http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1389 Says that Gay has the potential to be good or bust, but Battier is a proven solid pro. One thing to remember guys, Battier reminds me so much of Mario Elie. He is tenacious on defense and will lessen the defesive load off of T-Mac (our best one on one defender). He can also knock down open 3's. We trade a person with a basketball IQ of an idiot (Stro) for one with a high IQ (Battier). Teams who challenge for the championship always have that one guy who does all the dirty work, but never show in the stats (Haslem,Miami; Bowen,San Antonio; Bell, Phoenix; Prince, Detroit).
Two interesting part: The highlight of the night for me personally was seeing Portland single handedly destroy a trade the Timberwolves and Rockets had in place (#6-Brandon Roy, for Luther Head and #8-Randy Foye) by forcing Minnesota's hand and taking Foye a pick early at #7. That ensured that the Timberwolves had to trade arguably the 2nd best player in the draft to the Blazers for Foye and cash considerations, a move that was entirely lost on ESPN at the time but should go down as one of the most ballsy ever. The Hawks had a chance to redeem themselves by executing a trade with the Rockets and landing Luther Head and Shelden Williams at #8 rather than reaching badly the way they did...
I never wanted Gay, but I really wanted Roy. I wish I didnt know this behind-the-scenes stuff. Why didnt Atlanta do that trade? Did Portland threaten to take Shelden Williams too ? Man, **** the Trailblazers.
Yup portland destroyed any chances of landing us Brandon Roy. If Brandon Roy becomes a superstar or even an allstar then i will seriously be the Portland worst enemy.
PG: Alston/Mike James SG: Brewer/Wesley/Head/Novak SF: T-mac/Bogans/Novak PF: J.Howard/Stromile/Cato C: Yao Ming/Deke Cato? Mike James? Brewer? Where's the money?
The reason outside sources can justify the deal is they have a very superficial understanding of this team. They always believe - if you just add any decent player with TMac and Yao, that's a good move. What they don't understand is how bad our other starters are and our lack of quality depth. When TMac was injured, the Rockets were the worst team in the league even with a healthy Yao. On most teams, Juwan Howard and Rafer Alston would not even start - and they're 2 of our best role players. We don't have a Jerry Stackhouse off the bench. We don't have Alonzo Mourning or Gary Payton to chip in 20 minutes. If TMac and Yao = Amare Stoudemaire, Steve Nash and Shawn Marion, Shane Battier is far below the talent of Boris Diaw and Leonardo Barbosa. The Rockets are over the cap and as witnessed by our last few free agent signings - have been unable to find quality starters for the MLE. This team's only hope was to find a young player who can blossom into the 3rd wheel. A 28 year Shane Battier would be a nice piece but not at the expense of a potential superstar.
I see you've done the math. We also got the bonus of Novak. I detect a hint of a multi-team conspiracy to keep Roy from being a Rocket. As long he doesn't go to Houston it appears so the only way to get what we needed was to grab Gay for Jerry West to get a know quantity, quality player who could play different positions . As far as Swift goes, either him of Howard would have to leave to make room for the grand scheme puzzle to piece together.
Hard to give his remarks any credit when he can't even get the coach's name right - on a number of occasions.
Save your prayers. He's the second coming of Matt Bullard. I'm sure that will strike fear into the hearts of our competitors...after they stop laughing.
Don't forget to blame Boston, too, for throwing away the #7 pick in that silly Telfair trade. I don't think Danny Ainge would have done what the Blazers did.
If Van Gundy wasn't so stubborn about winning games late in a lost cause, Portland wouldn't have had any opportunity to deny us Roy.
I don't understand this, why would teams gang up to prevent Houston from getting Roy? Do they see something our fans don't see, a wounded animal about to explode next season if we get Roy??
