We're going to play a little game. It could be fun, depending on your point of view of course.
Here are five stat lines from various Rockets players... the trick is to identify which player the respective stat line belongs to. See, I told you it would be fun! And here we go - take your best guess!
Player A: 37.9% FG, 32.7% 3pt FG, 69.2% FT
Player B: 37.5% FG, 36.3% 3pt FG, 73.4% FT
Player C: 39.4% FG, 35.1% 3pt FG, 71.5% FT
Player D: 37.0% FG, 34.8% 3pt FG, 78.9% FT
Player E: 38.5% FG, 34.1% 3pt FG, 74.1% FT
okay... can you guess who the various players are? Tougher than it looks, I know! Take your best guess anyway, and we'll see how you did in a bit.
[insert Jeopardy! theme music here]
You give up? Okay, okay... the answers to today's quiz are below the jump.
And the answers are:
/Interwebs drumroll please!
Player A: Rafer Alston, 2005-06
Player B: Rafer Alston, 2006-07
Player C: Rafer Alston, 2007-08
Player D: Rafer Alston, 2008-09 (w/ Rockets)
and
Player E: Trevor Ariza (!?!?!), 2009. Yes, it's true.
Now, before Trevor Ariza came to the Rockets and turned into a gunner with no aim, he carried career averages of 45.7% shooting on standard FGs. Granted, he's never been anywhere near the 3 point shooter he appeared to be in the playoffs last year (and anyone expecting him to shoot 45% from deep this season was delusional to begin with).
Nevertheless, Trevor Ariza is eerily becoming what I never want any Rocket to be - and that's a Rafer Alston clone on offense. Even worse, for all the shit we gave Rafer when he was here, at least he could dribble the basketball and not turn it over. Trevor, however, is giving it away at a ridiculous rate of 2.6 TOs a game and he's jacking up a Rasheed-esque 7.0 3pt FGs every game. And missing almost five of them every outing. This is bad, bad, bad basketball.
To this I say:
Trevor, I want to like you. I really do.
But for this to actually happen, stop shooting it so f--king much!!
Now, if you insist on shooting the basketball (which Coach Sleepy and resident boy genius Daryl Morey apparently want you to do), that's okay. Just take it to the basket. Layups and dunks are your friend. Your mid-range jump shot is mostly useless because you take forever to wind up. Your three-point shooting is abysmal unless you are stepping into the shot and someone kicks it out to you from the post. Never, ever should you be shooting off the dribble. It's a worse idea than the Jump to Conclusions Mat... and yes, I know you have your own prototype and everything. It's still horrible, this idea.
Please reconsider your approach, Trevor. Being the next Rafer is NOT something anyone should aspire to be. Unless you like being a useless cog in an 0-18 machine.
Now, Trevor, if you tell me that you feel haunted by the ghost of Rafer Alston -- that would make a hell of a lot more sense. Though I'd still suggest you not shoot as much, just to be safe.