yeah battier looks like crap this season, but he's obviously still injured. i don't really know what answer you're looking for. There's absolutely no reason to assume that a player of his age and fitness level would have any kind of decline so it's kind of stupid to base his value on what he looks like right now. he's been fantastic the last two seasons, and when yao and mcgrady are good to go, and now with artest here, he'll be a great compliment. rudy gay gives you more than battier if t-mac is hurt but you know what? you're not winning anything if t-mac is hurt, whether you're rudy gay or shane battier. battier when healthy is a better fit and i'd do that trade again every day of the week.
I diagree on Outlaw. He's a guy who is definitely improving, but relies too much on his athleticism. He's lost on defense. Artest's defense has definitely improved since the beginning of the season. His team defense is ok (he gambles a lot), and he's certainly a better on the ball defender then Battier (I've never thought highly of Battier as an on the ball defender to be honest). How has Ron done a good job? He has definitely won some games for us, but so has TMac. Overall, he's shooting like Rafer. Also, I realize he's injured, but it's funny that he and TMac seem to just miss seperate games. I don't question Ron's heart. I know he wants to win. I think he's a lot like Iverson though. You get 100% when he's on the court , but everything else is a crap shoot. It's always been that way.
That's my point. The role players were brought in to fit in with a pair of superstars who have fallen short of expectations. If someone wants to trade Shane for a scorer I can understand that seeing how Tracy is done as an elite player and Yao will never turn into the force that the franchise expected but let's all be clear it isn't Shane who failed to deliver on what was expected of him.
Great knee-jerk whining thread! Keep in mind, Coach Leebigez was hot for the Rockets to pick up such awesome players as Ricky Davis and Tim Thomas this off-season.
Battier is a problem. Rafer cannot shoot. Tmac has no heart. Yao is not clutch. Scola cannot jump. Artest is crazy. AB is short. Hayes has no offensive skill. Landry has a bad leg..... Let's get these guys for the team : CP3, Kobe, LeBron, Tim and Dwight. When we loose a game, then this board will start saying... CP3 is dirty. Kobe is selfish. Lebron canot shoot FT. Duncan is boring. Dwight has no offcenisve moves...... so lets get Nash, Wade, Garnett, Piece and keep Yao as our 2nd unit....
everyone wants battier to score, when his clearly a defensive minded player. everyone says battier get burned by 2nd and 3rd tier player, but i do see alot of artest on those players you mention. everyone wants battier to dribble the ball, create the offense, make the cut, go for the dunk. Maybe they are looking for a Lebron, wade or kobe..... Come on, his not worth the 6th pick of his year, and the 8th pick rox traded for him. Lets see the 6th pick and 8th pick since the year 2001. 2001 battier and DeSagana Diop 2002 Dajuan Wagner and Chris Wilcox 2003 Kaman and Ford 2004 Josh Childress and Rafael Araújo 2005 Martell Webster and Channing Frye 2006 Roy and Gay 2007 Yi and Brandan Wright 2008 Danilo Gallinari and Joe Alexander Hmmm, except for 2-3 players who is a definite upgrade over battier in that list? 2 players that is better than battier (roy and kaman) and maybe you can say gay is better than battier as well.
Because most of the people on this board knows how much he brings to our team. The stuff he does may not show on the box score but anyone with good knowledge on how games are won appreciate what Battier brings to the table.
First, Artest isn't a zero at the offensive end like Battier. He is also a good defender but plays a different style of defense. Battier is conservative and has to play smart because of his lack of athleticism. Artest is a better man-to-man defender and is better at playing the passing lines and stripping the ball from players. Second, among that list of 6th and 8th picks over the last 8 years, I'd take all of these players over Battier: Roy Gay Kaman Ford Childress Webster (hasn't done a lot yet but has a lot of upside given how young he was coming into the league, Portland, a team on the rise, would rather hold onto the injured Webster than Travis outlaw) Wright Alexander
QFt. Besides Battier is just timid when it comes on the offensive end. He CAN score when he wants to, since he has the 3-ball as well as some post moves. Let him get healthy first and hopefully he'll become more aggressive on the offensive end
Why are people still using injuries as an excuse for Battier's poor play? Nobody is making excuses for other players who are injured. How long ago did he have surgery? Yet, he missed most of the season due to inflamation. That tells me that he's declining physically. I don't think it's too much to ask a starting 3 to be able to dribble a basketball effectively, but some of you seem to think that asking Battier to do basic/fundamental basketball moves and plays is asking too much. If he can't do anything other than the corner 3 on offense and if he's not a lockdown defender, what is his purpose out there? Is it to just run around and make it look like he's doing something? Since Battier is such a "specialist," he's a luxury this team can't afford. He's gotta go. The Rockets and Morey need to seriously look at trading this guy.
thanks Dr. I'm guessing you have access to battier's medical records, have personally inspected his ankle and through your analysis have come to the conclusion that in fact he is healed and he's just declining. what an unbiased opinion.... battier is 30 and for most nba players in the prime of his career. he has consistently been healthy and played arguably the best basketball of his life last season. why on earth would you come to the conclusion that he's on decline rather than the obvious reason being that he's still recovering. you can clearly see pain on his face at times on the court, and unless you're really stupid and think battier is faking it, then it's clear the reason why he's struggling. as for making excuses for the rest of the hurt players, are you blind, or only attracted to battier threads? there's plenty of people saying the exact same thing about both artest and t-mac. I've ripped on Artest's defense this season but I know it's because he's hurt, not because he's on the decline. If anything you're doing exactly what you're accusing everyone else of. giving artest an excuse while not providing the same to battier. really we have a team that just needs to get healthy than we can fairly judge how good they are.
Umm... Battier is a "zero" at the offensive end? Quick, name two Rockets who shot better 3pt than Battier in the past two years... Hayes is a zero on offense. Mutombo is a zero on offense. Battier may not be a 10, maybe not even a 5, but he definitely is NOT a zero.
I guess the Francis/Mobley/Cato era wasnt that bad after all. Not much to complain about anymore with those guys I already know the counter - "But at least you're taking a chance with athleticism". Not enough young athletic lengthy sexy man meat specimens with potential to gush over on this team I guess...
Literally, he's a 1. What a meant was that he can't create his own shots. Compared to almost every other SF in the league, he has practically no offensive game.
How long does it take to recover from a routine surgery? Battier has declined practically every year since he's been in the league. There are a few people who defend tmac and ron and say that they're injured but they're drown out by the majority of people who vehemently criticize tmac. Also ron has played for most of the season and won games for the rockets while battier has not. Not only hasn't he played for most of the season, he's had maybe 1 good game. This is the the first thread criticizing battier. How many tmac and artest threads like this have there been? I've never made any injury excuses for either of those players anyway. But at least ron and tracy have produced this season and won games for the rockets. I'm not expecting battier to be a game changer but only 1 good game the entire season? He deserves all the criticism he's getting in this thread. I also believe the trade has been a failure for the rockets, because shane didn't help the rockets win now like he was supposed to do. I also believe that its not too late to salvage the situation and trade him.
As absurd as this sounds, I am glad to hear that Battier will miss the next 6 games to rest his foot. I was worried that his inability to stay in front of his man this year was due to age slowing him down; however, now that I know he is still injured, I am optimistic that when he finally heals (hopefully sometime soon), he will go back to being the same defensive monster on the perimeter that we expect him to be. A healthy Battier is required in order to play the level of D we displayed last season. A semi-healthy or injured Battier is useless - hence the mediocre defense as of late.
For those of you who don't understand, it's because you are looking at the stat sheet instead of watching the game. If you say you are watching them, then it just means you have no clue how to watch a BB game. Battier is never known for his offense, it's his defense that got him a job in NBA.
