Well I will be happy as long as Gay is a bust. Heh. The Battier stats are interesting, I just hope they translate into wins.
We can land Shane Battier type of player with one MLE. We need an impact player, Battier has shown he shrank in the playoffs. That's the opposite of our need. Battier lost 16 straight playoffs games, not even once he was a game changer. Juan Howard can still average 15 pts given the shots, that doesn't mean he's an impact player. Basically, we had a yard sale when we should be going for an auction with Gay.
ryan bowen only takes a few shots too, we should be able to swing him for a lotto pick and a starting pf
Wesley averaged 8 shots per game last season. he averaged 10ppg. if we sign MJ then there will definitely not be more shots to go around. what you see is what you get. battier will give you 10ppg, 5rpg, 1spg, 48%fg, 38%3.
I don't have time to pull together and present the analysis but had been looked a lot of it over for the Rockets past and current roster excluding Battier. Point #1: The stat that is most telling for me is Battier's PER. His career is 14.7. A PER of 15 is considered the NBA average. That tells me he http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/battish01.html Point #2: None of the Rockets players we've brought in from other teams have increased their offensive efficiency under JVG's system. Infact most of them went down instead of going up. This is concerning to me because the idea that T-Mac and Yao giving other guys open looks and having them capitalizing on it statistically is a myth. I don't think Battier is a bust but to think that he's going to be a great improvement to the Rockets looks like horse caca to me. Maybe he'll be the lock-down defender. Lord I hope he is. But we better have some huge off-season moves that improves us offensively because right now we are looking like idiots for sure.
There is a reason Battier didn't take too many shots- HE CANT CREATE HIS OWN SHOT. And he isn't a great spot up shooter either. We got him for defense and solid all around play. If we are hoping to have him as the #3 option then I think we're in trouble.
oh, and by the way...moneyball sucks. there's a salary cap in basketball..there's not in baseball. it makes sense in baseball to find the things that other teams aren't valuing as highly, but which can add value to your team, when you can't afford to buy the guys who possess the qualities everyone else wants (in baseball, power). that's the essence of moneyball. in baseball nearly everything is quantifiable. in basketball, that's not so. it's a far bigger leap. if you punch buttons in your magic machine and you come up with the notion that it's cool to give up Stromile and the #8 pick for Shane freaking Battier, then something's wrong with your machine.
But at this point a package of him and Stromile Swift is worth more than Shane Battier. Shane Battier. Shane Battierrr.
Battier is now our 3rd best player; he will not be our 3rd option on offense. He can guard 2/3/4s. I see him as a Bruce Bowen type of player, only younger and much bigger. When we play the Mavs, he can guard either Dirk or Josh Howard. Whatever opposing 2/3/4 is setting us on fire, Battier will get the defensive call. But I doubt he can guard small, superquick SGs like Wade. In free agency or another trade is where we will find our 3rd scorer, and hopefully someone better than Battier.
Madmax - you will be my next attorney...I just need to do something wrong and then I'll call on you. A-Better-Bail-Bonds! I liked Moneyball but it is not a model that would appear to work in the NBA. If Morey was behind this deal, then I'd agree that the "machine is broken". If you had to give (the potential of) Gay and loosely Swift, to land Battier, then you are buying assets that ARE VALUED HIGHLY IN THE NBA...in other words, everyone else knows the statistics game too. The parallel to Beane drafting in the first round the fat kid from Arkansas. The one who drags his nuckles on his pitches because his third nipple chafes his neck when he throws over the top...the one who already got a job at Dairy Queen because his own momma told him that he wouldn't be drafted, is not the same. Beane is buying undervalued assets, we just bought a valued asset. We won't have other Rudy Gay's (sell the sizzle, not just the steak) to land these statistically robust SOLID BUT AVERAGE players. So, I don't see how we can fill the roster out with Moneyball type players.
or do something really good...like acquire a business...start a business..come into millions and need an estate plan.
i've always liked Battier's game. the problem i have with the trade is, ALL WE GOT WAS SHANE BATTIER. you're telling me there the Rox couldn't do any better? and gave Memphis Stromile too. he isn't that worthless, is he?
CD is nt shrewd enough for me. Why could we wait until 10PM last night to make this deal? What was the hurry? We still had our 4.2M TE in the bad - with so many other options like Pietrus and Smith plus options we could attempt in Atlanta we could have kept Gay and added some other solid player. We are not even close to winning it all next season and we did not come closer with Shane joing outr team. Has anyone even bothered to really look at his playoffs record? Puke worthy. For the pain we suffered this past season, we needed the excitement, hope and the chance to dream that Rudy brought to us. Heck ordinary Spanoulis and Badman has been giving us hope [albeit slim] for over two years and they are not even half as good Rudy. There is more chance that Tmac and Yao will not stay healthy than Rudy becoming a bust. This is a sad day in our history. Talking about solid citizen and good defender, Rudy is even more a better person than the Duke ellitist Shane. Shane is not even a 2-guard, he is a freaking SF. What was the point of this trade again? P.S. If we give Hayes more shots and minutes he could be a 15 and 8 guy for us.
