Battier for Rudy Gay/Stromile is not paying dividends

......get back to us when you can.

 

and jvg would still be gone, and we would have adelman and the rest is history

 

His fg% and 3p% are currently at career lows. It's very likely they'll pick up.

 

It has not paid dividends and it will get worse in the future...except for the Grizzlies.

I was in shock when the Rockets traded Stro and Gay for Battier on draft day. I then decided to have an open mind and see what happened and now I still think the Rockets made a terrible decision. Battier is very overrated and Steve Francis brings more intangibles to this team than Shane. Rudy Gay is gonna be a very good, possibly great, player in this league for many years to come, but I guess it's okay for the Rockets' management because Shane is a "good" guy.

 

Oh man. What could have been.

Let all the Battier man lover continue. Let them cling to his +/- and "intangibles".

Rudy Gay 17.1 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 1.3 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.9 BPG, 44.6% FG, 37.5% 3P, 78.2% FT in 33.5 MPG
Shane Battier 8.1 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.7 BPG, 38.2% FG, 35.0% 3P, 71.4% FT in 34.0 MPG

Here's my favorite:

Rudy Gay: +15.33 EFF
Shane Battier: +10.85 EFF

At least we have glue and intangibility.

 

Yes, because Rudy Gay really would have had the same stats here. The what-if game is a joke for those who can't coach or offer any useful advice, they just love to speculate. How do you know Gay wouldn't come to Houston and trip on the some steps and break both his legs and somehow require micro fracture surgery. Even if Gay were here, you think he'd get to play like that under Yao and Tracy? Oh, but let's speculate till the cows come home.

 

As far as stats or how many extra or fewer wins we would have, no one knows jack. However, I do know that we traded high potential for a role player when we were not close to winning a title, after acquiring that role player we are still not close to winning a title (i.e. a top 3 team like Boston, SA or Pho), and it's arguable that we overpaid for that role player...besides giving up the pick. Trading high potential for a stop-gap when you aren't close to a title is just dumb IMO...I don't care who the player is. Battier does not put us over the top....

 

Eddie Griffin was a high potential player too, would you still pull the trigger on that deal?

 

D*mn, a bunch of you really suck as fans.

It's ok to think that you prefered the future potential of Gay over Shane, but this attack on Shane is freaking childish. Are you ALL 14? He does a lot on the court and has a lot of hustle. JVG commented on how consistently he gives his all. I respect him for what he brings and that he is a hard-working member of this team. I don't care what happened ages ago.

 

A lot of points were made and I can see the reasoning on both sides.

This BBS is going off because of the slow start of both the team and of Battier. He is in a new offense. He is asked to do more and he's not adjusted yet. Is he held to higher standard? Sure, but what Meh said asked about Gay's development last year for Gay is very important.

Do you think JVG would play Gay, the same player as TMAC position wise? Do you think Gay would get heavy minutes with his rookie mistakes? Gay was not the teams choice for serveral reasons. He was a gamble. No? why wasn't he taken #1 or OK higher then #8? I recall a hugh gamble the Rockets took a few years ago for a Eddie Griffin and it burned them. I think that burn, the fact that JVG and the org needed to win (get out of 1st round) dictated a trade for a good veteran. Someone who wasn't a gamble.
And NO ONE, not even the Battier haters, can say he was a gamble. You can wish for more but Memphis was in the position of strengh not the Rockets. Why? The 8th pick is a gamble. It is.

Now, is it turning out bad? Sure thing. Gay is turning out to be pretty good (although I think he would have been AVG if he was playing for JVG). Remember VSPAN? He was supposed to be good but JVG insisted he be a jump shooter (VSPAN got ruined by JVG). Do you think there is a possibilty that JVG would have made Gay look worst and delayed his development a few years?

20/20 vision is always better. Can you imagine if the Rockets with the #1 pick got the "best" PG to come out instead of the gamble from China? Don't laugh, Yao was supposed to be a tall bust and Rockets took a chance.

The org is trying to win and they decided that Battier was going to help more in the next 3 year than Gay. That's the choices that they get paid to make.
Not every decision is a good one but I think Scola is, Aaron is.

Hey imagine if Aaron Brooks was allowed to start for a weak team. Do you think he's going to look good playing 30 min a game. With his shot and speed, he would get double digit scoring at least. Right?

Bottomline, Shane is a Rocket and Gay is not. Rockets will win or not with Yao and TMAC. Shane is a role player. If Gay was on the team and JVG was still coach, Gay would be a role player force to take 3pt shots only.

Yep, Adelman was hired one year too late to give everyone their Gay fantacy. Did I just say that, I mean Rudy Dreams.

 

Comparing Eddie Griffin to Rudy Gay is ludicrous. Rudy Gay never punched out one of his teammates or ever had any off-the-court issues. Gay was simply scouted incorrectly - he was an extremely unselfish player at UConn and still led a team with 5 future NBA players on it in scoring as a sophomore. People forget that he was 19 when he was drafted. I had no doubts that he should have been picked at #3 instead of Morrison and was already a productive player.

And to those who say Rudy wouldn't be putting up stats in Houston: When has Battier ever scored 17 ppg in the NBA, which Rudy's doing in what would be his senior year in college? What evidence is there to suggest that he's not a better scorer than Battier? Because my evidence to say that he is has something to do with his ability to shoot, dribble, and finish. Have you ever seen Shane Battier drive the lane and get a good shot?

 

Remember "win now" (last season) or bust?

 

Gay is an future all-star player, but SCORING is how he's going to contribute to a team for the most part.

Why would people want Rudy Gay on this team? You do realize that for him to actually contribute to this team, he'd have to get lots of touches and shots? Don't we already have that problem with T-Mac/Yao not getting enough touches? What do you want? Yao/T-Mac taking 25 shots combined per game? This is a joke!

We already have the star power. We need the right ROLE PLAYERS. We don't need another player who's game demands 15 shots a game.

 

Ages ago? Huh?

I agree Shane gives 100% all the time, but when you're just not that good of a basketball player giving it your all is overrated. Most NBA players are not always playing 100% during the regular season except if it's the latter portions of a close game. In this type of scenario and in the playoffs most players raise their level of play, but unfortunately for Shane and the Houston Rockets, his already average play is at its highest level. He cannot kick it into another gear, because he's already giving it his all as you said, which is why he's never had a good playoff game in his life. I definitely think the Rockets need to look at trading Battier and maybe taking on some salary for a better player and/or long term contact (probably the only way you're gonna get some real talent for Battier). Shane isn't cutting it.

 

I'm starting to wonder if you guys even watch the games.

 

The guy that would have fit this team better than either Gay or Battier is Ronnie Brewer who worked out for us IIRC...

 

I'd take Battier over Brewer, but hind-sight is 20/20.

I mean, we drafted Steve Novak when Houston native, Daniel Gibson was right there for the taking.

 

This past summer is ages ago as far as I am concerned; ancient history and nothing to be done about it.

Shane is far above 'average', except for those who think every player should average 25 ppg, which would be great if they were playing horse and not basketball.

Any team and any coach in the league would be quite content to have him. Apparenlty the only ones who aren't appreciative are the Rocket's fans who 'don't get it'.
And no, no way will I quit on him because he's having some difficulties adjusting to his role w/ the new system. He's proven his worth to this team on numerous occasions.

 

And how many years has it been since we traded for T-mac? are we better with him now?

 

Gibson and the Cavs had a handshake deal. Gibson wouldn't work out for any other team except for the Cavs and he made his intentions known that he didn't want any other team to select him.