Battier for Rudy Gay/Stromile is not paying dividends

Um, Rudy Gay is the leading scorer for the Grizz. Battier is ... ???

 

You know what, let me be optimistic here.
One bright spot for Rox is Carroll Dawson is no longer in charge.

CD was a great guy, but he made so many mistakes, the Rox would have done better just randomly draw an action out of a hat. Remember his mistake with Eddie Griffin? That's THE BIGGEST one, of course, as he squandered 3 first rounders. Naturally, no one could predict the future, but how could you give up 3 first rounders for one unproven potential?

Gay/Battier trade is another big mistake. It was almost like a backlash from Eddie Griffin. He learned from one mistake so bad, he swung/over corrected all the way to the other side and made yet another mistake.



So angry with that, but now the bright side is CD is gone, gone like a wind.

 

Imagine how good Gay would have been if he was coached by JVG. He would have instilled defensive discipline *and* had the athleticism to cover some of the leagues premier scorers.

 

Shane Battier sucks but looking back at the trade does nothing and for the record had the rox used the pick they wouldnt have selected rudy gay anyway.


That said BATTIER IS USELESS and should not be starting maybe if he came off the bench he would be more of a factor

 

Thanks, been a long time reader, and I love talking basketball, especially Rockets.

 

I agree with you, I think we did give up a lot for Battier. I agree that it is not hard to find players like the ones I named, in fact many of those were either undrafted or drafted late. The reason I believe Battier was pursued by the Rockets was to bring in a winning attitude. He was winner at Duke, and not to mention has a very high basketball IQ, something that the majority of our current roster lacks. Sure we could go to the D-League and find a good athlete and teach them defensive techniques and what not, but with Yao and McGrady being injured so often, our management panicked a little bit after the 2006 season, and its hard to blame them. They wanted a proven player, because the Rockets have had quite a few draft busts in the past (Rodrick Rhodes, Terrence Morris, Eddie Griffin, and a few others) and didn't feel like they could afford to go through that again. At the time, they did not feel that the Rockets could wait on a rookie to develop.

Looking at it now, it would be nice to have Rudy Gay with this roster, but having guy like Battier on your team isn't the worst thing in the world either. I know I'm being really optimistic right now, but the trade is not as lop sided as some people have made it out to be.

Personally I wouldn't have minded Mike Miller here, since he played with Tmac, and plays okay defense for a shooter. But another thing to remember is, that was a JVG/CD move, not a Rick Adelman/Morey move. Adelman would've taken Gay, no doubt in my mind about that. So lets make the best of it, and see how this goes. Remember, Jim Jackson had a great 1st year with the Rockets and new coach at the time JVG, but the next year he struggled with Tmac, so they traded him for Wesley, which worked for a year. Maybe a team out there would trade a small forward more fit for this system for a Battier, so lets just see. Sometimes it takes witnessing failure before action takes place. I have faith in the Rockets, and I believe we'll be fine by May.

 

Hate to say it Battier really does not bring too much to the table. Maybe we just need to run some plays for him or something, but he just seem so limited as what he can do offensively besides shooting 3's. It seems he is not strong and athletic enough to compete with the better opponent players. He is really an mediocre player which I think was a bad trade for us.

 

it is the time that battier is adjusting himself to the games.

and i believe in battier that he'll become better and better, and play an important role in rox.

 

The easy way to look at the trade now - would Memphis reverse the trade today? No way. Rudy is the best player on their team. Shane would go back to being a role player off the bench.

 

you've been welcomed to the board because of this post, now i'm going to call this post out because of its absurdity.

dennis rodman led the league in rebounding a couple of years. battier couldn't lead this league in anything.

ron harper was an all star shooting guard before joining the bulls.

michael cooper was a much better athlete, passer and ball handler than battier could ever dream.

dennis johnson is a hall of fame type talent

battier could never play defense like tayshun

mario elie is a better shooter, ball handler, and on ball defender.

the only players you listed that battier can be compared to are rick fox and bowen, and bowen is a better one on one defender and rick fox a better rebounder.

 

Also fox was a better score to. before he went to La, he was a pretty handy scorer in boston. not to mention rick fox used to score off the court regulary to. the man was voted the sexiest nba play by the ladies regulary.

Also fox was a better interior defender to.

 

rick flop was also the lakers team captain

 

Not trying to defend CD, but everybody and I mean everybody was loving that deal CD made for Eddie Griffin. Eddie was every much the freak that Gay seemed to be on draft day. In hindsight, that move didn't work out, but that was far from a blunder by CD.

 

Everything happens for a reason. If we didn't make that trade, the T-Mac trade never happens. We probably wouldn't have had the same team we have today. You never know, we could be a lottery team right now instead of a title contender.

 

we ain't no title contender.

 

I was unhappy when we got Battier for Rudy Gay then, and I still am now. He will be a stud in one to two more years. We didn't make it far with Battier anyway.

That being said, the stupid people making the decision have said that they were not going to draft Rudy if they didn't get the trade anyway. So it's a mute point since if we didn't get Battier, we wouldn't have had Rudy anyway.

 

We're closer to a lottery team than a title contender.

 

Somewhat disagree about it being a moot point. Let's lay out all the possibilities...

1) Trade Stro Swift and the draft rights to Rudy Gay for Shane Battier.
2) Trade Stro Swift and the draft rights to Rudy Gay for Shane Battier and MEM #24 that draft. Kyle Lowry, Maurice Ager, Jordan Farmar and Mardy Collins all went 24 and above. Everyone one of those players BELONGS in the NBA.
3) Trade Stro Swift and the draft rights to Rudy Gay for Shane Battier and MEM protected pick in 2007 or beyond. Still a work in progress but MEM plays in the toughest division in the NBA. Sooner or later, that's a #14-20 pick.
4) Trade down with immediate compensation. Unless you get totally robbed, you are going to immediately receive a Sefalosha type player AND a certified rotational player. Otherwise, why do the deal? It's #8...because you don't value it (or Rudy Gay) doesn't mean some other team doesn't. Even trading down for Ronnie Brewer looks good in retrospect.
5) Trade down with future considerations. The 2007 draft was one of the deepest ever. Having the extra pick would have made moving up a LOT easier.


We may be saying the same thing. But of all the possibilities (and there may have been other proposals which never became public) the Rockets "jumped" on what looked like a sure thing to them. And IMHO, the entire basis of that evaluation of Battier was laden with Gasol having a breakout season, Mike Miller being 6th MoY and Eddie Jones being rock steady. Battier parlayed 1 season of $Ball into equal value of a #8 pick.

 

Battier is too busy doing the intangibles to score or stay in front of his man. He is an American version of Manu without the offense- Shane "flop master" Battier

 

i know people will hate me for this, but its time to move battier.

He doesn't work in this offense, his physical skills don't match up for what Adleman wants. If he doesn't hit the 3, he has no offense whatso ever.

I say move Battier, Head, and Brooks to Sacto for Ron Ron Artest. Brings just as much defense and more offense.