After his rookie season, it all went down hill. He's a solid SF defensively, but his numbers really improve especially since he was a top 7 pick.
Zero work ethic, lazy as frick, doesn't practice to improve his game JK, I think this was discussed in the Sloan conference thread where Morey mentioned Shane is a tape studier kinda guy, but he isn't known to hit the gym for hours just to improve his jumpshot and offensive game. Granted Shane isn't the most athletic person out there, I guess he just does well with what he is given.
Without knowing him personally, there's really no way for any of us to know... But if I had to guess, some of it probably had to do with self-awareness. I imagine that he realized that he was never going to be a (good) team's best scoring/playmaking option, so he decided to play to his strengths, focusing on the little things and making himself a great role-player. He probably also never had the desire to be the number one scoring option on a team, and wasn't going to bother trying. Also, his rookie numbers were somewhat inflated from the fact that he was on a really bad Memphis team without a lot of options.
He also played 40 mpg his rookie year. If you look at his per 36 mpg stats, they are fairly consistent for several years.
turnovers went down. fouls also decreased. 3pt% improved and then was steady. blocks were steady with a slight increase. assists were steady with a slight increase. FT% was up and down Rebs were kind of steady FG% actually improved initially, but his first years was one of his worsts. What youre really asking is why he didn't score more points than he did his rookie year. That's the only stat, along with FGA, that went downhill. The answer is he didnt shoot enough. He pretty much shot 5-6 less field goals the rest of his career.
Actually, upon further reflection, I suspect it's because he was too busy being an Uncle Tom and acting white.
His defense improved. He doesn't have the talent to be a big-time offensive player. Why didn't Dennis Rodman impove on offense?
He recognized he was going to make the most noise in the league/contribute to a winning environment as a lock-down defender, so he dedicated a considerable amount of time to studying game tape and perfecting his defensive fundamentals. He was never known as a gym rat, but he's a very cerebral defender and knows the ins and outs of nearly every premier scorer in the league.
He recognized his limitations. Nothing worse than a player who thinks he is better than he actually is on the offensive end.
The entire knock on Battier coming out of college was that he was a "limited upside" guy. He was a 4-year guy coming out of Duke, and he was one of the most finished-product in the draft in a while. Also, his draft was horrible. So despite the gaudy #6 pick status, Battier's talent was not what you'd expect from looking at draft position alone. He was the "sure thing" coming out of college, and that's exactly what he was. Everyone knew what he could do, and that's what he did as an NBA player. The only question about Shane is why he never developed more of an offensive arsenal. He was easily guarded by opponents because they just expect him to stand at the 3 point line. Now if he had some sort of counter to that, he might've been able to be a deadlier weapon. Whether he never bothered or that he tried and failed, I don't really know.
meh already touched on it. not only was battier a 4-year college player, but he was even old for that and was already 23 when he entered the league. go look at most players and they are leveling off at 22 or 23 (battier's clutchfans counterpart rudy gay has pretty much had the same per minute stats every year since he was 21). they might refine their games or stars might throw a career year or two in their somewhere but you tend to be most of what you are when you hit 23. as noted, pretty much the only difference in his rookie year compared to the rest of his career is that he took a lot more shots and was significantly less efficient. whether he worked hard or not on his offensive game, i don't know, but even if he did, with his athleticism (or lack thereof) i don't think a shane battier turnaround or pull-up jumper or iso was ever going to cross the necessary threshold to be better than a luis scola post-up or kyle lowry p&r or kevin martin drive (or any good team's top players' best offensive move) and thus any possession used by battier would probably just be hurting the team by replacing one of those better opportunities. which is a problem lots of teams/players have. they use possessions on low-efficiency set-ups when they have better and more consistent options.
