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Ariza
Former Bruin

They say Trevor Ariza is too thin, a 6-foot-7 forward walking around in a guard’s body.

They say his perimeter game is still weak, that his jump shot is inconsistent, and that he lacks an inside presence. They say he’s not ready for the NBA.

He says otherwise.

“I think I’m making really good progress,” the 43rd overall draft pick in this year’s NBA Draft said. “I think I’ll be ready whenever I’m called.”

After playing only one season at UCLA, a year in which he averaged 11.6 points and 6.5 rebounds, while shooting 42.6 percent from the field, Ariza decided to take a shot at the NBA, entering the draft pool about a month after the Bruins’ season ended.

It was certainly not an easy decision to make for the 19-year-old.

“It was a really hard decision,” Ariza said. “But, I thought that I was ready.”

The Westchester High School product had his collegiate career start on a rather sour note. Ariza missed the first few weeks of the exhibition and non-conference portion of the schedule with spontaneous pneumothorax, better known as a collapsed lung.

Although the only memories that UCLA holds of the former freshman are compressed into the stretch of 25 games in which he took part, there were snapshots which convinced scouts of his NBA readiness. Ariza’s 24-point performances against Oregon State and USC captured his potential.

The starry-eyed prospect, hoping to earn a spot on the New York Knicks’ roster, learned enough in his one year in Pauley Pavilion to last an entire NBA career.

“I learned how to be more patient, slow down, and to read the floor better,” Ariza said. “I think it prepared me very well, because, at the collegiate level, there’s not too many schools that the media come to, like UCLA.”

Coach Ben Howland also had a measurable impact on the forward’s game.

“He taught me how to run a half-court offense,” Ariza said. “That’s big at every level (because) you’ve got to learn how to play in the open court and half court, also.”

The local product may have moved up a level prematurely, but not without the support of family. “Whatever I have done, my mom wanted to be behind me 100 percent,” Ariza asserted. “If I wanted to stay in school, she would have been behind me.”

She was certainly next to him on June 29, when he was the 13th player selected in the second round. “It was fun,” Ariza said. “I was excited. My family was excited for me.”

Ariza will not admit to succumbing to the criticisms of the media regarding his poor performance from the free-throw line and from beyond the three-point arc. The young forward’s desire to cement his reputation as an NBA player can be seen through his refusal to leave the gym until he sinks at least 500 shots.

Past summers for Ariza have involved preparing for 20 to 30 game seasons, with crowds in the hundreds to thousands. But under the guidance of Hall of Famers Isiah Thomas, the Knicks’ president of basketball operations, and Lenny Wilkens, the Knicks’ coach, Ariza will be preparing for an 82 game season in front of capacity crowds at Madison Square Garden.

“My phone’s been ringing a lot more,” Ariza said. “At first, everyone was calling me, telling me what a dumb decision I made. Now everybody’s calling me to congratulate me, wanting to be my friend again.”

This past Saturday, Ariza took to the floor at the Long Beach Summer Pro League, making his unofficial professional debut and scoring a game high 22 points against the Clippers.

“It’s just about the experience, learning from my mistakes, correcting them,” Ariza said. 

How much success Ariza enjoys in the NBA will be a product of the effort and determination he devotes to his craft. What is certain is the anticipation felt by the soon-to-be NBA rookie regarding the upcoming season.

“I can’t wait to meet everyone (in the league),” he said. “I feel good, I’m happy where I’m at.”

No one can question that.