He's suddenly become a poor rebounder. He was always good at the SF position. He's not playing on the perimeter more than he has in the past, and he's not shooting more. I think he plays more PF here than he did in Memphis. The only thing I could think of is that Chucky is eating up all the rebounds and Yao has always been a good rebounder. But that's silly. That would mean it doesn't matter which 5 guys we throw out there, our team will catch the same total number of rebounds. For Chuck to be a good rebounder, he would have to be eating up rebounds from other teams, which according to stats, he does. We're outrebounding most of our opponents, which I'm not surprised about. Yao, T-Mac and Hayes are all GREAT to excellent rebounders at their position. Deke is always a league leader per-minute. Even Juwan is rebounding at an eye-popping rate despite his struggles with scoring. It could very well be that Battier is helping EVERYONE get rebounds with solid positioning. Is there any way we can show this? I haven't really bothered to zero in on that while watching the games. Anyone have any thoughts?
we have the 3rd best rebounding differential in the league, so we are rebounding well as a team. So Im not too worried.
Actually, Battier plays less powerforward for the Rockets than he did last year for the Grizzlies. This year, Battier is playing 10.1 minutes per game at PF. Last yesr, Battier was playing 12.5 minutes per game at PF. Battier's real rebounding drop off is in his offensive rebounding percentages. That's because when he was with the Grizz he would be crashing the boards more. Hayes crashes the offensive boards for the Rockets, and Battier shoots a lot more 3's and gets back on defense. So overall Battier's rebounding could be better, but since the Rockets overall rebounding is so good as a team, it looks like everyone is doing their job most of the time.
fair enough. I guess it further proves how versatile he is, and a good team player, that he can adjust his game according to what the team needs at the time...
It's no coincidence that the Rockets rebounding has improved with the addition of Battier on the squad. We have basically substituted Battier for wesley and have improved significantly. Battier may not get the rebound but he doesn't allow the player he is guarding to get it either. It's also very difficult to get an offensive rebound when standing behind the arc.
Correction, we basically substituted Battier for Wesley AND a future star. That said, I love what he brings to the table. But my main beef is that he's strictly a role player despite having the ability to do much more. Just look at his rookie numbers. He can score. He can be a solid third option, but it's just that he doesn't want to even do that, and prefers to do all the dirty work to help the team. If he can BOTH hustle and play aggressively, then I think he'll be much much better.
Dont' give Gay too much credit, until he earns it. But yes, Battier, is a very good palyer that has slid in well with our squad. We just need a 3rd scorer and a backup/defensive pf/c to complete our squad.
There is that and Howard has been rebounding pretty well as well as Tmac, Alston, and Head. I think it is attributed to Battier boxing out or tipping balls that he can't grab. If he pulled down the ones that he tipped he would be averaging at least 6 a game.
Yeah I have basically the same line of thinking. The fact Juwan is rebounding at an amazing rate doesn't hurt our cause either. The question is if our key rebounding guy, say Hayes, goes down, will the rest of the crew pick up the slack? Yao is capable but inconsistent, and Battier is a big question.
OK...how about only the credit he deserves...beating the Celtics in his last game with a cold-blooded buzzer beater...behind only Adam Morrison and a perpetually injured Brandon Roy in most rookie stats categories...part of first Grizzlies team to ever win in the Nuggets' Pepsi Center...Western Conference Rookie of the Month for November...6.4 ppg ahead of highly regarded teammate Hakim Warrick in oncourt +/-... But it's OK...I understand...Battier is about "Win Now" and he has the intangibles of boxing out better so Chuck Hayes can get the tangible rebounds.
Concur. What's done is done, even though I still seethe over the stupidity the Rockets exhibited in that trade. Through the years the "what if's" will haunt the Rockets regarding this Westian sucker punch, just as the Eddie Griffin trade "what if's" still taunt us.
Not sharp enough to pull them out for yourself? http://www.82games.com/0607/0607MEM.HTM Read 'em and weep. Gay has a better in oncourt +/- than Warrick. No need for a second opinion when only facts are stated. Or, are are the only stats that matter the ones I can't see?
This is one of those stats I think people are making too big a deal about. What is the purpose of rebounding? On the defensive end, the purpose is to prevent the other team from retaining possession off a miss. Defensive rebounds are often more contested between teammates than players on opposing teams. Some players might have lofty rebounding numbers; but if a lot of those rebounds are defensive boards that would be going to teammates anyways one's individual rebounding may not be helping the team as much as someone else's who actually gets less total rebounds. That's why defensive rebounding, at the individual level, can often be overrated. This season, Battier is only getting 3.3 defensive boards per 40 minutes played. That's below average. But what is Battier doing on the defensive end? He's usually guarding the other team's best perimeter player. He probably contests more shots, per minute, than any other player on the team. Anyone who watches the games know that Battier is quite active on the defensive end. He isn't just standing around. If you want him to get more defensive boards, he's going to have to sacrifice his other defensive activity. That may not be a desirable tradeoff. But the real difference with Battier's rebounding is coming on the offensive end this season. For his career before this season, Battier averaged 3.7 defensive rebounds and 2.3 offensive rebounds per 40 minutes (that offensive rebounding rate is just fantastic, btw). This season, he's getting 3.3 defensive boards but only 0.8 offensive boards per 40 minutes. So, why is he getting 1.5 less offensive boards (per 40 min) this year? Two reasons. First, in our offense he's primarily a post entry passer and spot up three point shooter so he's just on the perimeter a whole lot more. The stats back that up. He's averaging 4.5 three point attempts per 40 minutes this year, which account for 56.5% of his field goal attempts. Before this season, he averaged 3.2 three point attempts per 40 minutes which accounted for only 31.1% of his field goal attempts. He's just parked on the three point line a lot more. Furthermore, his assists are at 3.0 per 40 minutes this year, well above his career average of 2.1. Again, that suggests he's less of a "garbage man" and more of a passer/spot up shooter this year compared to his previous seasons. Second reason: with Battier generally stationed on the perimter, his primary responsibility is to get back and fortify our transition defense, not to dive down looking for offensive boards. So, again a there's a tradeoff. Is it worth more to us that Battier gets 1 or 2 more offensive boards a game, or should he retain his role in our Yao-centric offense as a perimeter shooter (for spacing) and post entry passer (which he's excellent at)? And if he's on the perimeter, do we care more about transition defense or maybe getting few extra offensive rebounds?
Well, according to 82games.com, Battier is +15.2 on/off court which is second to Hayes' +15.8. He must be doing something right, right? http://www.82games.com/0607/0607HOU.HTM
