Last season, not only did they used the team option(their right to do) making his new contract go under the new cba, they invoke a performance clause that made his salary decrease even though he's been loyal and done things beyond the box scores. Like I said many times on here. Morey is a cut throat gm. You don't do those things like like that to a good person like the chuck wagon. If I was chuck I would leave.
The transition is so heavy, with Shane and Yao gone, I hope the Rockets get someone quick to latch on to. Chuck and Lowry are about the only guys who keep me going now.
chuck, lowry and scola but the team needs a star or a young promising star for fans to latch onto quick. hopefully in the next year or two
Of course they all deserved better. But the truth had we kept kept Battier and Miami/Chicago/Boston comes calling around the next season, would the Batman still stay in houston to "finish what he started"? Or would he leave to go ring hunting, esp. when Yao announces his retirement? I think we all know the answer to that one. Solomon is a douchebag.
Actually, one can say the Rockets did Battier a long term favor since now Memphis will likely give him pretty good money. It's not like Morey banished him to the TWolves or the Clippers. Battier became the returning hometown hero in Memphis. So while I'm sure Battier was depressed at being traded, he probably will look back in hindsight like a positive. And Battier not wanting to return to the Rockets is more about the team rebuilding and Battier wishing to play for a contender. Seems to me like a mutual parting, just 3 months earlier than Battier may have wanted, and with the Rockets breaking off the relationship first.
He wouldn't have helped us much. He went to a better team,he even admitted to that. Battier needs star players to do well. DM knew that very well,but he went for the wrong guy in Thabeet.
I don't see where Battier was complaining about anything. He simply said that, at the time of the trade, the team was trying hard to make a playoff run and it was disappointing that he didn't get to finish the job with guys like Lowry, Hayes, etc. with whom he bonded as teammates. He didn't complain about going to the City of Memphis or playing for the Grizzlies at all, he also didn't say that it was irrational for Morey to make the deal. He simply noted that, emotionally, he still identified with the Rockets and it was tough to see "his team" miss the playoffs even though it was "his other team" that knocked "his team" out.
What gave it away, the fact that Battier was well documented in saying that he didn't want to get traded right before the deadline?
Funny, I had read an article just two days ago where Battier expressed having a great time back in Memphis. The caption under the picture even reads, "Shane Battier said he was ecstatic to return to Memphis in a midseason trade from Houston" and here's an exerpt: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/ian_thomsen/07/08/shane.battier/ Yup, Battier sounds like he was in hell! Poor guy.
dissapointed by some of the comments. When a man says that the huge playoff success of memphis compared to their embarrassing past didn't help in closing the wound it means something. The rockets have been abysmal from a management perspective.
you're not very smart. When something you can't change happens, you don't want to piss on the situation you've been put in. Its not a surprise he's making these comments at the end of the season. And it goes to show his character, he is an optimist, a true leader in the locker room, sometimes that alone can be contagious and turn the tide.
