Trevor Ariza’s Career Year & Maturation

by

The NBA Playoffs is a time when players find out more about where they are at in terms of skillset. For Washington Wizards small forward Trevor Ariza he found out a lot about himself during a career year which brought him much individual and team success. Ariza came into the league at 19 years old as a 2nd round pick of the New York Knicks and has bounced around from team to team throughout the course of his career. Ariza has been a member of the Hornets, Rockets, Lakers, Knicks and Wizards so he has had little to no problem familiarizing himself in different parts of the country. For the first time in 3 seasons Ariza played at least 75 games and with better health came better results. In fact he had the best season of his entire career and it’s still going on now.

As the starting small forward of the Washington Wizards this year Trevor Ariza had a career year averaging 14.4 points, 2.5 assists, 6.2 rebounds and shot 40.7% from the 3-point line. His statistical output in 3-point percentage and rebound departments were career highs. He also had the game of his life on March 1st when he dropped a career high 40 points on the Philadelphia 76ers. He has never really been a numbers guy but he’s always won wherever he went. In 2008-2009 he was a key rotation player for the world championship Los Angeles Lakers.

These days he is in the best situation he has ever been in to succeed at a high level. If you look at the way the Wizards starting 5 is constructed it revolves around two things primarily. It all begins and ends with arguably the best backcourt in the Eastern Conference in John Wall and Bradley Beal. Then after that the Wizards rely on the post play of Nene to establish some presence in the paint. After all that this gives Ariza the ability to move off the ball around the perimeter. Whether it be off screens or rim runs at the basket Ariza has found his place in the Wizards offense and has been mightily successful all season long. Being 6 feet 8 inches tall with the ability to shoot the basketball successfully has also allowed head coach Randy Wittman some lineup flexibility as Ariza can play both small forward and shooting guard.

Perimeter shooting was never a strength for Ariza during the 1st half of his career. Ariza had never shot above 30% from the 3-point line until his 5th season in 2008-2009 with the Lakers. The 4 seasons after that have seen him hover around the 33-36% from beyond the arc which isn’t bad but it’s not outstanding. There’s a correlation between Ariza’s shot attempts and success from the perimeter, he hadn’t shot 30% or higher from the 3-point line until he had averaged at least 1 field goal attempt beyond the line from downtown. That first year didn’t come till 08-09 with the Lakers and this year at 5.7 three-point field goal attempts per game so he tied his career high while shooting at the best clip of his career. He turned a weakness into a strength and that’s what the true professionals in this league do to become better players and that has been most clear not only during the regular season but in the NBA Playoffs versus the Chicago Bulls.

The Chicago Bulls are the NBA’s best defense allowing only 92.1 points per game led by the 2013-14 NBA defensive player of the year in Joakim Noah. You need a whole team to beat them on offense and Ariza’s consistency this series has been phenomenal. Ariza has shot 13-27 from the 3-point line this series which is 48%. He is elevating his game when his team needs it the most, the Bulls don’t score the ball a lot so his perimeter shooting is a huge X-Factor in the playoff success of the Wizards. He had a solid 3 games to start the series but his best game was game 4 when he scored a career high 30 points. He was 6-10 from the 3-point line and 10-17 from the field. Ariza has been one of the biggest reasons the Wizards are up in a series versus a battle tested Bulls squad. If he stays anywhere near this level of play then the Wizards should close out this series on Tuesday in-game 5.

Ariza has been one of the more underrated parts to the Wizards 44-38 record and first playoff appearance since 2008. If his career highs in both rebounds, 3-point percentage, single game points and playoff single game points aren’t enough for you then consider the following stat. Trevor Ariza plays 35.4 minutes per game and when he is on the floor the Wizards are a +3.4 points better per 100 possessions. His net total for points per 100 possessions is a +7.3 points per game. Which means that he makes the Wizards just over 7 points better as a player, that’s just over 2 possessions worth of points which is enough to decide the outcome of basketball game. Trevor Ariza is a huge x-factor for the Wizards.

Whether or not the Wizards end their 1st round series versus the Bulls remains to be seen but make no mistake about it Trevor Ariza is a huge reason the Wizards are in a place to move onto the next round of the NBA playoffs.