So let me get this straight. You two are making excuses for Battier not working on his game? Couldn't you use this same excuse for T-mac or any player who doesn't work on his game as much as they should away from the court?
Actually no you cant. I mean technically you can, but it's not as easy as sleeping off the fatigue. It helps you recover, but how much you did the night before will definitely have an impact. It's why coaches often talk about not practicing since X days ago when they have games every other day or frequently. And if there's no difference between battier 5 years ago and battier now, then that may support the idea that he knew how to stay fresh. In 11 years he's played 78 games or more in 7 seasons. He's on pace to make this his 8. Last year he would have played it out had Houston been in the playoffs, so you're pretty much looking at 9 of 11 seasons playing over 30 mins a game. Cue Kwame! And is there any more info on how Morey helped the Celts acquire KG? Thats definitely interesting. It really could be Morey had a great plan and it all came down to being in the wrong conference. Something he wouldn't control.
To be Fair Battier did work on his 3 pointer and mid range short after every practice to stay sharp which most of the team did not do. He just isn't a gym rat like people assume which at the end of the day doesn't matter for most players. As long as you are productive when are practicing. Kirk snyder lived at the toyota center and never improved. He also dominated practice. He just couldn't put it all together.
The double standard is just too funny. T-mac is a lazy idiot for not being a gym rat....battier just knows how to stay fresh, yeah that's it.
Don't make Morey out to be childish, he didn't call out McGrady. Everything he said about T-Mac is what everyone already knows. There is no secret why T-Mac is not as good as he should/could have been.
Battier had no weakness, he was good at everything he did. Good 3pt shooter, good dribble drive floater, good postup hook, decent passer from high post. What was he supposed to work on again?
+1 It's all is making sense and people getting exposed. Its sad how bad they defend Battier. Battier values his time away from basketball thats a damn good excuse not to lift weights/get better you p***y. Unbelievable!
You "knowledgeable" fans might have a point if there were anyone around the league who agreed with you on Battier or disagreed with JVG on TMac, lol... But alas, you're just angry TOFs.
Nope. There's a reason you can't answer my question, because I'm right. .560 career TS%, 115 career offensive rating Yeah, doesn't look like he's playing with many weaknesses.
Shane Battier career average on offense 9.7 ppg 2.0 assist If he has no weakness at all please explain why those numbers are so low. Playoffs 8.1 ppg Again if he had no weakness he would be more involved in the offense.
He doesn't look to score the ball and he's not a PG. If he was constantly making mistakes on the offensive end, then it would show in his stats (real stats, not those 1980s joke stats you threw at me). This all comes back to JVG's point about playing within yourself. If you think Battier had the physical tools to do anything more than he does, well then theres a reason you're not an NBA coach. He knows what he can and can't do, he plainly says it.
The problem here is we don't know all the facts and specifics. It's important to note there's different ways to prepare and get ready for a game/opponent. How much preparation did they do off the court? On the court, were they practicing hard with the team, but simply not putting in overtime? Overtime during the season, but not enough work during the offseason? No work at all during the offseason? Personally i haven't bashed tmac about this because the guy was still an all-star. Had it not been for injuries, he 'd be a hall of famer for sure. If you look at all the bad moments, they were all related to injury. The difference here wouldn't be between being an ok player and a great one, but rather a very good one and a great one. It's hard to know and argue how much better he really could have been. Is JVG saying he just didn't really practice or he didn't practice a million hours extra like Kobe bryant? There's definitely a difference. If he was already a very good player and did work during his "40 hrs" a week, then I don't see why he should be bashed. It's unfortunate that he didnt want to be even better, but it's not exactly being lazy or not doing his job. Some of the same applies to battier. Is JVG saying he didnt put in any work on his own outside of practice? Or that he just wasn't working on it for hours and hours? For some reason, this has been translated to "battier doesn't do anything to get better", but it seems to me like he just shifted his focus on defense more. His mistake would be focusing too much on that end, but not necessarily failing to put in any extra time. For all we know he left the gym to go over playbooks and stats, and not "personal time". Whatever the case may be, we have to remember it's a job. Some work doing what they love and go above and beyond what's required. Other's dont, but that doesn't mean they weren't good employees. I'm sure there's a lot of us who are good, even great, employees and don't bring our work home.
Not sure why there is so much focus on the few productive players we actually had when we were at an elite level. I guess I am the only one who was okay with both McGrady and Battier. A 50+ win team with Head, Alston, Ryan Bowen and raw Chuck Hayes in the rotation speaks alot to how good Yao/McGrady/Battier were.
