Sure. I can promise you, though, without a major overhaul of the Grizz roster, preferably one that can let Gay play a reduced role in the offense, it won't happen. That's regardless of what happens to the Rockets.
gay is talented, however i am always cautious about big numbers on a bad team. he will have a long career though ao there is plenty of time to reevaluate later. that being said, gay was a big risk coming out of college. And rightfully so. He had all the tools but you doubted his ability and willingness to get better as a basketball player
Reading comprehension > you. I posted that Shane Battier has better lateral quickness and strength than Rudy Gay.
Rudy Gay would thrive playing off of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. Anyway you look at it, this was a horrible trade and will haunt this franchise for many years as Gay gets better and Battier gets worse.
Evaluating basketball players is not your bag. Stick with trying to justify obviously one sided trades. ***Saw your sig***
Battier was a bench player on the Grizzlies during the latter part of his tenure on the team. His playoff success was 0-12 and his team never made it any higher than a #8 seed as far as I know. Not to mention that statistically he shot worse in the playoffs than in the regular season. And Battier can drive on good defenders? Gay is a better spot up shooter than Battier this early in the season and he can work off the dribble and has a midrange game. What does Battier have? Spot up 3 pointer with his trademark spot up 3 pointer, and his third move the spot up 3 pointer? Oh thats right, he has an ugly hook shot that rarely goes in that he maybe attempts once every five or six games. If the coaching staff really thought of him as a post up threat, they would certainly dump it down to him in the paint more often. Even if Battier was selfless and opted not to, it's not like he has the personality to turn down a coach's decision. Strength comes with conditioning in the off season. Yao was a twig coming into the NBA and he's filled out nicely since. It's not like Gay is as weak in the upper body as Yao coming into the league. Also his incredible defense is horrible 1 vs 1. Maybe not horrible, but his man to man defense is very overrated. He gets torched by the best wingmen in the game routinely. Lastly you don't think JVG or Thibodeau couldn't turn him into a solid defender on the Rockets? Heck even RA could probably coach him to be a better defender, and again he doesn't have the luxury of having Yao anchor the defense in the paint should anyone get by him. Yao really does alter so many shots and is still up there among the league leaders in blocks. Also Gay's length is more comparable to Tayshaun Prince who is one of the best man to man defenders in the league. Saying Battier is superior to Prince is hilarious. One has a ring. One is actually clutch and has the occasional explosion on offense in the post season. One actually defends Kobe better than the other, as well as most wing men. Whatever Prince lacks in strength, like Gay, he can certainly make up in his wingspan.
The Grizzilies are a worse team since Battier left. They were a 50 game winner with him and they have been one of the worst teams in the league without him. Rudy Gay is the kind of guy that will put up numbers and not play on winning teams. The league is littered with those guys.
Who cares what the Grizzlies record is. What matters is that we could have an upcoming superstar on our roster right now instead of Battier.
Even if Gay became a stat padder like Shareef Abdur Rahim, he still would be more serviceable than Battier. I mean it's not like Jason Terry who put up great numbers for Atlanta was any worse when he joined the Mavericks. There are those players who put up good stats on bad teams but lose their game on better teams, but generally those are veteran players doing it on contract years like Mike James. This is Gay's second season and I don't think he suffers the same kind of deficiency without excessive touches or shots with the ball like Alston or James. The man is shooting 48% from the field and nearly 40% behind the arc, without legit allstars to defer attention off him like Yao and McGrady could. He is a legit 3rd scoring option on this team that can work off the dribble, and even better hit the mid range jumper off curls which is what Adelman's offense thrives on. Scola thrives on this. McGrady thrived on it against the Sonics in the 2nd half. I've no doubt Gay could do the same. Also I can think of a number of players I'd love to see in a Rockets uni from the Wolves, Hawks, Sonics, Heat, and other lottery bound teams in the league. I see trades or dream scenarios on this board where we acquire talent from worse teams to pad our own. You're telling me Gay is the exception to this?
LOL. It's more apt to compare Battier to Finley than Gay, maybe?: Micheal Finley: 07-08 SAS MPG 27.2 FG% 0.392 3point% 0.388 FT% 0.714 RPG 3.9 APG1.7 PPG 10.3 Shane Battier: 07-08 HOU MPG 35.6 FG% 0.416 3point% 0.370 FT% 0.714 RPG 5.0 APG 1.8 PPG 8.3 Between the two, Battier plays 20% more minutes, shot worse on 3s, and scores 20% less than Finley. Meanwhile, Finley wouldn't have gotten minutes if he doesn't play defense on the Spurs. So Batter is what he is, worse than Finley on offense and a little better than Finley on defense. Overall, in regular season they are roughly on the same level. But I will definitely take Finley with a ring over the playoffs first round virgin Battier.
Once again, I'll say it - the Rockets go from barely making the playoffs with Battier to probably being a 4 or 5 seed with Rudy Gay. So many of you are wrapped around the axle on the Grizzlies' record, ignoring stuff like they have a rookie coach, a young team, questionable chemistry issues, not a sound team defense philosophy, and the fact that having Yao would make ANYONE a better defender. It's like you think that as long as the Rockets have the better record than the Grizzlies, we won that trade. It's not that black and white, guys. You have to step outside the box with your thinking (yea, I know that takes some effort and could be hard to do) and realize that having a Gay on our team could AND would make our team that much better.
Nice that you pick out the stats where Finley is better. You could also say that Battier shoots a better overall percentage, and rebounds more. And your statement that Finley scores 20 % more then Battier isnt that big a deal when its a total of 2 points a game. You need to realize Battier guards the other teams best perimeter player. Finley is never in that position because of Bowen. You say he plays defense because he is on the Spurs, but you can not even begin to say he has the same defensive impact on responsibility as Battier who also plays for a very good defensive team. As for the ring statement, I dont remember Finley winning anything until he jumped ship to the Spurs. My guess is if Battier was on the team instead of Finley, the Spurs would still be champs.
Forget the Grizzlies record. That doesnt matter to me. I just wonder what makes you so sure that with Rudy Gay the Rox are guaranteed a 4 or 5 seed. Also, that is a dumb point anyway, cuz the Rox were the 4 seed last year with Battier so how is being a 4 seed this year a huge improvement. Gay is far and away a better offensive player then Battier. But look at last nights game, Battier's defense on Roy in the second half was huge to our ability to win that game. It wasnt with blocks, or steals, but just being a pest and getting in his way. None of that shows up on the box score, but everyone on the Rox knows it was huge to the victory. It isnt about defending the Rox in this trade. Its simply about looking at the other side of the ball. I, and many others, think what Shane adds to the team defense is more valuable then what Gay would add to the offense. And say all you want about Gay developing into a defender and all that, but it doesnt happen that often. Look at Tmac, Vince Carter, Lebron, Dwade, all of them have the "potential" to be Kobe like on the defensive end, but it hasnt happened. Its not as simple as saying Gay could suddenly become a great defender cuz thats as likely in my opinion as Battier becoming a great offensive player. Please dont bring up the point that Gay gets some steals and blocks and all that. He gets some highlight defensive plays, but overall is a poor defender and I dont see that changing.
The philosophy of that trade was that it would benefit us because we would "win now" as in 1-2 years down the road. The trade is a complete FAILURE because 2 years later we have a team that cannot compete for a championship realistically this year and The cons of Rudy Gay being young are now greatly outweighed by his playing skills. It was a good idea, but just didn't work out.
Yes obviously we should have drafted Gay. Can we move on from this? I dont see why people are so obsessed. Every year there are good guys that drop too far.
