An Objective Look at Battier's Shocking Decline in Offense and Yao Turnover Horrors

Good thread, but I disagree on the stronger offense being the reason for his lack of numbers.

The fact is Shane Battier has never been much of a scorer, usually averaging well under 10 points a game for most seasons. What is different this season that he might not even get that high? Well he started off being sidelined for most of the first quarter of the season because of a nagging injury from the end of last season. This might have hobbled him early on, but lately, Shane seems almost frightened to take a shot.

Maybe its confidence, maybe its old age, who knows but the fact is, whatever it is definitely seems like a mental thing, because he has had near 15-20 point games this season and the next night scores 2 points from the free throw line. Easily the most shocking and heart rendering example was when he failed to take his rebound at the end of the Chicago game and despite being close enough and free enough to take a shot and possibly draw the foul, he threw it off to Artest to take another needless hurried 3 pointer.

I appreaciate Shane's defensive talents (although even those have fallen off from last season) but he really needs to step his game up, because right now he is the black hole of the offense. I mean if he didn't have those two or three double digit scoring games, I think his average would be even with Chuck Hayes.

 

All great centers are prone to high turnovers. A team is going to have higher rate of turnovers if the ball goes through a big guy as opposed to a smaller player. Here are the career turnover averages of other centers.

Yao 2.7
Dwight Howard 2.9
Shaquille O'Neal 2.8
Hakeem Olajuwon 3.0
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 2.7
Moses Malone 3.1
Patrick Ewing 3.0

 

It's only been 9 games, 6 at home, so the numbers may not tell us much at this stage. They're averaging about 3 more points per 100 possessions compared to pre-trade, but also allowing about 4 less points per 100 possessions (it's around 111 on offense and 101 on defense).

 

Pre-surgery you mean.

 

More telling is career TOV% which basketball-reference shows. For the same players:

Yao 14.5%
Dwight 17.0%
Shaq 11.8%
Hakeem 13.1%
Kareem 13.4%
Moses 14.1%
Ewing 13.6%

 

this is the first year shane's ppg has been "well below" 10; and no, he's absolutely NOT a "balck hole" on offense.

just try this for one game (you can go back to the archives). put your eyes on battier and no one else when he's playing and see what and how he does on both ends. if that doesn't make you appreciate his presence on the floor, then nothing well. i can then safely assume one just doesn't like him or his style. and that would be ok.

 

My mistake. Including all the games since Milwauke, the Rockets are 112 on offense (+4) and 100 on defense (-6). Much improved efficiency on both ends.

 

so the current top 2 centers have the highest %? that's interesting.

i have never been convinced by the per-100-possession stats. i think it has to be used along with other perspectives.

all things considered, i still can't say yao is particularly turnover-prone, especially when he's whistled so differently.

 

we're a much better team this year without McGrady. Morey has done an admirable job putting talent around. that's why it's so disappointing with tracy this year. had he been healthy enough to produce like last year, this team would be scary.

 

With Howard and maybe Yao also, the TOV% maybe skewed. The reason is that they don't get as many touches as previous centers used to. Consequentially, they end up being penalized extra for the illegal screens and 3-second violations. Dwight, in particular, gets called for a lot of them, and because the Magic don't really run their offense through him that much (relatively speaking) his TOV% might make him appear more turnover prone with the ball than he actually is.

 

The thing about Yao that frustrates me is that he's not very instinctive imo. You can tell a lot of the things he does on court is already planned out in his head. He doesn't surprise us much; it's like watching a play formed through much repetition. We all know he works hard to make up for his lack of athleticism and BBIQ. I'm not saying he's not smart, but basketball isn't instinctive to him and he doesn't really have a good reflex.

The good thing is that he's 7'6" tall so even if most defenders know what he's doing, there's very little they can do to stop him.

 

so basically you're saying he's boring to watch yet hard to stop.

yep yao should have more creative moves on the court. his 6 assists in the suns game were nice, but a lot of times he sure looks a bit like a robot.