The time has come. It has proven that immense intelligence does indeed beat immense talent. It has been proven that stats is not everything, that intangibles do matter. Its time for all you Gay lovers to eat crow. Memphis replaces Shane Battier with Rudy Gay, Memphis sucks. Memphis replaces Rudy Gay with Shane Battier, look at them now. So clearly the deal we made brought us the player who gives us a better chance to win. While Gay may be the sexier player, what Battier brings to a basketball team is much more and cannot be measured. So I ask you this question, CAN WE FINALLY PUT THE TALKS OF "WHO GOT THE BETTER OF THAT DEAL" TO REST?
Memphis started playing good basketball before Gay got hurt so it's not like you can say if he was still playing Memphis would not have advanced to the 2nd round.
Don't worry, the Gay boys have been shut up forever A Gay-less no. 8 seed has beaten a 60 win no. 1 seed The Gay lovers have been silenced
Battier is more intelligent but they were not playing terribly by any means when Gay got injured. Rudy was raw when Battier came to the Rockets,but IMO we should have gotten more from the 8th pick. It was clear that West wanted Rudy badly,and the addition of Shane wasn't enough to make a major difference. CD made the claim that we had the Big 3 with Yao,Tracy and Battier,and that we were close to a championship. We couldn't even get out of the 1st round many years later until Ron,Luis and Landry/Aaron came along. CD should have demanded the 24th pick in addition. A future 1st rounder could have been easily obtained if West refused the 24th pick. Battier is a good role player and intangibles are important,but they aren't enough. Shane has contributed to Memphis' success this year,but they would never have gotten past the Spurs if it wasn't for Gasol,Zach.
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Not a big deal, in hindsight, because the Rockets acquired that 24th pick (Kyle Lowry) a year and a half later for Rafer Alston.
This thread won't help. - at the time, battier seemed better suited to help the team win -Gay always had more potential, hard to guage how good he'd become at the time, but he fulfilled most of it, if not all. - Hard to say how much better Memphis would have been with Gay, but safe to say they would be better. - The whole thing about whether Battier led them or not is stupid. He obviously isn't leading them like a Lebron, ZR, Durant, etc...but to say he didn't play a role in leading them is crazy. There's a reason why he was in there so much during crunch time. His minutes actually increased in the playoffs and from what i understand the defense was significantly better when he was in there compared to when he was not. You can joke about his intangibles all you want, but there's clearly something to it.
there are a lot more variables involved than just swapping out the two players. Saying one was better than the other and was responsible for Memphis's recent success is just ignorant.
how about you watch the grizz before you make a post like this? the grizz were playing well WITH gay. they simply maintained it. it was the case with us a few years ago when we started the 22 game winnng streak with yao, but continued it without him. if the grizz had gay, they would easily dispatch the spurs because they would have another go-to guy. shane battier has now become the most overrated basketball player in history based on this board.
It wasn't rudy gay's absence, it was zach randolph's emergence. It was tony allen's grit. And, yes shane battier has made an impact, but with Rudy Gay, they would be even better, they get a stronger perimeter threat with him in the game, and he can take people off of the dribble.
