[Ed: I started this post before Ariza shot a very respectable 4-6 from 3 versus the Knicks on Thursday night. All numbers and graphs are current as of Tuesday, 1/6; I’ll be lodging a protest with the NBA because I’m not sure games versus the Knicks should count toward official statistics anyway.]
Trevor Ariza is struggling.
Actually, in many ways, mostly on the defensive end, he’s doing fine. His steal percentage is right at his career average, he’s grabbing 5 defensive boards a game, and he’s been a key part of the league’s number 3 defense. The problems are on the other end; Ariza’s been shooting just 31% from downtown, which has contributed to a career low 35.5% field goal percentage. After two years in Washington during which he shot 39.3% from three-point land, this has got to be disappointing for the Rockets.
Of course, this could just be bad luck. Or perhaps the rain gods just smiled on Ariza in Washington. He’s launched 901 shots from downtown since the beginning of his tenure with the Wizards; even in a sample that size, there’s still almost as much noise as signal. Comparing even smaller subsamples is a good way to risk looking foolish. Even so, let’s see if we can find a plausible reason for Trevor Ariza’s long-distance struggles.
Analytics by Harrison 