i know he brings that great individual defense (many say hes our defensive captain) and those extra intangibles that all coaches love. i respect ALL of that. and every team needs one of those guys. but here's my concern: he is on the floor for AT LEAST 35+ minutes every game. and 99% of every offensive possession, battier basically parks himself outside the 3pt line, and RARELY (like literally) puts up a shot unless he is literally wide open (meaning a typical player would be able to take a look at the spalding label on the ball, sets his feet, sips a cup of coffee, wipes his mouth...well you get my point). he never takes a shot or even tries to do something if he's not wide open. and that's fine if he is an extremely consistent shooter. morey and the rockets' brass claim he's a great shooter, but yet he's not. i know offense shouldn't be a problem when we have 3 legit 20 point scorers and have other good guys who can score. that wouldn't be my concern if battier plays limited minutes. eventually rafer and battier will be on the court to end games. and that's 2 guys i don't trust in the playoffs to take big shots. even if we put our 3 stars out there, they can easily go off those 2 and double all 3 guys and live and die by rafer or battier shooting. we all know rafer's inconsistency. but most on here seem to disregard shane's inconsistent offense also b/c of his "intangibles." hopefully artest will really shine on defense so adelman will play battier less (like 18-20 minutes a game) as we go in the stretch run. idk, it's just a concern of mine for a while. well, ever since shane has been here actually but he's been so bad this year that i consider him a HUGE liability.
I know hes been playing poorly, but if youre going to question his shooting, you cant say that Artest is any better in that area. Battier is like 39 percent from three for his career. Artest is 34 percent.
Battier is basically a 40% shooter. If he's parked at the 3 and not being defended, then the person with the ball is not finding the open man. His job on offense is to threaten the defense with his corner 3-pter, which creates spacing for Yao and T-Mac. Again, at 40%, he is doing his job. I don't care about the details. Since he has been on this team, the team has been better with him than without him, and that is too consistent a trend to ignore. Morey sees this.
Battier probably more than anyone is the most dependent on mcgrady to get his offense. Mcgrady uses his size and court vision to make pinpoint passes to the corner. Battier never worries me when hes out there. He rebounds, he defends, he contests every shot, he gets back on D, he makes the right pass, he doesnt turn the ball over. He's inadequate on offense when yao and tracy dont have it going, but how often does that happen?
i don't think you get my point. artest can create his own shots and make plays for his teammates (well sometimes). he can get to the line, post up... he can make himself a factor offensively. shane doesn't do ANYTHING but shoot wide open shots. hell, sometimes he passes up wide open shots too.
he's been getting outplayed BADLY by his counterparts in the playoffs (namely ak47 and harpring) whenever they do match up. again if he is out there for limited minutes to give us a sense of direction on defense and hustle, i would love that. but you simply cannot have guys who simply are so one-dimensional down the stretch of games. look at the spurs. now bruce bowen comes off the bench b/c pop knows he needs some offense.
Nice post. I agree. I would not mind Ron starting though, Battier should get about 30 minutes a game.........
exactly, but i think that once we have the whole team back we really wont need him to create much offense other than shooting. brent barry takes more and hits more shots than battier who plays twice the minutes. hes there to play defense and be a spot up shooter to complament tmac and yao(sometimes artest) when theyre doubled. dont worry about shane. if hes hitting he'll shoot.
Shane doesn't look like he's got it all together this season. Of course this won't happen, but the lineup I want to see when Artest and McGrady come back is: alston wafer artest scola Yao I'd just like to see it. I don't know that it would work but Artest is more dynamic on offense than Shane and can take those defensive assignments while Wafer is looking like a more dependable spot up 3 shooter and is great at slashing and transition. McGrady's ego would take a hit but with all the freakin schinangins he's pulled, he should come off the bench until his play and minutes warrant more.
his highest playoff minutes average is 34. in the 2 playoff series shane has played with us, he played 39 and 41 minutes per game. and that's why i use bowen as an example. the spurs use him right and play him just enough minutes.
bowen is a better individual defender than battier, but battier is much more versatile. He rebounds better, hes a better help defender, he blocks shots, he can defend the post. Hes a really smart and accurate passer. He does alot of things that i dont conscider intangible. Its easy to pick on him now because hes been awful on offense, but when we get all of our gys back, it wont be nearly as big of a problem.
the best teams nowadays usually field 5 guys who can make plays. they don't have to be great playmakers, but they have the ability to make plays. look at boston. rajon rondo is not a great player, but he at least can be a playmaker if teams sag off of him and double their big 3. kendrick perkins usually gets a few post ups a game to keep teams honest. most of the great teams in the west field the same thing. i never said shane was a bad player. i simply said if he plays THAT MANY MINUTES, he is going to hurt us eventually. if he plays 20-25 minutes, i think he would be great. and i hope artest coming back healthy would do that.
Yeh, I dont think he should play 35-40 mins a night either. Especially with all the talent we have behind him now. That said, his shooting and his versatility on defense more than makes up for any of the weaknesses in his game. You say that most good teams need 5 who can make plays. I disagree with that. Battier spacing the floor with his shooting and his passing is way more valuable than perkins one or two post ups a game. Look at some of the other good teams. The lakers start radmonovic who is worthless other than his three point shot. He doesnt make plays, but he spaces the floor. Roger Mason for the Spurs, same thing. They may be slightly better shooters, but these guys arent nearly as well rounded as Battier and they start for good teams.
um vlad rad isn't starting anymore. and roger mason has "some" skills if you haven't noticed some of his game winners (he's a much better player offensively). again, if shane plays around 20-25 mins, i wont' complain one bit.
