"A lot more" is a stretch, you're right. But "more." It's hard to analyze right at Shane's salary, so let's say a range of $5 million to $8 million. Obviously there are better players getting paid more, but then there are also better players getting paid less (be it rookie contract or whatever). So, to name a few (and ignoring "big men"): Jameer Nelson Jose Calderon Ben Gordon John Salmons Marvin Williams Raja Bell Turkoglu JR Smith Stephen Jackson Barbosa just a quick review. you could nit pick here and there. I think the above are all better players. Like I mentioned earlier, there are a number of teams that don't really even have a player to compare cause it seems to be a no man's land salary range for backcourt players. And there are definitely more overpaid players in the league. Luke Ridnour get's paid $6.5 million as an example. For $6.5 million, I think you could get more.
Why is everyone's inclination on this board to trade away the key players of the best team this city has had since its championship years? I don't understand it.
Leadership, mental toughness etc. uhhhh Alston!?! Inlet pass to Yao, ball movement, Alston?!? Apparently Moret doesn't value those intangibles THAT MUCh. We traded him for Lowry, sure as heck we will trade Battier if a good trade comes along. Didn't I counter? Check his 3 point FG%. and I don't know what else to say other than, Battier and ball movement? He is ok but to give him credit for it? Come on.... Wow, what expects Battier to hold Kobe below his average? The Law of friggin Average. Thats who. . I am talking about average, which is what Kobe scores against ALL types of defenders, WEAK AND STRONG. If you are the strongest defender which Battier is, law of average says, yes he should hold Kobe below his average. Sigh..
Forgot about Cook's contract. His contract actually could come in quite handily this off-season. I think the confusion is that your original post implies you think Shane is better than Tayshaun. Of course, if the Rockets have some additional bargaining leverage over the Pistons, for whatever reason, they should exploit it - but I wouldn't not do a straight up deal (if it worked under the cap, which it doesn't) just because the Pistons refuse to add some "sweetener". Tayshaun is a better player then Shane. If there is negotiating leverage, perhaps you structure the above trade (Shane + Cook = Tayshaun) and then ask for Detroit's draft pick as sweetener.
i don't think every single player in your list is a better overall player than shane; or will suit the rockets' needs better. but that's besides the point. yes, there are some players out there with better price/functionality ratio than shane, i am sure; but it doesn't necessarily mean we could have these players. different situations with different players when they sign their deals. on the same token, scola is worth more than his current price tag, but if you're a fan of another team, you just can't say, "hey, why can't we have someone nicer at 3mils per? look at houston, they've got scola at that price."
Because, a team should always be looking to improve. Getting out of the first round in 12 years does not make everything fine and dandy. ONE team wins the championship every season. Making the playoffs and winning a playoff series means jack if that does not translate into winning it all. I will never be a fan of a team that is ok with mediocrity. Every team should strive to get better.
Championship of bust. 2nd round basketball is way way way way more exciting then losing in the first round or not making the playoffs at all. But if you're not a winner, you're a loser. We're just looking at objective ways to improve the team for future seasons.
so no matter who guards kobe, it won't matter; and he will, by law of average, get his average? now you're just roaming. name me who else guards kobe better than shane did in this series.
I'd argue the complete opposite. As a fan, you expect your team and their management to find those types of deals. It's nice to say "we're doing better than most" - we were still playing when all but 5 other teams were done for the season - but the goal is to be the last team playing, and winning. And since the league has a salary cap, to do so requires the best use of salaries. And again, that was just a quick review. I'd still contend that, on the whole, players in the NBA who are getting paid what Shane is getting paid are either (1) clearly better, or (2) clearly overpaid. Shane may be one of the few "properly paid", but I think he's getting too much. You're right though in noting that where we go from here isn't as simple as saying "hey, Orlando, give us Jameer Nelson, here's Shane Battier". But I'm not advocating trading Shane for a bag of potato chips either. Clearly, most logical fans would trade Shane for someone "better" and not for someone "worse". So I guess the real question is, does Morey actively use Shane as trade bait, as opposed to wait and see if he fields any calls about him? I think Morey probably has his hands full with other more important issues, but I'd also agree with pgabs, that now is probably the time to be the instigator - Shane's trade value may be at an all time high, despite his production being at an all time personal low.
We were missing 2 All-Stars (well, I shouldn't call T-Mac an All-Star, but technically he's one because of the fan voting) because of injuries. Battier was the captain of this squad through these playoffs and kept this team together. No way we should move him. I would move Ron, T-Mac, or anyone else on the squad (except Yao) before I would move Battier.
Wait, so this thread isn't a tongue-in-cheek knee-jerk reaction to the playoffs? And here I was, thinking this was mocking Kwame's thread.
roaming? huh? you really don't grasp the law of average do you? ok let me explain. If kobe scores 40 one night, and his season average is 25, law of average says he has to score 10 one other night. Now Battier is an elite defender, I expect Kobe to have more of those "10" points against him than other defenders and less of those "40" point nights. If Kobe averages same number of points against Battier as his average, it tells me that Battier is doing an average job on Kobe. Get it?
im not even going to read 6 pages of this, everything that can be said about this subject has been....yes i'm a battier fan, no i dont want to see him traded, but we need to stop suggesting trades just to try and fix something, regardless of whether its Shane or Brooks or whoever the problem of the day is. We're taking the team that played game 4,5,6, and 7 and asking, what's wrong with THIS team. does that make any sense at all??? That's not our whole team, a big part of it was in suits during those games. Look for the real holes in this team, not the ones that were exposed because we played without Yao, Deke, and tmac. And i dont want to hear about shane's scoring being a hole even with those guys, because i'll be damned if we have scoring issues if we play with a healthy team, we're loaded offensively when healthy.
morey has his hands full this summer. compared to issues like what to do with mcgrady's contract, where we look for a backup c to replace deke, etc., shane shouldn't imo on top of his list.
