Westchester

 

UCLA

 

Miami, FL

 

SF

 

SF

 

SF

 

 

Strengths:

 

Ariza is a unique athlete who plays under control and utilizes his off-the-ball savvy and intelligence to blend in well within any team structure, unlike many players of his build in the NBA. Although he possesses elite level physical tools that many NBA players would only dream of, he sticks to his limitations yet is still a willing learner in expanding and improving his game; because of this unique trait, combined with his already steady two-way production for the Lakers, he holds a great amount of potential, but because of his smarts, he is more likely to fulfill it than most of his athletic swingman counterparts.

 

Athletically, Ariza is on the elite level in the NBA; as YouTube can attest to, he has posturized many renowned shotblockers in the past—Jermaine O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning, and Emeka Okafor—along with other players—such as Francisco Garcia, Jeff Green, and Grant Hill. Despite being a humble, soft-spoken player, Ariza clearly possesses a mean streak around the basket, as evidenced by his willingness to dunk on many players willing to contest his shot.  He is both a rangy and vertical type athlete; he is extremely thoroughbred in the sense that he possesses an excellent first step, great length, good speed, long strides, and the effortless body control, and he in terms of vertical, he is more than capable of getting his head up above rim level, and he rises and elevates in attacking the basket like few in the league can. Ariza is an absolute terror in transition, filling the lanes well and enjoying extreme blow-by speed in the open court that is arguably equivalent to the speed of smaller guards. In the half-court sets, whenever he creates an opportunity by recognizing seams in the defense, he is extremely capable of getting a step on his defender and once that happens, he more than likely will end the play in a dramatic fashion. When the dunk is not an option, he is more than capable of utilizing his smooth body control and solid hangtime, finishing with an assortment of different layups. More than likely in the halfcourt, however, in terms of attacking the basket, Ariza will constantly keep the defense on his heels by making cuts off the ball (as explained in further detail below), where his endless energy and his ability to play off of others extremely well will give him a few extra points—particularly last year, he got many of his points in this fashion through layups, short shots and dunks. Simply stated, he is one of the best finishers in the league, particularly at the swingman positions.

 

In terms of playing off the ball, few can ask for a better teammate than Ariza, and he is able to routinely make an impact in the game requiring few touches of the ball. He never seems to tire throughout the game whereas most of his opposition does, and he always tries to exploit opportunities of securing points particularly when the lanes are open. As he is not is a good ballhandler at this point, he makes his living picking up easy points through the Lakers structured Triangle Offense, and because of his athleticism and body control he is extremely likely to secure those two points whether off the layup/dunk or going to the free throw line. Ariza posted a very good field goal attempt to free throw attempt ratio last year, and has done so throughout his career; he is willing to absorb contact in his finishes and can finish through them due to his superior athleticism and hangtime relative to most of the players he faces. These same cuts allow him to intercept many offensive rebounds off missed shots offensively, and it is not rare to see Ariza hustling amongst the trees attempting to tip in or get layups off a missed shot; he is one of the better offensive rebounders for his position. Ariza is obviously a viable option to lob the ball to whether in transition or in halfcourt sets, and his athleticism and length will help him finish most plays more often than not.

 

Defensively, it is much of the same story with Ariza as it is offensively; Ariza is incredibly active off the ball and on top of all of his athletic physical tools, he possesses great anticipation skills and routinely wreaks havoc on the passing lanes. Throughout is career and with the Lakers last season and this preseason, he has shown himself to rank among the top 15 in the league in steals per 48 minutes, and just prior to getting injured last year, amongst the small sample space he ranked #6 in steals per 48 minutes, a huge testament to his innate ability to anticipate passes as well as his quick hands. Ariza possesses a strong court sense of what rapidly evolves around him, but possesses the intelligence and the strong lateral quickness in recovering and defending back his man; thus, because of his ability to play the passing lanes extremely well while recovering to yield solid man-to-man defensive results for the most part, he is able to get away with his gambling whereas many others cannot. Clearly, his length and lateral quickness combined with his off-the-ball intelligence makes for a lethal combination for the opposition. He excels in off the ball defense particularly when the defense gets careless with the ball, and is able to lull and bait the opposition into making sloppy passes as well; in one instance, the Sacramento Kings’ Beno Udrih was running downcourt waiting to receive a pass, and Ariza was making it look like he was running downcourt as well, but he used his strong lateral quickness to recover to pick up the steal and dunk the ball over Francisco Garcia in the process. Clearly, Ariza’s ability to rack up the steals enables many fastbreak opportunities for the Lakers and often helps him score many points often in dramatic fashion. The best way to describe Ariza is as a “roamer” on defense; he hits the opposition where they least expect it, and he picks up quite a few weakside blocks just by being around the vicinity of the opposition, and using his length and athleticism to interfere with the shot.

 

In terms of man-to-man defense, Ariza is less notable here, although he obviously makes for a very imposing matchup due to his great lateral quickness as well as his standing reach (height combined with his length). Against larger, stronger matchups, he has trouble holding his own due to his lack of weight when he is posted up against, but this does not happen too often. Ariza is able to switch off well due to his superb lateral quickness and off-the-ball instincts, and it is particularly notable that he has the speed to match up with penetrating guards (he blocked Jerryd Bayless’s layup in transition in the first game of the season, matching him step by step). Ariza clearly has lockdown defensive type potential sheerly due to his great combination of physical tools, savvy and extreme willingness to defend, but at this stage he invests most of his energy to playing the passing lanes more, and thus yields generally solid instead of excellent defensive results in man-to-man situations. Ariza shows flashes of potential by holding his man down at times, but for the most part he just does not let his man explode and go off on a career night, which cannot be said for several other swingmen in the league. He is a great team defender however, and he is definitely an important cog in helping to lower the opposition’s shooting percentages for the Lakers in their first couple of games. Perhaps the best part about Ariza’s defense is that, despite his ability to make a great impact in this area, he is not foul prone at all, and that can be a testament to his ability to maximize his physical tools by generally playing smart defense.

 

Ariza’s jumpshot is rapidly improving. At this stage, two games into the season, Ariza is 4-5 from three point territory, and according to himself he has invested three hours a day honing his jumpshooting ability during the offseason. It was never an issue of shot mechanics for Ariza (they are actually quite good), but it was always an issue of range and consistency, and it was precisely these issues and his inability to stretch the defense (defenders played off him in the past) that perhaps made his two former teams—New York and Orlando—trade him. For the most part now, it looks like he has developed a decent, very reliable jumpshot, which should open up his slashing game even further. In terms of passing ability, Ariza is a very solid passer, and not turnover prone at all, making conservative passes and being able to help facilitate the ball movement in the Triangle offense; not surprisingly for a player who excels off the ball, he is highly unselfish.

 

In terms of intangibles, Ariza is definitely willing to sacrifice for the sake of the team, hustling for loose balls, getting offensive rebounds by hustling along with big men, and patrolling the passing lanes constantly with his excellent off the ball instincts. He is a very unique athlete, as noted, due to his ability to excel without any touches of the ball—he is capable of creating his own opportunities through racking up steals, capable of playing solid to good pressure man-to-man defense, all in addition to making cuts off the ball to score easy buckets as well as now developing a serviceable jumpshot. He is the consummate glue guy, the team player who has become the engine of sorts in helping the Lakers’ second unit play a faster game; much of his impact is not reflected in the stat sheet at all. Off the court, he is a soft spoken player with a great willingness to improve his game, so his work ethic is very good, and he clearly does not take anything for granted, not having any ego problems whatsoever. At the age of 23 and having quite a bit of mileage in the league already (entering his 6^th year in the league having played 18 mpg in his career), he is an extremely unique case of a player who is essentially a veteran, but still extremely young and full of potential, which, due to his skill set/mentality, he will more than likely fulfill as compared to with other players.

 

 

Weaknesses:

 

In terms of game, besides his jumpshot (which he has since then improved), Ariza does not have too many glaring identifiable weaknesses. Ariza’s jumpshot is a bit on the slow side—not surprising as he has just developed it—although he has lost the deliberate motion of it. As a player who only recently developed his jumpshot, he may still not be trusted entirely by defenders, so it is his job to make defenses pay by consistently and continually drilling those outside shots. Free throw shooting has been an issue with Ariza in the past (being a career 65% free throw shooter), considering how much he gets to the line, but the early returns (he shot 84% from the stripe at preseason) as well as his new jumpshot should increase that percentage relatively substantially this year.

 

As noted, Ariza plays within his limitations, which helps him not to magnify any weaknesses he may have, but his ballhandling skills are subpar. It clearly helps that he has the first step and length to gain an edge on his defender, but he is not capable of any intricate ballhandling moves that help him gain separation on his defender—it is his physical tools that help him do so. Again, to his credit, though, Ariza does not force his slashes in the halfcourt, so this is not noticeable most of the time in any particular game. It goes without saying that without these ballhandling skills, combined with his only recently developed jumper, he cannot create shots off the dribble or pass proficiently off the dribble, although with his style of game that’s not entirely a necessity as that would force him to become more of a ball dominant player, straying away from that strength of his game.

 

As athletic as Ariza is, and particularly since he always seems to be around the vicinity of any missed shot, he doesn’t get as many rebounds as he should, particularly in terms of defensive rebounding. He has shown some potential in rebounding explosions however, and this is only a minor qualm considering that the Lakers have a huge frontcourt this year. Ariza is capable of contorting his body well with good body control, but every now and then he tends to pick up an offensive foul not reacting well to the man standing underneath him; again, however, this happens only every now and then, and sometimes he gets put into that position by his teammates who throw a bad pass at him. Ariza’s man-to-man defense, as noted, is very solid, but with his god-given physical tools he can obviously attempt to stand out more in this area, although he has a lot of time to do so. In terms of physical tools, the only (and also very minor) issue is that Ariza attempted to put on more weight this summer, but only gained five pounds—meaning that he probably doesn’t have the body type to put on more weight, although that may potentially decrease his speed if he had done so effectively.

 

Perhaps the biggest concern with Ariza is injuries. He missed most of the playoffs last year and the tail end of the season with a broken foot, and detractors from the Orlando Magic have worried that his foot problems may potentially cause his career to end early, which is one of the primary reasons why they traded him to the Lakers. He has not played more than 60 games since his rookie season in 2004-2005. While Ariza is a great, unique talent, he needs to show that he can stay healthy.