We had a solid supporting cast with only a few missing pieces when we had Sura, Wesley, James and Barry. I can't believe that we would lose Sura, Wesley and Barry to injuries all in one year. Talk about Gay, how super gay is that? Sura was the fricking man and Barry gave us 3pt shooting and the energy we needed. We need guys like them to come off the bench and we really push us over the hump!
I don't think a team in their division should be the team that gives them hope. They could have just sucked this year like they did last year and propably not make the playoffs.Even in the future, if Rudy Gay is pans out, we are going to be in trouble for years to come.
ok, i realize this whole Draft debacle has really screwed the heads of a alot of us, but come on man. make yourself a double expresso, take a big gulp, deep breath and punch your self in the face. you're obviously not thinking straight.
On a team with Gasol and other no big-names, Battie could only have 10/5. Get real, Battie is not that good. Everybody will find out next year and start to hallucinate again about the upcoming 2007 NBA draft.
I know it's easy to do, but I think we all get caught up too much in all the stats. True, Battier's points and rebounds totals are not spectacular, but please look at the team. This is a team that finished the season 49-33 and was ousted by the Mavs, who were apparently the 2nd-best team in the league last year. Battier was not relied upon to score. He was arguably not even a top 5 scoring option on that team. Here's a quick breakdown: pau gasol 15 shots/game, 20 points eddie jones 10 shots/game, 12 points stoudamire 11 shots/game, 12 points bobby jackson 11 shots/game, 12 points mike miller 10 shots/game 14 points battier took under 8 shots per game, totalling about 10 points, but he shot at a 49% fg, including 40% 3's. i personally love this trade, even if we lose swift as well. i mean, cmon, we all watched this past year as he couldn't even make it into the starting lineup of a injury-depleted team. and battier brings all the intangibles that we really need. he hustles. he's a 6'8 swingman who can defend the toughest assignment night in and night out, and he can knock down the open 3. he's a legitimate 3rd scoring option on the rockets, with both yao ming and tmac capable of drawing double teams 24/7. add to that his 1.1 steals and 1.4 blocks a game, i'll take battier over an unproven rudy gay any day of the week. the window of opportunity for the rockets is now, not a few years down the road when rudy gay COULD pan out into a nice rotation player, or even an all-star as so many people believe.
I think it is way to early to digest this trade. I at least want to wait until July 12th to see if we get any additional assets in the deal. Battier basically kills two birds with one stone by giving us a defensive stopper and a good shooter. Plus we have at minimum Bullard Redux in Novak. I do feel we are better with Battier/Head than Swift/Roy...just because Swift is pretty worthless. Here's hoping this is just one part of a much bigger offseason plan to give us a shot at the Western Conference THIS YEAR!
look at the heat they arent very athletic except for wade.....j will is old and knees are bad shaq is old james posey isnt great and walker is a ball hog and they beat the mavs...spurs won it last year with their old team and should have beaten the mavs cept the refs didnt call a clear foul when tim duncan took the last shot of reg. in game 7
We have 3 pieces and Miami only has 2? So Jason Williams/James Posey/Udonis Haslem is not even counted as ONE piece?
So you are saying the person who signs Swift is stupid. But did the same person did the trade last night?
Agreed. I would say Zo was a solid piece too. Battier is definitely not better than Haslem. And I would say Zo is also better than Battier.
I like this trade. Flame me. I don't care. I'm sticking with my team. I'll eat my words too if we aren't a playoff team and we aren't winning games over the next 2 seasons.
Then please enlighten me why a guy who can score big numbers and being a team only has one allstar RARELY gets more than 20 points in a game? He is mentally tough,he is skill capable,he is smart enough,he is physically strong Then why cant you score the damn points?
I admit that this trade is that it improves Rox. But the problem is that it GREATLY, repeat GREATLY improved Memphis, who is your divisional rival! In two years, Memphis will be a serious Western Conference contender. Sadly the topics on this board then will be "Shane Battier is too slow to stop Rudy Gay!", "Can anyone in Rox stop Rudy Gay??".
What are the biggest things that the rockets needed? 1.) SG who can hit shots and not take shots away from T-mac and Yao. 2.) A person who can guard SG's and SF's who drive to the basket. 3.) Someone who can make an open jump shot. 4.) Rebounder/defensive 4 5.) Depth 6.) Getting some assets to trade. What did we draft? 1.)Rudy Gay. A great player some of the time A SF, you are kidding yourself if you think he can guard SG's he could not guard Steve Novak, Brandon Roy, Tony Skin, Ronnie Brewer. He has a great shot, a good ability to to jump. He is young and is still learning how to play basketball has all of the tools but disappears for long periods without doing anything, not blocking shots, not stealing the ball, not rebounding, not setting screens, not keeping his man from scoring. He addresses Depth, and a trade asset. Might be great someday. 2.) Steve Novak. Big shot taker, slower of foot, not a leaper, smart player out foxing you not out athleting you. Automatic from the free throw line, remember Dirk choking out during the finals Steve Novak makes Dirk look like Ben Wallace, missing 18ft in his college career. Might be able to play some 3 and some 4. Not a great rebounder but will grab some. Comes off screens and can shoot not as well as Reddick but deadly on set shots. Addresses shooting and depth. Might be a tradable asset, I view him as a taller Kyle Kover. 3.) the other guy.... yeah he is some guy we drafted. I do not know anything about him so depth is the only thing I can speak to. I hate talking about stuff I know little about. So that is what we drafted, we then traded Rudy Gay and Stromile Swift for Battier. Stromile is Mister Potential... we saw what he can do... when he did not have pink eye, or something. Juwan althought not as skilled or as gifted plays harder. Battier in my opinion: ROLE Player. Does not take a lot of shots but hits a pretty good percentage Career .454 and .381 on three. Rebounds decently for his size. Always seems to give effort, to be honest this is from watching him in his Duke days as I have not seen much of him in Memphis. Charge taker and always in someone's way to the basket. Seemed to play pretty well againist the Western Confernce Playoff Teams last year (See below for his splits.) This did cost us depth, my biggest issue with the trade, but did help address needs if we get the trade reworked at all, ie us recieving assets Kyle Lowry in particular. or it is Juwan instead of Stromile, then things I believe get better not worse. I like Rudy Gay I really do but I think we got smarter as a team and harder working with this trade. Link to Battier's Splits last year: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/splits?statsId=3516 So to some up I liked the trade I am hoping we might bait and switch on the Logo a bit to get some more out of it. Go Rockets... Fierguard - Celebrating 20 years of bleeding Rockets Red.
Numbers do not equal wins or championships. AI averaged more points, assists, shot better from three, was a better free throw shooter and got to the line more then Dwayne Wade... who do you want on your team?
