoffs. This is a find that even Mitch Kupchak couldn’t have imagined that he found last year. Ariza was supposed to be a salary dump move, but has turned out to be a key part of the rotation.
After jumping from New York to Orlando, and not finding a home in either city, Ariza has found his calling in the City of Angels. Not to mention that Trevor is only 23 and still has a long career ahead of him… hopefully with the Lakers. Ariza will be the guy to pester guys like Lebron and Pierce, depending on who comes out of the East. Ariza will be the X-Factor in these playoffs.
It’s a tough call on this one. If you haven’t seen the foul, it’s right below. It didn’t look like Rudy was above the rim. Actually, it looked more like he was just taking off. Either way, it was a hard foul. A flagrant foul in general is to be assessed when there’s excessive, and unnecessary force. In this situation, Ariza went directly for the ball, but caught Fernandez’s head and arm. It was the shot on the arm that seemed to really cauz Rudy to land the way he did. Yes, there was contact on the head, but it didn’t look like that was what caused the awkward landing.
In my opinion, the foul should have been called and play should have continued. At most, a Flagrant 1 could have been assessed and I would have been OK with that. A Flagrant 2 seems a bit much. It was a hard foul, and unfortunately a player got injured on the play. There are hard fouls across the league on a nightly basis, and players are getting hurt left and right. It’s an unfortunate part of the business.
I’m hoping that the league reviews this ruling carefully. Here’s also to hoping that Fernandez comes back soon, and comes back strong and ready to go. This is a young Portland team that can definitely use him. Most importantly, though, is the Rudy comes back 100% healthy.
Found this on Lakersground.net. Originally from SGV Tribune:
EL SEGUNDO - The Lakers’ UCLA alumni club did its best to make Adam Morrison feel welcome - so to speak.
Morrison arrived at the Lakers’ practice facility Monday, a day after being acquired from Charlotte in a trade, to find a picture taped to his locker.
There was Morrison, sobbing, moments after his Gonzaga Bulldogs had been eliminated from the 2006 NCAA Tournament by Jordan Farmar’s UCLA Bruins.
“I have a suspect,” Morrison said with a smile. “I knew I would get some flak for that, coming to L.A.”
Trevor Ariza is also a UCLA alum, but incriminating photos aside, Morrison couldn’t be happier with the trade, which sent him and guard Shannon Brown to the Lakers in exchange for Vladimir Radmanovic.
Much has changed for Morrison since that tournament game. Most visibly, his once- famous shaggy locks have been shorn to a tight cut, and his facial hair has been trimmed into a thin goatee.
In a basketball sense, Morrison has yet to resemble that dynamic college player, the one talented enough to be the third overall pick of the 2006 NBA draft. After a decent rookie year, Morrison missed all of 2007-08 after ACL surgery. This season, he averaged only 4.5 points in 44 games with the Bobcats.
While Morrison isn’t assured of much playing time with the Lakers, coach Phil Jackson said he is open to seeing what Morrison can bring once he gets acclimated with the triangle offense.
In college, Morrison was a high-scoring forward who drew favorable comparisons to Larry Bird.
“I think the confidence issue is probably more with my knee than my game,” Morrison said. “Half of the battle is just getting my knee to feel right. It feels good right now, so I’m just looking forward to contributing to this great team.”
To the extent that he plays, Brown is expected to contribute more on defense. Jackson said Brown wouldn’t have a problem playing either guard position for the Lakers.
“I’m just going to try to bring a lot of energy at both ends, some athleticism and spark,” Brown said.
I’m glad Morrison is a Laker. The guy got now love from Larry Brown. You have a great scorer, but you give him no playing time, and you expect him to perform. Then when he does get playing time, he’s thrust into the lineup and expected to be the #1 guy on offense. Any kid would have trouble dealing with this. Let’s see what he can do when he’s eased into an offense and actually given a chance. Let’s just hope he can take Luke’s spot.
According to Yahoo Sports, Vladimir Radmanovic was sent packing. He has been traded to Charlotte for Adam Morrison and Shannon Brown. Not a huge move in the immediate future, but it gets Vlade’s terrible contract off the books. Hopefully this can be a career revival for Adam Morrison, who was drafted 3rd overall in 2006. He’s had a pretty slow start to his career, but didn’t really get a whole lot of minutes to prove himself. Hopefully, this is the chance that he needs. Morrison was a straight up scorer in college. Let’s see if he can get back to that level. If not, then it’s no loss to the Lakers, since Morrison’s contract has a team option at the end of this year. This then opens up some money to resign Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom if the Lakers choose to.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)—The Charlotte Bobcats sent struggling forward Adam Morrison and reserve Shannon Brown to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday for forward Vladimir Radmanovic.
The move is the third trade the Bobcats have made this season in a roster shakeup under first-year coach Larry Brown.
Morrison was the third overall pick of the 2006 draft and managing partner Michael Jordan’s first major move since buying into the Bobcats. But Morrison had failed to crack the starting lineup and his minutes had declined under Brown.
Morrison will give the Lakers an outside shooting threat, while the 6-foot-10 Radmanovic gives the Bobcats more depth up front.
After a disappointing weekend, the question came up in a few discussions in my group of friends regarding why the Lakers have lost 2 in a row to teams they could have/should have beaten if they truly were a championship caliber team.
On Friday, the Lakers lost to a young Miami team that is still working to find it’s identity. Then Saturday, on the tail end of a back-to-back, they lost to a strong Orlando team. 2 losses by a combined 5 points. All throughout history, championship teams found a way to win these close games.
Many basketball fans will put a lot of the blame on Andrew Bynum and his previously injured knee. Others will put the blame on a soft as toilet paper defense. Many will put the blame on Kobe for one reason or another.
After watching these recent losses, one thing stuck out in my mind. Phil Jackson is getting out coached by the youngsters. One Friday, Spoelstra managed a young team to victory by firing up his team and making the right moves at the right time. Then came Van Gundy and the Magic. Jackson, on the other hand, stood by and watched teacher’s pet Luke Walton get manhandled while putting up 4pts on 2-6 shooting, 6 rebounds, and 1 assist in 25 minutes in those 2 games. Yet Jackson continues to go with him in the starting lineup, even though Odom has been outplaying him this year… and will continue to do so for the rest of his career.
Then you have Bynum. I’m not sure if Jackson is trying to teach Bynum a lesson in humility or if he’s just being stubborn, but Drew needs to be in at the end of games. Teams are marching to the basket like pre-game layup lines when Drew isn’t there to alter their shots. Yes, Bynum is still getting his timing back, but just simply having a 2nd 7 footer in the paint is scary. I don’t care who you are. You never want to take it in against 2 towering players, especially when one of them (or both) can send your shot into the 3rd row.
Phil Jackson has always been stubborn with his player rotations and timeouts blah blah blah. It used to work. It doesn’t anymore. It’s about time something changes. Phil had started Vlad Radmanovic for the majority of this season, but suddenly decided to switch it up and start Luke. Now the premiere outside threat for the Lakers is barely getting any minutes. The guy is shooting 46% from beyond the arc and you bench him? Yeah some people might say that he’s not playing solid defense. Is ANYONE on the Lakers really playing defense? If that’s the case, pretty much all the players need to ride the bench for a while, with the exception of Trevor Ariza. Rad can at least stretch out the defense and force other teams to stay honest and not double off of him. That’s exactly what made Sasha Vujacic so valuable last year. Great job benching him, Phil. Notice the slip since you started playing Walton?
The offense will continue to be there, but Jackson needs to stop talking about his team playing defense, and get them to actually do it. He left Kurt Rambis in charge of the defense, and apparently it’s not working right now. It’s time for the Zen Master to get off that huge chair of his and actually preach defense. You have an athletic and talented team. Maybe you should use their skills rather than force them into your style. The Lakers were clicking on all cylinders at the beginning of the year when Jackson allowed the bench to run up and down the court and tire out the opponent. Now they’ve struggled since Jackson put the reins on Farmar. Ariza isn’t getting as many steals and breakaway dunks because of this either. And the rest of the bench is simply stagnant as the ball keeps getting passed around the perimeter until there are 3 seconds left on the 24 and someone is force to throw up some garbage.
Woo hoo great coaching. I’m so glad the Lakers have the greatest coach of all time on the bench. Needless to say, something has to change. And that change is Phil’s coaching philosophy. The times have changed, Phil. Now it’s your turn to adjust to the new NBA.
We already know that Shaq is on the decline, but he’s still a dominant force. Steve Nash is still a premier PG that always puts up solid numbers against the Lakers. The Lakers have only lost one game during this young season. Amare Stoudemire is putting up All-Star numbers once again, and at his natural PF position. Andrew Bynum is coming back from a major injury and is beginning to get adjusted, proven by his 18 pt, 9 rebound, 3 block game on Tuesday. Trevor Ariza, Jordan Farmar, and Lamar Odom are fueling a high powered bench mob for the Lakers. And then there’s just Kobe and Gasol. Bad blood, great game. If those things don’t fire you up for this game, maybe this will:
The Lakers are apparently trying to catch up with the Tennessee Titans, and they’re getting pretty damn close to doing it. They’ve had a few close ones in there, but for the most part, the Lake Show has just dismantled any one that has crossed their path. With Kobe only scoring more than 30 points one time so far this year, the Lakers still managed to enter last night’s game with 20 point average margin of victory… uhhh are you kidding me? When the hell was the last time that has happened? (It’s early, and I’m not gonna bother with the research)
Let’s take a quick look at their games so far this year.
Season opener: Stomped Portland (a supposed threat this year) by 20 points, 96-76. Bynum didn’t need to play a whole lot of minutes this game since Oden got taken out with and injury.
Clippers Round 1: 117-79. Nope that’s not a typo, it actually WAS a 38 point win. It could have been a larger margin, but I guess the Lakers didn’t want to run up the score on the cross-towners.
Denver: 104-97 Close game that shouldn’t have been. Melo was having and off night, and so was Iverson. They let… is this right? They let ANTHONY CARTER go off for 20 points and K-Mart go for 18? Wow. Finally a defensive letdown. Eh, still held them to under 100 pts.
Clips Round 2: 106-88 Another stomping of the Clips. Why is there even a second team in LA? They’re the red-headed step-children of the SoCal area. Might as well send them up to Seattle. They’re used to having a losing team up there. LA? Not so much.
Houston: 111-82 Walked all over Houston. T-Mac stunk up the building. Yao was held in check by Bynum. Artest? Uhhh dude, you have 4 other guys on the floor with you. Stop trying to go one-on-one all the time. As much as I love his game and intensity, he’s apparently running the Black Hole offense. Houston, we have a problem… fuck that was cheesy.
Dallas: 106-99 Uhh thanks, Trevor. Without you the Lakers would have lost this one for sure. This game, although the Lakers were down most of the game, showed how powerful this team really is. They locked down and Ariza came through. Lakers just had too many weapons for Dallas to deal with.
NOLA: 93-86 Chris Paul had a mediocre game for the most part, but then lit up Fisher and Farmar in the 4th. Good thing the Lakers built a 20 point cushion.
Is it just me, or have the Lakers really not allowed ANYONE to reach the triple digit mark this year? That old saying about defense winning games is definitely true here. The Lakers are holding teams to and average of 86.7 while scoring 104.7. Simply disgusting. Phil Jackson has transformed this team into a defensive powerhouse. Yeah, they can still score, but it’s all about D this year. The Lakers are allowing the least point per game? Can this really be happening?
All I have to say is, THANK YOU DREW AND TREVOR. Finally some guys that can change the game with defense. Offense comes and goes, but the defense needs to be there. Now let’s just see how long they can keep it up.
For any of you who aren’t familiar with JD2K over at lakersground.net, you have to have to have to start checking out his videos. He has ridiculous HD highlights from each game all year long. I’m not sure how he does it so quickly, but it seems like he has his videos posted before the game is even over. OK not really, but they’re normally up within hours of the game being over.
Check out this msot recent one from last night’s game against Dallas. Ariza is a beast. That rebound and dunk, then the block on Stack? WOW. We got rid of Brian Cook and got THAT? Thanks, Kupchak. You’re officially my hero.
Fuck yeah!!! Basketball season is officially up and running, at least for me. OK, it’s only preseason and the games don’t really mean much. But other than the Olympics, I haven’t gotten my fix of any basketball recently. So what if the Lakers lost last night. I still got to see big Andrew Bynum running up and down the court again. I’m on the West coast, so that was the only preseason game I got to watch last night.
My only problem with preseason is that you only get to see your starters for a few minutes. Surprisingly enough, the Lakers played the starters a bit longer than expected. Other than Gasol, who left early in the game because of a cut on his lip, the starters played most of the 1st quarter and part of the 3rd. The backups didn’t look too bad either.
Here’s my take of what I saw last night from some key bench players:
Ariza: Technically not a bench player last night since he got the start, but his position as a starter or bench player is still up in the air. He got the same amount of minutes that he should get during the regular season, and looked pretty sharp out there, especially for being out with the foot surgery last year. 10 points on 4-6 shooting, 5 rebounds, and a block. Not too shabby for a guy that we brought in mainly for his defense and slashing ability. Speaking of slashing, DAMN I wanted to see him go up for the facial off of a Kobe dish, but instead he got hacked coming down the lane. Expect more of this slashing and cutting play from Ariza. Definitely a starter in my opinion. Even if he doesn’t score, his defensive presence can help to slow down the star player on the other team.
Bynum: Very impressive start for a guy that has been out for so long. I was definitely excited to see this guy become a beast this year after seeing the media day pictures and how big he got. A few great looking jumpers to kick off his preseason, then a monster dunk off a pass from Fisher. This wasn’t jsut any pass though. Fish tries to take his man off the dribble, slips from being too old, dishes a no look pass over his shoulder to Bynum while still sitting on his ass. Solid play all around the big man, some careless turnovers from not protecting the ball. It’ll come back to him soon, just give the kid some time to get back up to speed.
Farmar: This guy is quickly becoming a leader when he’s out on the floor. Fearless play driving and dishing. Please, Phil, start this kid over Fisher. That move brings veteran leadership to the bench, while making the starting lineup a beastly machine. Farmar seems like he can get to the basket anytime wants, just sometimes he gets a bit over his head. At the most, this should be his last year of starting the game on the bench.
Mihm: What a waste of space. People have been clamoring for him to come back healthy and be this mythically great player that he used to be. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This Freddie Prince Jr. looking goober is terrible. I’d rather see Mbenga out there goaltending every block. Mihm was never a good player, and he never will be. What the fuck kind of center only gets 0 rebounds in 14 minutes of play? Don’t blame it on the fact that he was playing PF for a while, or that he’s been out of the game for a few years. Come on dude, even Fisher got a rebound. Hell CJ Giles got 2! Blame it on Mihm being slow, unathletic, and not moving his feet. BOOOO THIS MAN!!!
Overall, just a great site to see the Lake show back on the court. IT’S GAME TIME Y’ALL!!!
So the other day, Phil Jackson had a half hour sit-down with the media. One point he brought up was that he is thinking of starting Trevor Ariza over Odom, and bringing Odom off the bench as a 6th man. Needless to say that Odom is NOT happy about coming off the bench. Everywhere he’s gone, Odom has always been a starter. He’s one of the few guys in the league that is a triple double threat on any given night.
Los Angeles Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said recently that he is considering making Lamar Odom the team’s sixth man this season. The Lakers convened this afternoon for a media session in El Segundo before the start of training camp Tuesday and Odom voiced his disdain for Jackson’s idea.
“He must have woke up and bumped his head. He probably hit his head on something — boom,” Odom said about Jackson. “To start off like that, you’ve got to be out of your . . . mind.”
Odom, from his grade school days in New York City to high school to college and during his nine years in the NBA, always has been a starter.
Odom constantly gets knocked for not living up to his potential, but really, the dude is a monster. What the hell else do you want out of him? Now Jackson wants him coming off the bench to lead the second unit, most likely as a PF where he can rebound and give the Lakers some size. Yes, size. Powell is there, but he’ll only get about 5 minutes a game until he learns the triangle. Until then, Odom is the biggest body that can play PF.
I don’t blame Odom for being pissed, but I don’t blame Jackson for wanting to make the switch. We’ve talked aboout Odom, now let’s look at Ariza. We’ve got a legit SF here, needs to work on his shot, but great altheticism, solid D. Now all he needs is a decent jumper, nothing amazing, just something that will prevent defenses from sagging away from him (like they do off of Luke Walton).
All in all, I’m with Phil Jackson on this one. Even with the bench the Lakers had last year, the PF position was a bit weak with Radmanovic having to play there, or a tired Odom, since Turiaf had to play Center once Bynum went down with the injury. This stengthens the Bench Mob, and the starting 5 now has a defensive minded 3 that can guard several positions. This allows Kobe to roam a bit more and play that Free Safety defense that so many people hate, even though it’s effective.
So how will the lineup function with Ariza as a starter? We’re less than a month away from seeing it in action hopefully.
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Just some thoughts on happenings around the league, responses to the media and other bloggers, and just a good place for you to spend time instead of actually working.
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