You are taking that out of context that he is not committed to improving his skills. Van gundy immediately afterward talked about because he limited hiw gym time because he knew the limits of his body and how much he could push himself and still be healthy and fresh, so thats not what he was saying at all
JVG's critical eye for instance, knows just how incredibly valuable Shane Battier is to a basketball team. Interesting... With a phenomenal basketball intelligence such as JVG in your corner, it makes you wonder how an individual could question Shane Battier's impact.
You also can't ignore the fact that there was no difference in the Battier Houston got and the Battier it traded away, except this Battier was 30 years old and a little bit worse in every category. The bolded part of your post doesn't even make sense, players don't practice right before a game. You can practice until you drop, get some sleep and then get ready for the game the next day.
He should have done all he could to solidify that core. But then again even that isn't enough sometimes.
Do you know enough about Garnett to say stuff like that? If you attribute his toughness and mean streak towards opponents as a bad thing then I guess making it to the Finals 2 times in 3 years and winning an NBA title is were like KG.
I like JVG now and what he says is probably true. We all know that about Tracy, he is LAZY and has always been. But the fact is, JVG is a poor coach as well. At least when he was with us. We had 2-0 lead and we lost to the Jazz 4-3. He should be responsible for our poor offense which was too predictable too.
First, I think you are forgetting that I didn't say this... Van Gundy did. Second, I think there is some validity to it. In the last couple of years, as Battier has slowed down, I think it is possible that he understands for longevity and effectiveness he can't over work himself. Battier was never considered a potential offensive force in the NBA. You don't learn the ability to create shots for yourself in the NBA offseason... or at least its extremely rare. You stick to what got you to the NBA and you improve those skills. I;m not suggesting its impossible to learn a new skill in the NBA; however, guys that can't create shots don't suddenly find this ability grinding out hours by themselves in the gym.
I don't agree. He doesn't have to be even a good shot-creator. But a little extra offense from Battier over the years could have made a big difference. Especially considering that our offensive weapons were so fragile, and we often struggled to find shots in the half court.
Kobe 1st three championships you could have swapped kobe for ai, carter, tmac, etc they would have won. Shaq was that good.
Battier is not a bad shooter. It is anybody's guess how much better a spot up shooter he could have been had he practiced more. On the other aspects of his offense, I don't see much he could have tried to improve. He might add more moves. Other than spot up shooting, the only other move he has is a post up hook shot with either hand. (BTW, I don't think you can make that shot consistently in game without lots of practice.) Perhaps he could have improved his driving. Other than that, it's more of his willingness to do things in game than practicing on his own. I don't think a player can improve his court vision. I don't think a player can improve much on ball handling.
Smart guys with interests beyond basketball, I assume, would value their time away from the game. He seems like he has different priorities than your typical basketball player. I also read that he doesn't like to watch film of other players, and after games he doesn't go back to review tape of what he did well or wrong. He said (paraphrasing) he already knows what happened, and it would be a waste of time. I think that was from the Ballard book as well.
Sometimes I guess Battier is too brainy to be a great player. Just guessing: maybe he thinks spend that much time to improve just 5% of his game is not worth the while.
I think Battier focused mainly on defense because what the team needed when he first got here. We didn't need another scorer-we had T-Mac and Yao- so we traded one to get Battier, a defensive player. Who's sole responsibility was to focus on defense and shut down the other team's offensive player. So why would he focus on offense? He was brought in for defense. The whole idea was that he wouldn't have to score. Of course, we all know what happened. T-mac and Yao fell apart, and all of the sudden Battier needed to score. But he couldn't because he never developed his game because that wasn't his role.
People can make excuses for shane all they want to, but it doesnt matter. A player doesnt get better defensively in the summer. Players get better by watching tape. In the summer,in the gym is when you get better offensively.I will give 2 examples. J. O'neal vs Camby. Camby was the #2 pick and O'neal was 17 or something like that. If you look at their bodies and athletic talent, it was pretty even. In fact, camby was a jr and o'neal was a high school kid. From the outset, camby was limited in his skills, yet every little glimpse of O'neal you could see it coming. The footwork, the little hooks,the face up jumpers. It toook camby 10 years to be able to hit a 15 ft shot. As soon as O'neal was traded to the pacers, he was hitting that shot and became a force. So how did O'neal progress from where he quicker than camby? If anyone go back and read, you will see he was a straight gym rat. Thats what coaches really look for with a raw player. Is he a gym rat? Is he a guy with only 1 focus and thats playing ball all the time. Staying in the gym solo working on situational plays against the air. Many people think it about shooting 500 jumpers and 900 free throws and its not. Why? In games, it doesnt go like that. Its about running to spots, catching and shooting. Its about running down a full length court, running a play against air, and shooting. Its about shooting off the dribble in simulated situations. Post play is about posting and positioning against another player of your size or bigger and making moves quickly. There are alot of things that go into summer improvement and thats why some guys get better and some dont.
Yup. And I think those players would have won more than three rings with Shaq because they wouldnt have chased him out of LA.
