3 reasons why the Portland Trail Blazers should bring Trevor Ariza back

Trevor Ariza may be 34, but he still has plenty left in the tank. Why should the Portland Trail Blazers bring him back for at least one more year?

Trevor Ariza has impacted this Portland Trail Blazers team significantly on and off the court. His rugged on-court game combined with strong leadership in the locker-room, has been great for young players like Gary Trent Jr. Here are three reasons why they should bring him back next season.

Cap Space Implications

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 free agent class looked weak, and the Blazers were going to have next to no cap space. Both of these points still ring true, but with the salary cap maybe going down because of a lack of revenue, the Blazers are likely to have zero cap space.

This means that letting Ariza walk with no way of replacing him would be a pretty bad choice. Yes Rodney Hood is returning next year, but this team was weak on the wing even before Hood went down.

For the Blazers to have more than $10 million in space in the next summer ( this is if the salary cap doesn’t reduce because of COVID-19 ) then they would have to renounce both Ariza and Hassan Whiteside. For $12 million odd cap space why would you let free agents walk that are worth more than that?

They can’t replace Ariza, so shouldn’t let him walk.

Defense

The Blazers haven’t had an All-Defense team selection since the days of Theo Ratliff. Ariza isn’t of this quality now, but he has been a premium defensive player for a number of years.

Having a small forward at six-foot-eight, that can guard the best wings in the league in the post and on the perimeter, is a luxury most teams don’t enjoy. Ariza is tough as nails and doesn’t mind diving for loose balls, or giving Trae Young a push if he dribbles the ball between his legs!

On a team that forces so few opposition turnovers, Ariza has been in the top ten for his position in forcing turnovers for 13 of his 16 seasons in the league. He is 36th all-time in steals, and has one of the lower foul rates for his position too.

He is also a great rebounder, one of the best in his position. For a quarter or half a quarter, just watch Ariza play defense. Don’t watch anyone else but him and you will see the impact he has on that end of the floor.

Offense

After spending time on crappy Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards and Phoenix Suns teams over the last year and a half, Ariza has magically sprung back into life. It’s no coincidence that he had some of his least efficient offensive years on those teams. The culture was probably terrible and not a good environment for winning.

Since he was traded from the Kings to the Blazers though, he has a new lease on life and offensively he is posting career highs in four shooting categories. The tweet below shows this is a small sample. But he has still shown up on that end.

Ariza has done what not many other Blazers have been unable to do this year. Finish at the rim, and get to the line. He hasn’t shown signs of aging on this end. If he can still attack the rim while knocking down spot-up threes, then he will be of great use to this team.

Ariza has a partial guarantee on his contract for around 1.5 million next year. This means that the Blazers can either move him for less money, guarantee the full $12 million, or bring him back on a longer term deal and eat the $1.5 million for next year.

Regardless of how they spin it, Ariza needs to come back. There are no good wings on the market that can do what he does, and as he is at the end of his career he may come back for cheap on a one or two-year deal.

After 21 games of a proper NBA small-forward, it would be hard to let him go for nothing. Fingers crossed Neil brings him back in 2021.