Houston Rockets: Why Trevor Ariza should head to the bench

The Houston Rockets deep rotation issues have been something that has been highlighted as of late and that’s certainly a good problem for the team to have. Trevor Ariza is one of those casualties and I think he should stay on the bench because of this. Take a look further.

The Houston Rockets are still orbiting high with a 45-13 record and is arguably the team to beat outside of the Golden State Warriors. Many feel that this team has what it takes to persevere in seven-game series but then you have the annoying, yet understandable critics who think that they’re just a great regular season team but don’t have what it takes to be successful postseason team.

That’s fine — let the haters go on and hate. I think this team will be among the last standing when it’s all said and done at the end of this year’s playoffs. There just something different about this team than none other where every position is deep and this prevents one guy have to rack up too many minutes at once.

Trevor Ariza is certainly one of those guys — after missing nine games with a hamstring injury, he quickly was inserted in the rotation, getting the start in Friday’s contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He had 11 points, five rebounds, one steal and a block. He also was 3-for-6 from behind-the-arc as well as being a 7 plus/minus in 26 minutes of action.

His minutes were reduced but he was still effective.

But try this on for size. I think Ariza should head to the bench in favor of Luc Mbah a Moute

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getting the start. A healthy Luc has been better than I had envisioned, especially on the defensive front. He truly was a steal in free agency this year and has been nothing but a boon to the Rockets’ success.

Because of this, I think Mbah a Moute should start and you don’t have to take my word for it. He’s currently ranked 11th in the NBA in defensive rating (0.052) while Ariza is 76th (0.035), they’re both spectacular defenders but I think Luc has the edge at the moment. The stats prove true otherwise and one can see it with just the plain old eye test. Luc was ranked 70th (0.035) in 2016-17 which is a rapid and remarkable improvement.

One can make a case for Mbah a Moute to stay on the bench because of his long-term health outlook but with Mike D’Antoni reducing minutes across the board it won’t be much of an effect on him if he gets the start.

Next: What makes the Rockets 2017-18 contenders

I know D’Antoni is set in his ways so I doubt this would actually happen barring injury and I’m not hoping for that.

We’ll have to see about this — go Rockets.

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