I'm pissed but... Shane Battier's not that bad a player and we got rid of a problem in Stromile Swift. We were going to be paying Stromile for most likely 3 more years (17.4 mil) and Stromile was not a productive player for us. Battier will earn his money.
if only Stro for Battier, it's a good call; but if with Gay, it's too bad; if only Gay for Battier, it's a so-so call; but if with Stro, it's too bad!
Memphis wanted Gay badly. We should have gotten more out of the trade. Gay may or may not ever become an all star but West said he thought Gay was the second best player in the draft. Battier is solid,but he isn't a 3rd scorer and can't get to the line consistently. He can shoot and is a pretty good defender but quicker players will give him a hard time. We needed more than just him to get better.
I get the feeling that JVG sees a younger of Jim Jackson (03-04 version) in Shane. Which would be fine. Of course in Rudy Gay I see a player along the lines of Andrei Kirilenko, or maybe Gerald Wallace with scoring ability...
I am not fan of the trade because--assuming this trade is finalized as is, which looks increasingly more likely--of the value return on #8 and Swift, not because of getting Battier. I actually like the guy a lot and think he can be a very good combo forward who defends, shoots, plays smart, and plays hard. He is a perfect fit for this team, especially when we go to a smaller look with him at the four. I loved Gay's athleticism but had concerns about his attitude and learning curve. My druthers would have been for Brewer at #8 if Roy was not available, but Gay dropping to the Rox was a lose-lose: he is not the kind of guy they wanted, but you deal him and people will be pissed or you take Brewer at that spot and people are upset you passed on Gay. I am fine with trading Gay and I am fine with Battier, but the trade value just doesn't make sense. Couldn't we have used the smaller TE instead in the package, then packaged Swift somewhere else? We are a team with about three major holes and we only filled one (length, shooting on the wings) while likely making another worse (depth, talent at the four).
Give me a break. You double his shots and you double his scoring? Hardly. He obviously took good shots last year in Memphis. I seriously doubt that he'll find twice as many good shots in Houston. Take some bad shots and watch your FG% drop. Pretty simple. I know - why don't we just double Yao's attempts. He shoots a good percentage.
I could be wrong. But I have the impression that in one game between Memphis and Houston last season, Battier had quite a few blocks (on Yao I think) and I remember the bbs was furious that how come a freaking Battier blocked on Yao.
Well !!! This smells of CD and JVG!!!!!!!! Morey knows that he will be overpaid if he only produces 12 points a game and that he is NOTthe player that we are looking for to be our third go to starter. In fact Shane Battier is a role player who comes off the bench. and an expensive one at that.If we are nowplaying MONEYBALL in the FRONT office they we need to be more carefull with our dollars. Of course even moneyball and crazy minds must not be allowed to prevent our addition of a top tier Rookie even if he is GAY. LES wake up and smell the roses, your management has an odour about them!
Stro was a wasted roster spot last year. The Rockets would not have done the deal without unloading Stro. I agree on prefering Gay over Battier but, in my opinion, getting rid of Stro was a plus for the Rockets. The Rockets would have had a tough time dumping Stromile on some team.
Are you saying that we could have gotten rid of Stromile another way? Are you willing to say that no other team in the NBA would have been willing to give away a draft pick +/or player for Stromile? To make things worst you do this with a division foe? Last year we wanted to sign Stromile with sign and trade with Memphis, West refused to help us. Now we decide to help them more than helping us? Anyway, until this deal is official it still does not make sense for West to trade for Stro now especially since he signed that for Warrior to the full MLE last season + plus they still have Gasol, Warrick and Fratelo who did not like Stro. Something must be up (definitely a three way deal). Did West even work out Gay?
We all know just how well that went during Memphis's first round series with the Mavs this past postseason :/ . I sincerely hope there are other deals in the works to bring in the third scorer as you mentioned. I mean CD, JVG et al are professionals right? They are out there looking for every way to improve the team right? I mean tis their job. They are paid truckloads of money to make the right decisions. They can't screw up this badly. Right? Right? Oh man there better be something way more than Battier in our off season ..
Memphis was forced to take Stro back, they didn't want him back. They just wanted Gay badly. If we traded Stro in another deal, we would have taken back someone else's headache.
Stro is done, he sucks, he won't improve at all. MAYBE he'll have 5 20 points 12 rebound games during the course of 82 games. Battier will bring it every single night, he will also have 20+ 25 point games, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Shane can be our lock down defender, T-Mac doesn't have to take on their best player(Kobe, Pierce etc.), Battier can do a BETTER job.
This has nothing to do with Moneyball. This is Van Gundy ball. Morey could not have pulled this one off. Van Gundy has been forcing his will and forced CD and Morey to make this kind of trade. Van Gundy only wants slow, mature, obedient players to do his will. He is unable to coach anybody who is inexperienced or has some character. I think in the end, Van Gundy will be displeased with Battier as well, like he has with all his other players he brought in (a la Anderson, Swift, etc.)
wait, what??? seriously??? this is a guy who's averaged 10 ppg for his career. 1.7 assist/game. 4.8 rebounds/game. he scored over 15 points only 12 times all last season. he scored over 20 points only 3 times all last season. a guy who has absolutely disappeared in the 12 playoff games he's been in. if van gundy gets that kind of production out of battier, he'll be coach of the year. battier has value as a role player. as a defensive cog for sure. but you're overrating his abilities, big time.
