NBA Knicks Draft selection Trevor Ariza: Flying High
By Erik Woods
July.24.2004

http://www.basket-ball.com/basketball-article-13483.html

Last week, sitting next to a bunch of NBA scouts covering the Long Beach Pro Am, Trevor Ariza of the New York Knicks is flat out dismantling a Laker team en route to his 21 point performance. A scout behind me goes, "Sheesh, if I knew he could play like this we'd have taken him as our first round pick." Simultaneously, I'm thinking to myself how could this guy not have been a McDonald's All American pick his senior year in high school? I called up Ariza's old Westchester high school coach five minutes later and told him how Trevor was dunking up a storm and asked him to comment about the slight Ariza incurred by the voters of the McDonald's game, "Trevor from all the kids I coached deserved to be in that all star game, here's a kid that can play with the best because he trains so hard." Yeah Marlin, Ariza definitely turned some heads today. Recently, Ronnie Flores wrote an article for Cal-Hi rivals.com site that detailed a dozen other deserving California players who had been left of the "list" for the Mickey D's game. Reggie Miller was the most high profile Californian in that story, here's hoping that Ariza can do what Miller did in 1983 out of Riverside Poly and tear it up in the "L.". Sitting in front of the Inglewood basketball gym I'm asking Trevor Ariza about life, basketball, and how his summer is going.

Erik Woods: Nice game the other day versus the Lakers, how did you feel about that one?
Ariza: I just went out there and tried to help my team, I'll do whatever it takes to help us be successful.

Erik Woods: How does it feel to come here to Inglewood and be looked up to by so many kids?
Ariza: I love being a role model for these kids. I used to look up to Paul Pierce, Baron Davis, Jason Hart when I was coming up, it's just time for me to be the role model that kids need..

Erik Woods: I'm doing a story on your old Westchester teammate Hassan Adams and the Say No college basketball league that you played in last year, how did those games help your development as a player?
Ariza: Man, it helped me a lot, the competition is always tough and helps you get better. I was just glad to hang out and play with the guys from that league because they good people.

Erik Woods: How did your team do against Hassan?
Ariza: His team was like the most talented one in the league, we were able to beat them both times, but every time we play against each other it's going to be a battle because we respect each enough to go all out.

Erik Woods: What is the one thing that you want people to know about your game?
Ariza: That I train hard, that I care about getting better by putting in the time to be my best, I want everyone to know that.

Erik Woods:What would you be doing if a basketball career wasn't in your future?
Ariza: I would definitely be working with kids as my job, it's something that I've always wanted to do.

Erik Woods: Thanks Trevor, keep on working hard and good luck for the rest of the summer.
Ariza: No problem, thanks for interviewing me for basket-ball.com

Thanks for posting that, Raven. I'm excited about this kid. He has skills that no Knick player has had in some time, and seemingly a great work ethic as well.

How did this guy slip into the second round?

as long as he finds more of a role here than Lavor Postell did, i'll be happy w/the pick.

to me this is a guy that you hope to plug into one of the holes in two years. Next off season Penny, TT and Nazr represent about $35mm coming off the books. I would use Nazr as deadline trade bait, let Penny walk (hopefully replace him w/ a blossuming Ariza) and resign TT to something around $7-$8mm a year, depending on how things play out. Who knows, maybe TT is part of a package as well.

Posted by TheloniusMonk:

"as long as he finds more of a role here than Lavor Postell did, i'll be happy w/the pick."

Wow! There's a name you don't hear anymore. What ever happened to dude? I know he had signed with another team a season or two ago but until you mentioned him I forgot he even was a Knick. Is he even still in the league?

I think he played in the NBDL last year.

ariza is already 10 times the player lavor will never be, cause trevor has an all around game. he plays d, rebounds, has great physical skills.

I feel a little bad for Postell, however think about this. After growing up a Knicks fan, he:

1) got paid a lot of money to hang out w/ real live NBA players + travel to hot spots all over the country.
2) had one of the best seats in the house.
3) did all that for 2 years.

Hey, if I could do that much, I'd feel I'd accomplished a lot.

And damn, in those two years, he might possibly have earned more money at league minimum than I'll earn in a lifetime!

It's amazing how some people are talking about Ariza like he's the second coming after MAYBE seeing him play in 2 summer league games. How about we wait to see if he can become a legitimate contributor before we give him Rookie of the Year.

Remember how everyone talked Dermarr up like he was this great pickup by Isiah? What exactly did he do for us aside from 1 game here and there.

Posted by islesfan:

It's amazing how some people are talking about Ariza like he's the second coming after MAYBE seeing him play in 2 summer league games. How about we wait to see if he can become a legitimate contributor before we give him Rookie of the Year.

Remember how everyone talked Dermarr up like he was this great pickup by Isiah? What exactly did he do for us aside from 1 game here and there.

I don't remember anyone talking up Demarr... maybe that was another board? Anyhow.. if Ariza does becomes a "legitimate contributor".. isn't that hitting the Jackpot with a mid-second rounder?

Since we picked up Mason/Starks/KT back in the day, we haven't had much success discovering the diamonds in the rough until perhaps now.

I don't know what to make of Ariza yet, but from day 1 Isiah was comparing him to a young Rodman in terms of athleticism/quickness. In the summer league, he definitely showed he was capable of dominating against that level of competition. Note that he was ranked #19 in his high school class.

http://scout.theinsiders.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=4&pid=88&yr=2003

There's been much talk about Sweetney's improvements under the tutelage of Aguirre. I wonder if Aguirre is also working with some of the other players, namely DerMarr, Ariza, and Tim Thomas. I'm actually a little bit sick that only Sweetney's name comes up--- Tim Thomas has more tools than anyone on the team to be a dominant force in the NBA--- he can benefit more from the homework more than anyone.