Houston Rockets: Can Trevor Ariza Improve?
The Houston Rockets had a bit of a rough offseason this year. After losing out on Chris Bosh, the team then lost three solid contributors in Chandler Parsons, Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin. They then made a move on Trevor Ariza to replace Parsons at the small forward position but not much else. The question is: Can Trevor Ariza adequately replace Parsons’ production?
Trevor Ariza had the best season of his career last year with the Washington Wizards. He was second on the Wizards in minutes per game and rebounds per game, and third on the team in points per game. He was also third in Win Shares per 48 minutes and second in total Win Shares.
Clearly, Ariza was doing something right last season and it showed. Trevor Ariza was showing off a new and improved version of himself, the likes of which he hadn’t seen before, with improved decision making. But can Trevor Ariza improve upon his excellent season? The Rockets certainly hope so.
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Ariza’s career has been up and down for the most part. He’s shown some minor improvements here and there, but also displaying some regression during a few of those seasons. It hasn’t helped that he’s suffered more than a few injuries during his career. The only thing Ariza has consistently improved upon lately has been his three-point shot.
Here are his career numbers:
| Season | G | MP | FG% | 3P% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-05 | 80 | 17.3 | .442 | .231 | .695 | 3.0 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 5.9 |
| 2005-06 | 57 | 17.5 | .412 | .200 | .606 | 3.8 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 4.6 |
| 2006-07 | 57 | 22.4 | .539 | .000 | .620 | 4.4 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 2.4 | 8.9 |
| 2007-08 | 35 | 15.6 | .507 | .278 | .653 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 5.5 |
| 2008-09 | 82 | 24.4 | .460 | .319 | .710 | 4.3 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 8.9 |
| 2009-10 | 72 | 36.5 | .394 | .334 | .649 | 5.6 | 3.8 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 14.9 |
| 2010-11 | 75 | 34.7 | .398 | .303 | .701 | 5.4 | 2.2 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 11.0 |
| 2011-12 | 41 | 32.9 | .417 | .333 | .775 | 5.2 | 3.3 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 10.8 |
| 2012-13 | 56 | 26.3 | .417 | .364 | .821 | 4.8 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 9.5 |
| 2013-14 | 77 | 35.4 | .456 | .407 | .772 | 6.2 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 14.4 |
| Career | 632 | 26.9 | .434 | .347 | .696 | 4.6 | 2.0 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 9.7 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/28/2014.
The most noticeable aspect of Ariza’s improvement comes in the form of his field goal percentage. Ariza has had some very inefficient seasons, shooting as low as 39.4 percent in 2009-10. Thankfully, he has raised his game and shot a solid 45.6 percent from the field. His three-point shot has improved every season for the past four seasons, going from a not-so-good 30.3 percent to a very high 40.7 percent. Ariza’s rebounding also saw a pretty big increase last year, as 6.2 rebounds per game is his career high. He’s not much of a passer. He never has been and never will be, so his 2.5 assists per game come as no surprise.
It’s possible that Trevor Ariza has hit his ceiling. We already know that he is a good defensive player and he was a very capable rebounder last year. But just how much can he improve offensively? Most of his offense came at the three-point line and it’s hard to improve even more on that sky high 40.7 percent. Otherwise, Trevor Ariza wasn’t doing much to create his own offense, using the defense’s focus on John Wall and Bradley Beal to his advantage.
For Trevor Ariza to improve he would need to improve in a lot of aspects, while maintaining a sky high three point shooting percentage. For one, Ariza would need to dramatically improve his own shot creation. Trevor Ariza is not a player who can be relied on to create his own chances, so he will be largely dependent on the brilliance of James Harden and Dwight Howard.
It’s unlikely that he will improve upon his very good 2013-14 season. It’s very hard for a player to maintain that high of a shooting percentage from downtown unless his name is Ray Allen or Steve Nash. As it is, Ariza will be hard pressed to produce another season like the one he had last year.
Trevor Ariza brings something the Rockets sorely lacked last season because of his stellar defensive play. However, his offense probably peaked last season. I don’t think we will see any further improvements out of him, and his offense will definitely take a turn for the worst if he can’t keep up the excellent shooting.