Trevor Ariza didn’t get to the NBA by just standing out there to shoot.
He doesn’t even particularly like standing out there to shoot, since it comes at the expense of other, more active and creative maneuvers on the basketball court — as his 33rd birthday approaches — that he still enjoys.
But if standing out there to shoot is what’s required in Houston Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni’s system, then that’s what Ariza is going to do.
Because he and his teammates are having too much fun this way. They put their stretch of 22 victories in the past 24 games on the line again Thursday against the LA Clippers.
“One thing I know, these guys are hungry for something,” Ariza said the other day, not just of the All-Hall (of Fame, in time) backcourt of James Harden and Chris Paul but of the squad overall.
“They’re hungry to win a championship. And there’s really no ego there. We’re able to communicate — I think communication is always the biggest thing allowing you to take that next step. And we’re having fun. We don’t feel pressure, we just go out and play.”
Ariza, on a team laden with veterans, is one of Houston’s most reliable rudders. Fourteen seasons and 929 regular-season games into a career that got off to a shaky start — the No. 43 pick in the 2004 Draft, by a losing New York Knicks team — Ariza is a constant for the Rockets.
With Harden and Clint Capela, Ariza is one of three players whose run with the franchise pre-dates D’Antoni’s arrival in 2015. But then, Ariza pre- or post-dates a lot of coaches’ arrivals — he has played for 12 of them, from Lenny Wilkens and Larry Brown early in his career, through Stan Van Gundy and Rick Adelman, to Kevin McHale and D’Antoni.
Born in Miami, raised in Los Angeles, Ariza has changed teams six times. And changed his game considerably in the process.
How Ariza played when he reached the NBA compared to now reflects the evolution of the league’s prevailing offensive strategies.
In his first four seasons, divvied up between the Knicks, Magic and Lakers, Ariza used his quickness and his lean, 6-foot-8, 215-pound frame to slash to the basket or shoot from inside the opponent’s defense. Only 3.8 percent of his field-goal attempts came from outside the arc; nearly one quarter of his shots were the “long twos” now considered so abhorrent.
Ariza shot them at a poor rate (33.9 percent) but at least he was more accurate there than he was on 3-pointers (20.9).
Compare that to Ariza’s last four seasons, all in Houston (with the past three under D’Antoni). Nearly two-thirds of his shots (64.4 percent) have been 3-pointers. His long twos are down to 5.5 percent, and 87 percent of his field-goal attempts come either from 3-point range or in the restricted area.
The game has evolved and Ariza has adapted.
“He’s been about the same as he’s always been,” D’Antoni said. “Which is good, I’m definitely not complaining. He might be shooting it a little better this year. Maybe making a few more drives to the basket, getting a little more comfortable with what we do.”
Ariza has occasionally been putting the ball on the floor and attacking to counter the perimeter-focused resistance Houston faces. That anyone has even noticed, and considers it a new wrinkle, amuses Ariza, because he always had that as part of his game.
“When I first got into the NBA, that’s what I was pretty good at, getting to the basket,” he said. “As my career played on, I developed a jump shot. I’m just trying to do what my teammates need me to do. The defense takes away certain things, so in order to be successful and help my team, I have to do other things.”
