I noticed that some fans always cry and cringe whenever Battier's name comes up in a trade rumour and say things "I wouldn't do the trade if it involves Battier" or "I would rather trade Scola than Battier". Now, Battier has been applauded mostly by our head coach and the local fans for his defense. He is yet to win a defensive player of the year award, and although some people might want to spin it in such a way to make it seem like the national media is spurning him. Battier is a clean cut guy who says the right things at the right time, a good family man and is from Duke, he is the last person to be spurned. That being said, are we overvaluing his defense. For a SF, he can't create his own shots, and is usually useless on the offensive end except someone gets the ball to him for an open shot behind the 3pt line. Every now and then, he throws up a weird looking hook shot kinda like Juwan Howard. The NBA is not a contest for who is the best ethical or most upright guy in the league, no its more of who can not only stop his man, but put up more points than his man. The best Battier can do is try to reduce his opponents points and not outscore him. So my question is this, do we overvalue Battier, yes or no, with your own points
I say some of the rocket fans do, I don't overvalue him, but I think Battier is just a lesser Ron Artest. Battier is a James Posey type Player, It's best to trade him now.
Some overvalue, some undervalue. If you listen to people close to the NBA -- whether it be coaches, GMs, or beat writers -- they are effusive in their praise of him. So, relative to that, I think most fans tend to undervalue him.
No the.Rockets aren't trading Battier for AI,Its not gonna happen please chill. Any ways can you imagine AI,RON RON,and T-mac fighting for the ball..There isnt nearly enough shots for everyone.
Bruce Bowen is a better defender albeit dirty. Bruce Bowen is not required to carry the offensive load, he has Parker, Duncan and Ginobili in his starting lineup
They do praise him, sure, but for how much we celebrate his lock down defense, he doesnt really have any metals to show for it. So how come at the end of the day, these same writers and coaches that praise him end up selecting someone else. Battier i believe receives most of the praise because he is not a hard case and is easy to work with.
I think rocket fans overvalue him, but other fans undervalue him except grizzlies fans probably. Shane Battier is pretty much a glorified and cleaner Bruce Bowen and James Posey.
Nobody gets a hand in your face better than Shane Battier. He blocks shots and is a lockdown defender. I wouldn't go as far as saying he is totally inept at creating his own shot when in fact he has some skills in the post. He rarely uses them because he's on a team with Yao and TMac and the plan is for him to help space the floor by shooting 3s. He gets undervalued.
ok, so lets assume he barely uses his skills because Yao and TMac are taking all the shots. What happened when TMac went down, was Battier the one who stepped up to carry the scoring load, NO. What about when Yao went down, did he step up to be number 2 scorer, NO. His offensive skills were good in college, but like other college washouts, it did not transfer to the NBA. Battier is a luxury a team can afford to have. The Rox play team defense, so im sure without Battier we will be fine. Plus, last time i checked, the Lebron's and Kobe's of the league still hit their shots with Battier in their face
If anything we undervalue battier. Dont believe me? Watch our games against the lakers last year, and watch how much kobe struggled. No team had the lakers number like we did last season. We dominated them without Yao. Shane Battier is a top 3 lockdown, if not the best in the nba. In the West that is crucial for shutting down guys like Kobe Bryant etc. For those of you who are saying, "Shane Battier will be the best 6th man in the league" you might be correct that he would, but I hate to break it to you but he is still starting. From what I have seen and heard from many reliable sources is that our starting lineup will look like this opening night: Rafer Alston Tracy McGrady Shane Battier Ron Artest Yao Ming You might say we lose size down low putting in Artest for Scola. Artest and Battier will front every cutter that we won't have to worry about teams driving to the basket, and if they get there, Yao Ming will still be waiting for them. On offense we also have a Carlos Boozer type who can create his own shots in Artest, and have Shane Battier waiting on the wings who proved time and time again that he can hit the open three. (remember the jazz game the off the ball foul scola had after battier hit the 3 that would of had us win?). The opposing team will have to worry about the three point shooting of rafer (see winning streak rafer, and the effect on the team when we lost him- him being out was the reason we didn't beat the jazz, not yao being out) and Battier. If they double Yao or T Mac, Artest will go wild or he will just move the ball around to the open guy on the perimeter. It makes a lot more sense to bring in scola off the bench. Scola will still get playing time, because we will bring him in for T Mac and have him play the 4, artest 3, and Battier 2. Back to the topic, Battier is not overvalued, he is the most underrated player in the league. He is a great defender and can also hit the open 3. He won't carry a team, but now him being a role player in the offense, you will see his effectiveness increase even more this year.
Lol, i really can't believe some people seriously believe we undervalue Battier, one question- what does he bring that we undervalue him for???? defense- thats what he gets praise for all the time offense- non existent off the court behavior- ok, this is not a league for saints and he gets praise for being a good guy all the time. so what do we undervalue him for
I feel that we value Battier correctly, but when it comes to trades, other teams won't value him as highly. I feel that great defense isn't worth as much as equally great offense in trades. However, great defense should still be considered; therefore, I feel that Battier's value is indeed high, but other teams won't see it that way.
Are you serious, Battier wont even win 6th man, because to win 6th man not only do you have to help your team win, you have to be the scoring punch off the bench. You pretty much stated why he is overvalued, supposedly in your opinion he is "a role player", yet we put all these expectations on him. Thats over valuing someone if i ever heard one. We already have a logjam of PF on our rooster, why then would we bench Scola. Landry (if we sign him), Chuck, Novak and Dorsey all at the same time to play 2 SF.
Because Hollinger's "spies" have apparently informed him that front-office sees Artest spending a bulk of his time at the 4-spot. I think Battier is just about correctly judged here. We tend to overrate his intangibles, but we don't give him enough credit for some of the things he does too. That includes hitting his shots coming off screens, however rarely that play is called for him. Or taking advantage on the block when he can. I'd say his offense is underrated. Just because he doesn't show it often doesn't mean he can't do it.
Battier is a valuable player,but a lot of people think we are going to die without him and won't consider him in any trading scenario even if the receiving player is better than him. They also refuse to acknowledge his weaknesses. Some people underrate his defensive value to the team but he is for the most part an overrated player IMO. Hopefully Ron will be able to cover/erase some of his weaknesses on the offensive end.
Oct 30 07, Kobe scored 45 Nov 14 07, Kobe scored 30 March 16 08 Kobe scored 24 Feb 07 2008, Lebron scored 32 Feb 19, 2008 Lebron scored 26 i still haven't seen any exhibit showing he SHUT DOWN the kobe's and Lebrons
