CHRON: tracy and artest practice (with new quotes)

Fine with me.......I like a meritocracy.....

DD

 

Sigh, Battier helps our team defense a lot. You don't see anyone else directing the traffic on D like Battier does. Plus, he always rotates to help out when someone gets beat. Don't worry about his woeful shooting percentages just yet, he will come around when he finally gets the rhythm. Even Brent Barry was cold at the start of the season.

Von the savior Wafer will get minutes behind T-Mac, or maybe even in front of him, with T-Mac and Artest coming off the bench. That would be sick.

 

If he is so good at directing the defense, then why is this team continously giving up 50 points in the paint and giving up over 50% shooting? Battier is not 100% and isn't going to be this season. His individual defense is suffering greatly, and he is a bad offensive player. He really should be the one who loses the majority of his minutes when Ron and TMac come back.

 

It's sad that this is considered notable.

Anyways, I won't expect everyone to assimilate immediately. No one should panic if there's a few bumpy games when they return.

 

Funny thing... Rockets are better on offense with Battier on the court this season. In fact, his teams tend to be better offensively with him on the court in previous years, too.

Liability?

or

Failure to appreciate the importance of playing within the offense, moving the ball rather than stopping it, and making outside shots to help space the floor?

 

There are lots of people who do not appreciate how important Battier is by just providing adequate spacing and quick ball movement.

I think some people like better athletes, and who doesn't? But if it comes at the price of intelligence, it is not worth it.

Battier makes the team better, the stats on this do not lie......he helps the team win.....every coach that has had him knows this......he is a winner.

And having a guy that will do whatever it takes to win, is a major plus, we have enough players who NEED the ball to be successful it is nice to have some that don't need it and still help the team.

DD

 

more importantly, our transition D is just crap without battier. I really noticed that this season, he is almost always the first person running back to D and contest the fast break.

 

I'm telling you, I've looked at games of shane in memphis and he was a way better offensive and defensive player just 4 yrs ago. We can say the same with tracy, but shane had like 200 ft att as opposed to the 100 he gets in houston.

 

i agree, this is great news and thanks tmac_1

 

Well, for one, Shane is older now. But that aside, his role in Memphis was rather different from his role in Houston. Here he has been nothing but role player #1 and he has embraced that role so completely that he won't assert himself on offense unless he is basically instructed to by the coaches. Shane is capable of being a useful offensive player -- he's not the most athletic person and won't exactly blow you away with scoring prowess, but if required, he does have the ability to put up points (3 point shooting, a decent mid range jumper, simple post skills, and even driving to the basket on occasion).

As far as this team goes, however, he fills his role extremely well. The outside shot will return -- that is really not an item of concern for me. And I think he will get better defensively as his foot returns to full strength. Between McGrady, Artest, Wafer and Barry, this team has enough wings who can put the ball in the hoop that we don't need to worry about the significance of Battier's offensive contributions.

 

DD, I appreciate a guy who knows when his man isn't playing him as much as a guy that plays inside the frame. Battier's man is usaully the one dropping in yao's lap. His man is also the one that is playing offense at a high level because shane is no threat. If your struggling with your shot, why not fill the lane instead of stopping at the line in uptempo? If he would run like people say tracy should, he could get some easy baskets and get in the flow. Instead, he passes, stands and looks, never threatens the defender then in transition, never attacks the rim. He kills the potential of a break because he won't run. I mean bruce bowen will run, finley will run, shane doesn't do any of that. Then in the 4th as we've seen with Kobe and Wade, they are as fresh as the beginning because they don't have to guard anyone. Its the same as when hayes was starting.

 

Von should be getting minutes from Rafer too as tmac or berry move to the 1

 

I'll agree that Shane doesn't do enough on the offensive end but you can't knock his presence on the defensive side. Even though hes not at 100%, he is still our best defender that is playing right now. Hes vocal. I remember last year, he barked at Mike James pretty hard for not getting back on defense.

 

Very misleading Leeb, he was more of a focal point in Memphis, and asked to do more on offense than he is in Houston.

His role has changed, come on, you know that.

I would also like him to be more active on offense, force the other team's players to guard him.....exert effort, but I don't think that is his role on this team.

DD

 

Maybe you should look for Battier to start curing the sick while achieving world peace. He can't do everything defensively for the team, that falls on the others as well. Maybe if the Von Savior could keep his man in front of him, our defense would stop breaking down. Maybe if Brent Barry could get 10 years younger, he'd stop getting abused on D. I doubt he will get to 100%, but 85-90% is feasible. He's not going to stay cold from the field for long, either. Just give it time, and stop being so impatient.

 

We didnt bring Shane in to score, we brought him here to defend. With threats like Tracy, Ron, Yao, etc, Battier doesnt need to score unless he sees a great opportunity. His shooting % needs to be much higher than it is right now, bc he should only be taking wide open shots.

 

i actually hope t-mac doesn't get high assists. we need him to SCORE, not create. our offense creates for itself. we need T-Mac to play like Von Wafer. T-Mac getting high assists just means hes holding onto the ball too long while everyone watches.

 

Unfortunately for this board that is not and will never be the case.

 

The spurs had a guy just like that. Could only shoot from one spot on the court and had even lower scoring and rebounding averages than Shane. Couldn't hit his free throws either. Yet, they were crazy enough to make him a starter for years.

It doesn't matter if you're a huge liability on one end as long as you make the team better overall. Shane's not even a huge liability, he can hit the 3 consistently and get the ball to Yao in good position. Let's not pretend he's streaky like Rafer. It's obvious that he isn't 100% yet, so let's not judge him on the past two weeks.