I'd say anything less than a guy repeatedly coming down the court and burning Battier would be holding his own. And with JVG's inherent team defense we can help the guy out if he's having trouble. And lateral movement isn't the only component of defensive ability. A big part of being a good defender is how you do against the pick and roll. A guy guarding the handler on a P/R has to be able to be able to fight through screens and stay on the dribbler's heels. That's more a matter of effort, positioning and smarts than anything else. I don't know if Battier has the goods in terms of P/R defense, but I don't think we can discount him on that just because he doesn't have as much side to side quickness. One thing that Battier has going for him is that at least he isn't a shrimp. When we had Wesley on guys like Kobe and Melo, all they needed to do was back it into the high post and shoot right over his head. That was a killer because it's difficult to double-team guys in that area because the passing lanes are wide open. So that's one area Battier should be okay in. As for Mcgrady and conserving his energy and all that, the line of thinking is that SG's are more apt to run around offball and travel through a stack of screens. So it's not that easy for T-mac to conserve energy in that situation (Personally, I kind of over the whole "T-mac has to play the SF" argument, but as long as we do have an interchangeable defender, then why not). And as it applies to Battier, defending off the ball movers and shakers holds the same reasoning as defending the P/R. If Battier is as smart as everyone says and puts in supreme effort like his preceding reputation states, then he should be able to challenge guys who play off the ball. Of course everything I'm saying is just an educated guess. I'm just trying to extrapolate Battier's skills and reputation and attempting to apply them Van Gundy's system and what he preaches on defense. But there's one thing I know: Battier taking the more difficult defensive assignment away from Mcgrady is the ideal. That is one of the big promises of bringing Battier into the fold. Whether it works out or not is still to be determined, but I'm sure that it's what the Rockets are expecting out of Shane.
I glad you posted it here, rimster, and wondered why you didn't after reading it in that other thread. I'm really getting excited about Synder's potential with the Rockets. We may have hit pay dirt and grabbed a possible starter for nothing. The worst scenario I can see would be Snyder ending up as a good role-player. Do you think that, down the road, he has starter potential?
I think to start he will have to be a good role player... D, slash, spot up, good passes... right now I look at him sort of like a inexperienced NFL QB... if he plays within himself and doesn't do things that cost the team, he's a success whether he starts or not. If he comes in to camp and does well, I suspect we might have two lineups in the early part of the season based on matchups with Snyder and Juwan being the interchangeable parts while Tmac and Shane shift appropriately. I think the lineup with Snyder would obviously be our most athletic and in a league where Marion can be a leader in rebounds, I don't have much problem thinking Shane can play the 4 most nights.
6'6'' barefeet, 6'7''1/4 in shoes, 6'9'' wingspan, 8'8'' standing reach. Also ranked 1st overall athelete in the 2004 draft accorind to the predraft combine scores. 19 reps on the 185lb bench press, 35 inch vertical, 10.79 on the lane agility test. At least you can't accuse the guy of being either undersized or a stiff.
Yep... the only thing different from the official result is the height in shoes... they had him at 6'6'' barefeet and 6'6''3/4 in shoes. Apparently, he was wearing slippers that day. The standard practice is to add 1''1/4 for shoes... not that it matters that much in the greater scheme of things. http://nbadraft.net/2004measurements.asp (as a side note, some guy in the 2006 draft class achieved a 1''3/4 difference in shoes. Must have been desperate to look taller)
I just watched the entire game again myself (well, i fast-forwarded when Synder wasn't on the court). He was a little off on all his jump shots. Didn't make any, but was close. His first half free throw shooting was awful - not even close. Second half was just one miss that he put back himself. Won two jump balls. A couple of steals and a block - I never saw his man make a shot over him. He did get beat on a pick but his teammate should have switch off. Brought the ball up the court quite a bit and didn't force the action. Passed up a couple of his own shots to get his teammate a better shot. Was aggressive a few times driving to the basket and ended up drawing some fouls. Overall, he played a real smart game. I was surprised he didn't force the action being the best athelete with the most NBA experience on the floor. He seemed a little too content to hang out at the three point line when he didn't have the ball. Other than that, he should fit in nicely with TMac and Yao on offense and I was really impressed with his D (although it was summer league competition). The guys calling the game were impressed with his play and athleticism and the fact that a 3rd-year guy was willing to play in the summer leagues. Commented several times about the dunks he had last year.
I don't know how Snyder can be ranked the best athlete in that draft with Andre Iguodala also being in it
