The line up looks a real playoff contender, and I think Ariza would be better when he played with the Blazers, definitely he can rely on Lillard and CJ to produce consistent offense for the team and Whiteside is very effective inside.

I can't wait to see this line up playing.

And at the West this strong five will not make it through the second round. Sad but true.

Right, Blazers already have too many offensive players and less defensive ones. Ariza is a good addition defensive wise.


I think he will turn Free agency this year. If he continues his good performance, it will surely attract a good contract and hopefully, he gets the pay that he deserves.

I don't get why this topic loves Utah Jazz this much, for example Grizzlies have been on a 7 win streak as well which is even more astonishing because these guys were at 9th spot, even at 10th spot at one point but now they are about 2 games away from the 9th spot and managed to secure a spot at playoffs for this time being.

It is always good too see a good team go on a roll and have a win streak and move up positions but this was a team that actually everyone thought would miss playoffs and were tanking but they made a great streak of wins to come back here. After sending Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, people assumed memphis would be basically tanking all year and rivaling teams like kings or wolves at the fight for the bottom but now after sending two of their superstars that helped build this team, they are still looking like a first round exit team.

It's not about payments dude, it's about his dedication to the game. Yes, Clarkson is super underrated player and I don't think his paycheck deserves what he is capable of. But men, look at this guy, playing without complain on how much he gets and that's how his professionalism be seen.

I am thinking of a possible $20 million per year or a $100 million contract at least, he deserve that even with his minutes, or if the team really wants to maximize his contribution in the floor, then he should put him in the starting line up.

Actually, he did win a championship with the Lakers.
He did most of the defense during that year (2009 Lakers championship). If I am not mistaken he is like 3-6 steals average per game.
Something which we don't see much now.

Experience and being a veteran, he could provide good contribution for this Blazers team.
Betting line is still open for the Mavericks against the Clippers.
As a Mavericks fan I will bet for them @2.18 although -3.5.

I think with Whiteside in the middle, I think it is enough for them to at least go and make the playoffs. They acquire Ariza for a reason here, maybe they wanted to run more often with Lillard, CJ, Anthony and Ariza.

Indeed a real playmaker.
I love watching those type of players just like Doncic.

Ja has different style though. Doncic tends to penetrate the paint with a style which is difficult to defend while Ja uses his agility to force his way in.
With a good passing skill these two will be more difficult to guard.
But, they both need more experience and they are getting a lot of it by now. 

 I doubt trevor ariza could make any difference in todays game tho. For two main reasons, one is the game is more offense minded and defense is not really cared all that much anymore, a players offensive talents are seen better compared to his defensive talents, you can't really defend people like you did in 2009, you can still defend them (marcus smart, pat bev, kawhi etc) but its not as hard as when Ariza was good. Second and main reason is that, dude got 10 years older compared to 2009, he can't be still a great player at that level anymore, watch his games in the previous 2-3 years and you will see that last time he was good was when he played for the rockets, ever since he left rockets he hasn't been as good as he used to be.