Posted by crzymdups:

Ask Larry Brown.

oddly, once Ariza joined Orlando's rotation, they went on a 16-4 tear. I don't see Orlando letting him go anytime soon and John Hollinger wrote an article stating that in three years Ariza would be far more valuable than Francis.

[Edited by - crzymdups on 06-29-2006 5:09 PM]

I'm asking the fans of this board, who the majority on this board now say he sucks. Personally, I love Ariza and I wish we never traded him. I didn't like the Francis trade when it happened and even less now. More to the point, I'm being told by fans that Balkman is better than Ariza. That's believable if Ariza sucks, but if Ariza sucks, then Isiah shouldn't get props for the pick, right? That's why I'm saying it has to be one or the other.

Posted by crzymdups:

Ask Larry Brown.

oddly, once Ariza joined Orlando's rotation, they went on a 16-4 tear. I don't see Orlando letting him go anytime soon and John Hollinger wrote an article stating that in three years Ariza would be far more valuable than Francis.

[Edited by - crzymdups on 06-29-2006 5:09 PM]

Oh boy here we go again with attributing Trevor Ariza to Orlandos 16-4 record, MAYBE just MAYBE it was becuase they got rid of their locker-room cancer. Just a thought.

Obviously Ariza will be more valuable then Francis and thats because Francis will be 32 and still have another year of his bloated contract on the books!

I don't think Ariza sucks at all. I think he was limited offensively, but showed a lot of promise on defense and his offensive rebounding and energy were a great change of pace off the bench. at 21yrs old, he was worth keeping around to see if he could develop.

if people are saying he sucks now, at least some of them are lying. at the beginning of last season someone started a thread saying we would lose Ariza because someone would offer him more than the MLE after his second season (I think it was Briggs) - and we got into an argument as to whether the Arenas Clause made it into the CBA... or something. but yeah, people used to worry about losing Ariza. after two months of Larry's magic, lots of folks got down on him. it sucked. I would take back that trade in a heart beat and I also hated it at the time.

I think Balkman is slightly different from what I've seen. He plays more inside, is wider. Ariza was a high energy offensive rebounder, not neccessarily a high-enery defender. Balkman seems to be a high energy defender who is more interior oriented. Ariza used to cover Ben Gordon and Dwyane Wade for us.

[Edited by - crzymdups on 06-29-2006 5:27 PM]

Posted by crzymdups:

I don't think Ariza sucks at all. I think he was limited offensively, but showed a lot of promise on defense and his offensive rebounding and energy were a great change of pace off the bench. at 21yrs old, he was worth keeping around to see if he could develop.

if people are saying he sucks now, at least some of them are lying. at the beginning of last season someone started a thread saying we would lose Ariza because someone would offer him more than the MLE after his second season (I think it was Briggs) - and we got into an argument as to whether the Arenas Clause made it into the CBA... or something. but yeah, people used to worry about losing Ariza. after two months of Larry's magic, lots of folks got down on him. it sucked. I would take back that trade in a heart beat and I also hated it at the time.

I think Balkman is slightly different from what I've seen. He plays more inside, is wider. Ariza was a high energy offensive rebounder, not neccessarily a high-enery defender. Balkman seems to be a high energy defender who is more interior oriented. Ariza used to cover Ben Gordon and Dwyane Wade for us.

[Edited by - crzymdups on 06-29-2006 5:27 PM]

Good post. That's basically a fair answer to the question I asked. Some of the other answers (while solid) have been a little on a tangent from the question I asked. You pretty much hit the nail on the head.

Personally, I'm going to wait and see before I name Balkman as the next Ariza. I sure hope, for our sake, that he is.

I think Balkman can be a shotblocker/rebounder. I don't care if he scores 4pts a game or only scores on put backs. I'd love 1.5 or 2bpg and 1.5spg from him and a rebounding pace similar to David Lee's. I'd like someone who can legitimately guard the bigger wing players. we'll see.

Posted by Nalod:

Posted by Bonn1997:

I didn't like Ariza's lack of improvement but he's young and he had a lot of upside. I would have kept him. I think some senile old man convinced Isiah that Trevor was "delusional" and would not improve. I think I've heard that word used by someone about Trevor before.

Seems Isiah was very impressionalbe by the old man and had the mojo on him!

Good thing they fired him, who knows what might have happened.

Larry was senile.

Dolan Is a moron.

What does that make "Zeke"?

The sizzle on the steak!

BLAME ISIAH THOMAS BECAUSE HE MADE THE TRADE!!!

Posted by djsunyc:

BLAME ISIAH THOMAS BECAUSE HE MADE THE TRADE!!!

Don't be fooled into thinking any problems of this organization, including trades, must be traced to one individual. Also, don't be fooled into thinking that placing blame on Brown means you place none on Isiah. Finally, don't be fooled into thinking that using caps lock improves your point! DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SAYING?

Posted by djsunyc:

bonn, only one guy has the actual POWER to make a trade for the knicks.

And that's Dolan. Isiah can't make any trades that Dolan doesn't approve!


[Edited by - Bonn1997 on 06-29-2006 6:33 PM]