If Battier couldnt put up decent stats with Memphis, a team with little talent like you said, what makes you think his playin will get any better in Houston. If anything, his stats and playing ability will get worse because we have 2 superstars on this team.
Why? Why would his playing ability be affected at all? Does not compute. And why would playing with two superstars hurt Battier's stats? The man will be more wide open than he's ever been in his life.
I do not get the logic behind saying that since he's going to be playing on a better team... his stats are gonna decrease. Look, Battier isn't the kind of guy that takes over a game and scores 38 with 13 rebounds. He is the ultimate role player and a defensive specialist. He is at his best when he can play the supporting role to guys like T-mac and Yao who can put up big numbers. Playing with those guys he is not only going to get more opportunities to make shots, but will also pull in more rebounds and will be more able to shut down defenses. We don't need a guy to come in and take over games. We need a guy that can shut down some of the best players in the league, play his heart out every game, bring leadership to a team, and keep opposing defenses honest with an above average outside shot... Battier can do all that. We already have two guys that can take over a game and put up huge numbers. This is exactly why we didn't need Gay. We needed a real leader, a great defender, an overachiever, and a team player to compliment our two dominant players... not an underachiever who would be competing with our two main weapons to see who could score the most points.
For some reason, I'm envisioning Battier to be a Rick Fox type player. The better his surroundings are, the better and more effective he will be. Open looks, less responisibilities, Battier should grow during his time here. Enough with scoring, if he could just get us 10 & 5 along 5 extra looseballs a game. He could indirectly get us an extra 4-6 points a night right there, what with the scoring ability McYao have.
He could not put up numbers with no good players on his team. If he was a decent player, he would have been scoring at least 15-17ppg
Good post BLakeB. Battier IS A MAN...these other guys are boys. What makes him a MAN? He takes responsibility! He accepts a role and on this team he will benefit in other ways as a guy like Ben Wallace did by playing hard and doing what his team needs. He may not be flashy and rack up stats but he will be a piece we've needed ever since Elie and more recently Posey, who by the way helped the Heat extensively, have left. Some of you plea we need a OT type at PF, welll I agree but we also need an Elie type on this team. This guy is not going to take a game off. In a league full of millionaire who need their egos massaged I consider ourselves lucky to have a guy who tries to earn his contract and not his next. We have a great proven team player which is better than two unproven players in the midst of our superstars prime. I'm tired of thinking about what the future could be when I've done that for ten years now and so have all of you! Why not add a piece that you know you can count on instead of pieces that may or may not work. Let Rudy Gay prove himself and lets let the rockets prove themselves with a proven player. Rudy Gay would definitely be successful if he had a guy like Battier to learn from instead of Stro.
