Reasons to like the Courtney Lee trade
by grungedave on Aug 13, 2010 9:21 AM CDT
in Random Commentary
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PrintOkay, I've had two days now to process the Trevor Ariza for Courtney Lee trade (with three other teams I do not care about receiving players I do not care about). Now, my first reaction was admittedly "WTF is Daryl Morey doing?!?" because it did look like a pure salary dump. And I took pride in believing that the Rockets never have to resort to such tactics. Then again, it's a business... it's always about the money in the end.
/cue lame Puff Daddy "All about the Benjamins" video/
But then I realized there are a whole host of reasons why we should embrace this trade. Namely:
- We never again have to watch Trevor Ariza shoot free throws
- We never again have to watch Trevor Ariza try to dribble a basketball (painful)
- Lee (UofTOrange) now gets to buy a Rockets jersey with his name on the back
- At least we did not trade for Rafer
- Or anyone from the Utah Jazz
- We can now make fun of a Rockets player for having a girl's name
- You can never have too many players who went to college in Kentucky
- If New Jersey is giving up on a guy, he *has* to be good, right?
- Seriously, we never again have to watch Trevor Ariza shoot free throws
- No one will ever try to compare Ariza to Robert Horry ever again. At least they better not.
- Has anyone ever known anyone named "Trevor" who is not a total dick? (just kidding for any readers out there named "Trevor" - though you're all on notice)
- The last thing we would want is for Daryl Morey to have an unrequited crush on Mr. Lee since he's apparently been stalking him for the last 2-3 years.
- Oh, yeah....... in Daryl Morey we trust. Always.
But really... no more watching Ariza try to shoot. Matt Bullard was damn near homicidal by the end of the year watching a guy who cannot shoot try to be a volume shooter. We avoided a catastrophe quite likely.
So I say... welcome aboard, Courtney Lee!
Though next time you have a chance to kill the Lakers at the buzzer in an NBA Finals game -- don't miss!
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Forgot One Bullet
Dont have to watch Ariza dribble the shot clock down, then jack up a shot.
i dont know how many times I yelled at the TV and at some games “Shoot the fucken ball!!!”
Gone
As one who really liked the Ariza signing,I still can’t get over how poorly he played as a Rocket. He did none of the things off the ball he did in LA that made him so valued. Oh well,mistake made,corrected,team moves on.
Have to love Lee’s confidence. In the video w/him and then Martin,notice how Lee several times mentions Martin moving to SF. Then when Martin starts talking about how as starter it’s great to have capable back-ups,Lee never nods or gives any sign that he thinks HE is the back-up. Maybe it’s just me,but Lee gives off an “I’m coming to Hou to be the starting SG and I’m not conceding s***” vibe.
Looks like we have 3 great camp battles brewing at PG,SG and back-up PF. While incumbents at PG,SG have big edge the challengers don’t look to be backing down.
Good laughs, Dave
Seriously, Daryl did what good GM’s do. He realized he made a mistake and moved the contract before it became an albatross and untradeable.
you had me at "free throw"
REALLY!!!! 64.9% shooting from the line!!! COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
don't bully me, i am from the D(etroit)!!!
you didn't talk about the trade flexibility this gives us
I am a big Ariza fan, despite the free throw problem, and think his D and range of skills besides shooting ft’s made him valuable. To me the biggest gain in this deal is that Lee doesn’t seem that much worse than Ariza AND it gives us more trade possibilities going forward.
That being said I still think we will miss his D at some point if Ray Allen or Pierce, Kobe or Wade etc…get hot in a game and Shane is run to death trying to guard all of them every night. Maybe Lee can do it…but if he can’t Ariza’s missed free throws may seem like a small price to pay for good D
hmmmm
I wasn’t trying to make this a big analysis of Lee v. Ariza, but I do think you drastically underrate Lee’s ability to play perimeter defense.
I have no rating for it whatsoever...
I just dont remember it being noticable during the finals and I have never heard him talked about for his defense like Ariza is/was.
I am not saying Lee isn’t a good defender, I just don’t know yet. I am willing to accept that he is, I just want proof more than clips of his playing on youtube etc… we shall see…but the trade still gives us great trade flexibility for future deals which could be very useful
to tell you the truth
I remember Ariza getting tons of steals during conference final(nuggets dont know how to inbound) but outside of that, nothing incredibly shiny(but then again, I was really disgusted by magic’s perimeter offense which consist of jacking up 3s)
Still not sure why some are upset about this
Lee is at least as good of a player as Ariza, and maybe better.
Lee fits the team’s needs better; now we have two shooting guards and two small forwards, instead of three small forwards and a shooting guard. This means more playing time for Battier and Budinger, who are, by the way, also both better than Ariza.
Lee is cheaper than Ariza. A lot cheaper, when you factor in the additional luxury tax cost.
Now Morey has a nice $6M trade exception to play with. Giving Morey more trade toys is always a good idea.
agreed all the way around except for the fact that Battier and Lee are better than Ariza
in some areas yes, but Ariza is a younger defender than Battier and D is my only question mark. I don’t think Lee’s presence for offense outweighs Ariza’s presence on D. I just dont think we need offense when Brooks, Martin, Scola, Yao, Bud all give us good offense. That is all.
I am not trying to dwell on this or beat the already dead and decaying horse, that is just my only concern.
I am in the same boat as you
I am not arguing against the merits of this trade. It’s just that last season our D was attrocious and now we give up an excellent defender. I can only hope the scouting reports that tells that Lee is a good defender are right. As John said, with Yao, Martin, Scola, Brooks and Lowry – Ariza wouldn’t need to attack as much and shoot free throws as much so who cares if he sucks.
Please Release Feliz!
by RocketsAstros on Aug 13, 2010 2:03 PM CDT up reply actions
Battier's physical skills are declining
That much is true. But his superior decisionmaking still makes up for, in my opinion.
Tell Tyreke Evans Battier's skills are declining.
But yeah, he’s aging.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
by Xiane on Aug 14, 2010 12:19 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
+1
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
by ressaliance_00 on Aug 14, 2010 6:51 PM CDT up reply actions
Stop comparing Lee to Ariza
Lee is going to back up Kevin Martin at SG. Are we really so concerned with comparing Lee, a guy who will see back-up type minutes, with Ariza, who started most games last year? This deal was obviously not exclusively about Lee’s talent against Ariza’s.
Both Budinger and Battier are better shooters than Ariza. (Budinger shot better from every distance than Ariza and scored more points per minute while grabbing about the same number of rebounds per minute). With our gigantic man back in the paint next year this move seems to have been about surrounding our “stars” with better shooting and hoping that Yao will prevent some of the driving to the basket that Ariza was preventing last year. I say compare Budinger/Battier to Ariza and let Lee worry about beating out Jermaine Taylor for the right to backup Martin.
dude my initial was exactly yours
and boy was i HOT!! but after doing research and sleeping on it I realized Lee 10X’s a better fit here.. Trevor did settle down a little once Kevin arrived but his attitude/body language was horrible, just ask demarr derozan.. Lee is light years ahead of Ariza on offense and is about the same defensively, with the exception of the length and height, this Lee trade is feeling better and better by the day, not to mention the invaluable trade exception and 10 mil saved, this is a super sweet trade that will bring us a superstar ;)
Rockets-Texans-Dynamo-Longhorn fan.. used to be Astros too, but not sure there a pro team anymore
The ability to cover big PG cannot be stressed enough.
Also the ability to handle the ball in a proper SG fashion.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
I guess I'm the only one
whose first reaction was a big, stupid grin on my face. Never was a huge Trevor fan, and couldn’t imagine him fitting in long term. I was just thrilled when I found out he was traded. Now I can genuinely say I like everyone on our team. God the off season is long!!
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
by ressaliance_00 on Aug 14, 2010 6:54 PM CDT up reply actions
I was fairly happy too, but I've never had an Ariza problem overall.
Mainly because Lee is a true 2, and can guard big 1s, and handle like a SG should. He’s just the guy we needed. I’m sorry it came down to losing Ariza to get him, but honestly, I’m very glad Chase Budinger will have an expanded role because of this. Chase belongs, and I think is the heir to Battier’s job if his development curve keeps up.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
Would someone explain?
Would someone explain to me how this trade exception thing works ? All I understand is that it (the trade exception) is worth 6 million dollars.
On another subject Jermaine Taylor when speaking of back-ups how does he stack up offensively and defensively compared to Lee? Any possibility of him beating out Lee for the back-up spot?
think of it as a trade half done
Lee for Ariza is not an even trade salary wise(6 million dollar difference) and you have now 6 million to straight up get another player to even up the trade. TPE cant be packaged with another player in a 2 team trade, but if involve more than one team, you can finagle it into as if it’s a bunch of parallel trades.
As for Taylor, judging by pedigree and experience, Taylor probably dont have a chance of beating Lee out, unless Lee gets injured or horrible irresponsible, which Lee is also a character guy so unlikely
Not so sure there isn't a place for Taylor at some point
Taylor is a guy with superior ball scoring ability. He really showed his firepower in summer league, I think, but there are still rough edges. I think he spends time tearing up RGV again. If Martin were to get another injury I could easily see an Offense/Defense platoon of Lee and Taylor at SG, with neither being all that bad at the other’s specialty.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
Love Taylor offensively
not sure if he’s not a good defender either, he seem to have great tools to defend, but as far as part of the regular rotation, i think we’ll be hard press to find him floor time unless like you said Martin gets injured again. I feel liked he cant be send down again, but i’m not sure
Also
We would match up better with teams like the Celtics, lakers and the Heat, where you have two all star perimeter players and one low post all star. I think that Courtney lee would match up better against DWade becase they are about the same size, then you would but battier on lebron, with scola and Yao taking turns on Bosh
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