i guess if the only way you're capable of comparing two players is by looking at stats then yeah they look like the exact same player. did you watch stromile swift play at all? he's terrible, unmotivated, and lost. he puts up numbers because he's talented but as contibutor to winning he's less then half of what battier is.
The trade might work out, the more I think about it playing a front line of Yao, Battier and Tmac can be a dynamic nightmare on both ends, much morese than plugging Swift between them. But I still think value wise Memphis got a killer deal. Swift is a PF/C will some value at his productivity, age and reasonable contract. Just look at the more injury prone Nene's deal. I think value alone Swift is close to Battier, not quite there but close. Also, I think Gay, as a very promising #8 pick, has about the value of the soon to be 28 year old Battier who has been a 6th pick who has neither exceeded nor tanked relative to his expectations. To make the value right the Rockets should have at least gotten the #24 pick (I'd used it on Farmar probably), Warrick (19th pick), or a conditional 1st rounder (lottery protected). Again, Battier might be the best fit, but Memphis got the value in the trade.
Of course they are---THAT'S THE POINT! The vast majority of NBA draft picks do not pan out as expected. What makes more sense--going with a 19-year-old who disappeared from games in college and has no proven track record, or with a proven NBA contributor? Not to mention, you get to get rid of a stiff that was not smart enough or motivated enough to learn JVG's defensive philosophy. Oh, and let's not forget--Swift was the SECOND overall pick coming out of college. Everyone had him pegged as the next KG when he came out early. But, the one knock on him was that there were questions about his motivation. Let's see--an early-entry can't-miss talent with motivation questions--sound familiar? He's a prime example of why the NBA draft is a complete crapshoot most of the time.
is battier a contributor to winning? he might be during the regular season but in the playoffs, has he stepped up? I just think production/contribution to winning wise, battier is not too far ahead from swift which means we basically gave up the 8th pick or rudy gay for this matter for nothing..
Too true, and it's driving many of us nuts. Time to move on and hope we aren't through dealing. Swift was a tall idiot, but a tall idiot with value. We should have pulled a pick out of the deal. At least we did get a really excellent role player, and not someone on their "last legs." Battier is going to make us happy we have him when the season starts. Now we need to add more to the team. Come on, Rockets... pull a good deal or two out of your hats!
Moves to a better/more competitive team: 1-Sign james to MLE 2-Sign Gooden to TE 3-Trade Howard for Josh childress, and a filler (could sign wesly and trade if needed) New line up: Alston/James McGrady*/Head Battier*/Childress* Gooden/Hayes/Novak Yao/Deke *can play multipple positions 2,3,4. What do ya'll think?
James to the MLE fine. Gooden may cost more than a TE and isn't all that better than Swift except for rebounding. Juwan Howard plus filler for Childress. Atlanta probably won't even consider it.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y5nfOiFE6J8&search=rudy gay right as I was getting over this whole debacle I ran across this. Relived the night. The analysts make very good points and it makes me realize that I as well as others have started to justify the trade in our minds. At least the board was united that one night.
I think the more people think about the trade the more they like it. I have been watching the clutch poll and the amount of people who now see this as a good trade is slowing creeping up. I know the majority still hate the trade but at least more people are coming around. As for everyone who thinks battier and swift have about the same value, that is crazy. I guarantee every team in the league would much much rather have battier then swift. it is true their stats offensively are not that much different but battier brings so much more in defense and intangibles. For every good think swift did on offense, there were five lapses in defense that caused easy buckets or silly fouls. I think we could have gotten more and hopefully will find out we did get more, but stop the silly comparisons between the two.
Oh not doubt about it. If it was Swift for Battier straight up you can be sure Memphis fans will be up in arms. HOWEVER, we gave Gay too. And that is the root of the problem.
Battier is the better player, but Swift as a 4/5 is a much rarer commodity (demands a premium, just look at Nene's contract which only goes to swingmen if they are legit stars). That makes the difference much closer. If you call Battier's value at 7 than Swift is a 5 or 6. Rudy Gay's value also should have been near SBs. You are talking a new mid lotto swingman for one like 8 years older who has pretty much stayed at his expections and become a role player but no star. If Batt is the 7, Gay is no worse than a 6. So Battier might have been worth a tad more than the 8th pick (Gay) or Swift, but either is close as a stand alone. At a minimum IMO the Rockets should have got a late 1st from Memphis (Warrick, #24, future) or traded a future #1 but not the 8th pick in this draft do this deal.
From the perspective of Chinese people, battier than a more direct result of these achievements, however, expect the rockets have a good performance. Chinese soccer fans to support them. 站在中国人的角度,battier比盖带来的成绩更直接些,无论如何都期待火箭有好的成绩.中国球迷支持他们.
Ok, here it goes, i'm starting to like this trade. Sure value was it might seem to lopsided, but we are probaly getting the best defensive small forward outside of bruce bowen in the entire league. not to mention battier is the best Role player in the league. Were finally getting a SF who can let T-mac Concentrate on offensive and not consume his energy on defense. trust me, with battier here, tracy will be a more lethal player. with battier, we wont be getting burnt by opposing primeter players anymore. he'll patrol the primeter like a hounddog. he brings alot of positives and those little things that can equate to good things for our ballclub.the Inital shock and anger for me is starting to turninto alot of positives vibes about Battman.
everyone tends to put stromile in the dog house.... he sucks,he doesn't try,and he is unmotivated blah blah...sounds like 60% of phoenix's roster......pair stromile with Nash and the guy would be an above average player.
we all concede that battier > swift and battier > gay (or any one else at 8th) but what's hard to accept is battier >= swift + gay (or any one else at 8th)
It was a bad trade. Even with Battier we don't have enough pieces to win it all now. This organization has no vision.
I will not accept Ray Guy and Swift to trade Memphis for Shane Battier. I wanna keep them to stay on Rocket's teams. If they are going to prove & approved a tradition NBA. (SIGH). What will rockets do additional players in 2006-2007
This assumes that Swift had any trade value. I'd guess that we attempted to trade Swift already and couldn't get any decent offers. Swift still had several years left on his contract and he is a 6-year under-performing veteran. Face it, Stro is a bad contract and teams don't give you back anything good if you are giving them a bad contract. Given that Stro is a bad contract, we did good simply to unload him.
I certainly disagree that Swift had a "bad contract." For a 4/5 with freakish athleticism, and still having that "P" word attached to him for his unrealized potential, I just don't believe he didn't have value. We should have at least obtained the 24th pick from Memphis in the deal. Of course, that's be said here, oh, about 300 times by now. How many times have we seen underachieving players improving with a change of scenery? Enough that you can almost always find a taker for a guy like Swift.
