Battier + one more first round draft pick will make me feel better. He is nothing but a good role player. Rox's fate is not decided by him.
Shane was key to us not losing the entire 20 pt lead we had in the 3rd qtr. Notice how Shane was not on the court when we blew the lead against the Spurs. The guy is a smart player who makes other players around him much better by covering up for their stupid mistakes...
Shane hit the ONLY 2 buckets for the Rockets in their San Antonio collapse. Shane hit 2 crucial free throws late in the game tonight. Shane Battier IS NOT a problem. DD
isn't he still waiting for that first playoff victory (not series, but a game)? he seems to be even less of a player in the playoffs than he is in the regular season.
I agree with you, my point was that we needed Shane in sooner against the Spurs instead of on the bench.
Maybe I’m not watching close enough, but I really don’t see what the big deal is with Battier. I’m not seeing a correlation between his play and how the team plays. The impact seems to be very minimal. Battier individually is consistently solid and stable, yet the team is extremely inconsistent. For someone who is supposed to be this great glue guy that has a great impact on the team’s performance and stability, why is the team so unstable and inconsistent? Perhaps he’s just not having that great an impact on his teammates.
Of course the guy's "just" a role player. That's been the rap on him all along. But that's not the key thing to look at. The key thing to look at is that the things he does are all the things nobody else did, or did properly, last year. And that's exactly the equation a team with two superstars should be using to acquire players in the offseason.
Overrated is the word that comes to mind. He might be still adjusting to his role on the team, but it's not like we're asking him to do much else beyond knocking down wide open jumpers, defend, and get a few rebounds per game. However, he was touted as an "Excellent defender," when I can see him with my own eyes consistently get beaten off the dribble, where he is unable to keep up with the quicker players. I will say this about him: He's an above-average defender in a league where defense is increasingly a bad word; he take a few charges -- mainly by flopping -- every game, which is good; he is a poor, poor rebounder so far in the season; he can't defend anyone that's either bigger than him or quicker, i.e. he's not very 'versatile' defender that I thought he was, unlike McGrady who can defend multiple positions; his jumper has been inconsistent game-to-game; he's a decent passer.
No matter what Gay does, I was wrong about Battier. I hope his role increases because he can be a rock for this team.
To put things n perspective... Hayes brings pretty much all the intangibles that Battier brings. Yet Battier gets a lot more credit for them. Hayes = undrafted and came out of nowhere. Battier = trade for #8 pick. Which tells me Battier is overrated. Battier should be bringing more to the table that what he is. Dont get me wrong. He is decent. but overrated. And like I said, wait till playoffs when he disappears....
hahaha tiger, I expected more than that out of you. Flopper? the guy consistently gets in position and gives his body up. Oftentimes on the man he's guarding--not just help defense. His post-entry passing and recognition of the open man have been exceptional. I can't imagine it's already being overlooked after the problems this team has had with that over the last few years. He did well on Wade in the 2nd half in the Miami game. I think he's a very good defender, and I do think he can cover a multitude of positions. I don't think he's strong enough to handle the Duncans of the world, though. He might be a poor rebounder by the numbers, but he always boxes out, gets his hand on loose balls, and allows the team to rebound. He's a big part of the reason this team is doing well on the boards--especially considering we had an undersized Hayes at the 4 spot, with Padgett and Battier pretty much backing him up until the injury.
Ok do yall realize that every game except two this year we have a just about a 20 point lead and every game blown it. Buck, Spurs, Bulls. It's got to be JVG he either sucks at managing the game and players, or he's just not used to the rockets winning by that big of margin. Once were up he doesn't know what to do. Like in the spurs game Pop let the big guys rest bringing them in refreshed for the late run while JVG keep our stars out on the court. Then tonight he brought them out and the bench sucked. He needs to figure out what to do or the rockets need to get another coach.
He's not a problem, but is he the solution? Trading two rotation players (Gay would have been a rotation player on this team, no doubt about it; Stromile, as disappointing as he was to many, had size and agility and could have been our backup center instead of 60 year old Deke) for one guy who defines the word "mediocre" doesn't strike me as a 'good' deal. I understand that we have a tendency to want to think/believe that we always get the best of any deal we make -- sort of a make-believe tendency, I guess -- but I honestly think that Rockets fans will look back on this trade a couple of years down the line and not like what they see. Just my two cents...and I AM still going to give Battier time to improve on some key shortcomings in his game, I understand that he's still a newcomer, but let's just say that he has been 'underwhelming' so far this season. Again, he's not bad by any stretch of the imagination and is a somewhat solid rotation player. However, it's my opinion that all his supposed strengths were either overrated or overstated.
1) The hole that happens every time Yao is tired, in foul trouble, or generally having a bad game. 2) The hole that happens every time McGrady's streakiness as a shooter runs through the "off' cycle. 3) The additional depth of not having traded two players for one. 4) The hole that McGrady leaves when he retires in three years. 5) The hole that exists in Battiers offense from everywhere but putbacks and near right corner threes. 6) The hole created by Battiers transition tempo comfort level matching Alstons. For all of those that like the trade? The Rox with a healthy McGrady and Yao are a playoff team. If it didn't get you to the second round, it didn't do jack.
Exactly. Hayes is free while Shane is acquired using a 2 for 1 deal. People are reasonably asking him to do more than taking couple charges, and hit couple corner 3s in a game. The so called ultimate glue guy, Mr. intangible has disappeared couple times already during the fourth QTs. I didn't even realize he was on the court during the stretch.
Well it was Shane who threw the inbounds pass. I like Shane Battier. I don't like the trade. Rudy Gay is already looking like a star. We'd have been better keeping Gay for half a season and then trading him for more. Anyway, it doesn't matter, he have Shane. Shane's a great glue guy. He's got character. But we'll see how it all meshes out in the end.
