Battier for Rudy Gay/Stromile is not paying dividends

When Battier isnt hitting the three his defensive contribution isnt quite good enough to justify his presence in the court. If our team was more competent on offense it wouldnt be such a big deal but we need offense badly.

 

What do the Rockets have against people who can break down defenses one on one?

 

I still say Battier over Gay/Swift. There are plenty of players who can put up numbers when given the shots. Battier is a winner and he will help us win big.

 

I hate having to attack Battier to attack arguments in defense of him, but how exactly is he a "winner"...? He has been otherwise insignificant in every playoff series he has participated in during his career.

 

Exactly what has shane done in his career that proves he is a winner?

 

Excellent work destroying that post lol

all those player are ahead of battier who has always been and overrated defender and a inconsistant shooter. JVG hid his weakness but now they are blatant.

Trade him while the myth of his advanced defensive skill is still believable.

 

Or we could be like San Antonio and just plain keep losing and end up with the number one draft pick and pick up a Tim Duncan type to go with Yao and T-Mac.

 

It was a trade that had JVG's fingerprints all over it, which was probably when I began to sour on his approach to coaching. If a head coach can't see the enormous benefits in developing a player like Gay, and pushes to trade him for an obedient "glue guy", then he's not going to be a good fit in this new NBA, where quickness and athleticism are more valued than ever.

The Rockets have made two huge draft mistakes over the last ten years and some horrible free agent mistakes, over that same period, and it doesn't take many of these mistakes to secure yourself as a second tier team.

 

You have good points. I never said Battier was as good as all of those players. Rodman, DJ, should be hall of famers, and the others were more skilled than Battier, except Bowen (his defense isn't better, its just hand checking, but he gets away with it for whatever reason). But the point I'm trying to make is that, Battier plays the same role on this team as those guys did for those teams. Make all the hustle plays and guard the other team's best perimeter scorer. Every team needs a player like that. Doug Christie is not as good as any of those guys, but he filled that role in Sacramento while Adelman was there, and they were a good team during that time. Remember how Dallas turned out when they had an overload of talent back in 2003? Just too many scorers on the court at the same time and no defense.

Battier fills that role for the Rockets. He may not be the best defensive player out there, he may not be the quickest, fastest, or overall athletic player to fill this role, but he does his job every night on the defensive end. Is anybody going to call Artest a bad defender because Tmac has lit up Artest the last few times they've faced each other? NO. Talented players will get their points on most nights, but Artest did give McGrady hell in the first 2 and a half quarters of the game. Battier does the same thing. Look at how hard Kobe works for his points when he faces Battier. Thats all Battier has to do, just make these top scorers work for their points, and I think he does a good job of that.

 

The problem for us is that we got 2.5 starters who cannot shoot. So Yao and T-mac are double or tripple teamed all the time. This situation has to change and we should punish the oponent for their constant double or tripple team of Yao and T-Mac. But look on our starters. Hay is always open and he can make 1 to 2 open shots a game. Rafer is open all the time and he miss his shoot 70-80 % of the time when he tries the open shot from outside (his overall shooting is higher that's because he sometimes drive to paint for a layup). Now Battier also misses most of his open shots. So there is no hope for this team if we don't make a change.

 

I don't think anyone is saying Battier sucks. At least I'm not. My point is you don't trade the #8 pick for a role player unless that role player will put your team over the top. I don't see how anyone could reasonably say they expected the Battier trade to put us over the top. We were not that close to title contention before making that move.

For example, Miami mortaged their future to get Shaq. They are in salary cap hell with a declining player until Shaq hangs it up, but the trade put them into title contention so you could argue it was worth it. If you aren't close to being the champ you don't trade high potential for a role player..period....

 

I was one of the fans that went crazy when the trade happened and i started to like battier for a while and then i realized how much potential Gay has and the athlete he really is. That is what we really need, a proven ahtlete with an all-around game that can help our offense. Battier's mediocre defense and standing around at the 3-point line aint helping much.

bad trade, memphis got the steal in this one

 

Do you really think Gay would develop into what he is now with a superstar of the same position on his team?
Talents will need space, right condition to turn in to superstars.
I'm happy for Gay's development and also appreciate Battier's contribution.

 

He's been on teams which had no shot to get anywhere in the playoffs - because of their franchise players. Battier is not a franchise player - he is a complementary player, so I don't think anyone would expect him to win a series for his team - maybe only in the sense Elie did with the "kiss of death"...but stat-wise, Elie was never one who would stand out, yet every real Rocket fan knows how important he was to our success (perhaps Battier is a bit too "nice" compared to Elie...we'll see). We need the right mix, and personally, I believe Battier should be part of this mix - I just think we need more offense from the 1 and 4 positions - with Hayes, Battier AND Alston, we have three guys who are no offensive threat, which makes things harder for everyone.

Also, Battier was a winner in college...

 

I agree with this guy, very well said.

Some think we probably didn't maximize Rudy/Stromile's 'market value' in the trade and therefore got the short end of the stick. They are probably right, but I think they are not considering the importance of a fitting into your role. Battier's role to the Rockets exceeds whatever hypothetical role Rudy would have received. That's the most important thing to me. I'm glad he has blossomed into an talented player in Memphis, but you know he would not have been given the same amount of shots here. This is not even to mention that we were never going to keep him. In that light, we should be thrilled to have him compared with Thabo Sefolosha.

 

very good attitude. however... many fans just feel very disappointing to let rudy gay sorta slipped away...

battier is a good guy but rudy gay is a diamond...

we have no problems to be with a good guy... but sometimes we would love to have a 4 karat diamond on our fingers too...

 

Im not saying Shane should get a pass on offense, but I see and appreciate his effort and contribution on the defensive end. One on One I feel he is our best defender, although he is not a hall of fame type player. He keeps Mc Grady out of foul trouble. Youre telling me Rudy Gay is going to guard BDavis or Kobe all night and still score 20ppg? Doubt it. Or wait.. we put TMac on kobe all night and suffer on the offensive end or let TMac get in foul trouble.

I love Shane's D and not just because he's a good guy. He takes charges, deflects balls, blocks shots, disrupts fast breaks. Just the other night I saw him run down two fast breaks and come up with blocked shots. Fast breaks that anyone else would have given up on and conceded 2 points.

Rudy Gay would score but would be a liability of Defense. And he might not do much scoring because he is undersized. When he plays TMac he is often in fould trouble. Can't score from the bench.

 

Agree, good post.

 

Tonight

POL vs MEM

Gay 30pts, 8rbs