Shane's PPG numbers have declined since his rookie year when he averaged 14.4 points. can he increase his numbers from the last few years or is he in slow decline? are his average numbers a product of the offense in memphis? is he a guy that can step up and become a legit 3rd option in jvg's system? i believe his numbers will see an increase, but not all that much. thanks for your comments.
do we even need 18 and 8 from him? I'd be thrilled with 13 and 7 if it's coming from a guy who contributes in as many ways as they say Battier does.
In games where we are missing Yao or McGrady, Shane is a far better candidate to chip in 20 point games than anyone else on the roster. Juwan and Rafer can do it, but they have to play above their heads and take an inefficient number of shots. Shane can do so competently. As a #3 scorer and filling the role as our primary man defender, he's likely to be a 14-7 guy for the season. Evan
People tend to be over optimistic on new commodities... Remember the predictions when Swift came over? At this point, I won't expect to see in Rockets Shane does anything better than his days in Memphis, stats-wise. Hopefully he is solid and dependable. We will see. Let's drop the stats discussion for now. Leave it to our stats guy.
Why are we so obsessed with stats? The stuff I look from Shane with a high degree of dependability is- High IQ basketball, the killer 3 pointer or the crucial steal or that momentum changing charge. In some ways I feel that we are understimating Shane
I think Battier's numbers went down after his rookie year in Memphis because that team had so many other scoring options and Hubie Brown believed in having a lot of people share in the scoring. Those Memphis teams were pretty deep.
Sounds about right. He will get so many more open looks here averaging 15 should be fairly easy. I'd say 7-8 boards is about right as well.
Shane Battier is a good, solid player -- a welcome addition to the team. His ability to contribute has never been questioned by any reasonable fan. The angst over his acquisition has come purely from the absurd price tag. Shane is on our team now. Let's not burden him with unrealistic expectations.
I do not expect him to become this team's Otis Thorpe, but we are so thin at the 4 and scoring in general after Yao and Tracy that I would expect an increase in scoring from BAttier. He should find his muse in our weak depth and Juwan's age and decline.... Battier should become a very consistent scorer on this team. It is my hope that BAttier will be a bright spot on this weak team
Howard will be the third option because he is the only other rocket that can create his own shot. Battier cannot create his own shot and he is there to play off of Yao and Tmac. His job is hit those wide open jumpers Ryan Bowen and JHO miss and attack the basket when the defense over commits.
Whether Battier has 18 ppg potential depends purely on his ability to create his own shot. There's no way he can score that much(maybe 15 ppg at most) from just feeding off of Yao/T-Mac. But from his career trend, it seems Battier is more content to do the dirty work rather than assert himself as a serious offensive threat.
I can see his shots coming up so maybe he'll average 2 more pts a game. But how come you guys are thinking his rebounds will increase by 3? I don't see it.
this is a reason i was thinking we will see some sort of increase in production next season. we just aren't as deep as memphis, but we have two big time stars in place. i just can't imagine shane hanging around at 10-5 next year.
Well considering he was a 10-5 guy last season and now he is going to a team that is not particularly well-known for their offensive play, it is highly unlikely that he would jump to 18-8.
if u mean by throwing 15 really flat hooks a night, or 10 really short jump shots. then yah he can create his own shots.
I'm with you and I'd even think it will be the low end of this range. Something like 12.5 and 6.5. Still, if that's on a good shooting percentage with nice defense, I'll take it in a heartbeat.
