Is Shane Battier one of the best role players ever?

He might be the ultimate TEAM guy and public relations guy, Mr. Basketball Image. Needs a little more visible stat results to show he's the best (though I'll surely take the wins). I'm for the player that defers but actually is still talented enough to be counted on to produce stats, like a Richard Jefferson who may or may not be considered a 'role' player. No, not the best (though I can't think of a choice for best now). One of the better ones? Sure, why not...

 

i have to disagree there. horry is nowhere close to the role player or player rodman was. let's not forget he is a guy who was a 2 time defensive POY, 7 time all defensive first team, led the league in rebounding for 7 straight years, and was a key part in 5 championships. hell, rodman had back to back 18+ RPG seasons...insane. horry has made some clutch shots and he is a very smart player, but rodman >>>> horry.

 

so rodman was a role player?

how about big ben? billups? manu? i am not even sure battier is the top 5 ACTIVE role player.

 

Horry was not even the greatest rockets role player ever.

Otis Thorpe and Mario Ellie both contributed more to the team on a day in and day out basis.

He hit a number of big shots -- but he wasn't the reason the team was in a position to make those shots.

 

I'd put Horace Grant ahead of both D. Rodman and R. Horry.

Unlike Horry who only performs occasionally, or Rodman who only performs at the defensive end, Grant was effective on both end of the floor night in and night out, does all the dirty work to help the team, and he won a few titles as well. During his peak time with Chicago and Orlando, he averages 14PPG/9.6RBG, and shot at 54%.

Here is his career number,

PPG: 11.2 (FG%: .509)
RPG: 8.10 (O/D: 3/5.10)

 

I wouldn't mind a bit more scoring from Battier, but ultimately, that is not what defines a good role player. Look at Robert Horry - the guy has like what, 6 rings (or more?), and he never scored more than 12 pts per game on average in a single season. Out of his 16 seasons in the league, his averages were only in double digits for three seasons, and two of those were 10.1 and 10.2 points.

Battier, much like Horry, is a guy who does a lot of little things well - don't know if you noticed, but the last two games, he had 3 blocks each, for instance. He knocks down important threes, he gets a good amount of steals and blocks, he takes a lot of charges. I'd much rather have that than a guy like Juwan Howard, who, when given the minutes, could score 15-18 points, but would not do too much else that would be meaningful to a winning team.

As usual, weak stuff and flawed logic. He's a role player - so how far his teams will go largely does not primarily depend on him, but on the (super)stars he plays with. By definition, the best role player ever cannot take his team to a championship if he doesn't have the superstars to be role player to - otherwise he'd be a superstar himself.

It's too early to judge, but Battier has the potential to be a great role player on a championship team.

 

The only thing comical is the ridiculous "analogy" you came up with here .

 

Bonzi Well's is the best "roll playa" ever. The chick on playa's lap had 14 or 15 rolls.......

 

^ Ahahahahaha. But seriously, I dont think Robert Horry's a 'role-player'..neither is Dennis Rodman..they are both stars in their own right.

 

i don't know how you can possibly put horace grant ahead of dennis rodman. just because he averaged 4 more points per game? rodman was better in every aspect of the game outside of the scoring.

 

battier does have the potential to be a great role player on this team and he is doing a lot of little things well, but there is one glaring problem with him early...his percentages. they are not good. i don't care how many points he is scoring but i expected battier's %'s to increase this year with yao and tmac. right now he is at 43% FG, 33% 3pt, and 56% FT...pretty weak for a guy who i was expecting to be at 50+% FG, 40+% 3pt, and 80+% FT.

i think he will turn these numbers around as he feels more comfortable within the offense but for now they are crappy. if he shoots like that for the rest of the year then the trade might as well be the same as bagwell for andersen. battier needs to be an extention of yao and tmac on offense...i hope that chemistry develops along with battiers shot.

 

And I'd put Ron Harper ahead all of them... miles ahead.

 

Funny, I thought the whole point of the trade for Battier was so the Rockets wouldn't have to deal with all the uncertainties of "potential"?

 

Ron Harper wasn't born a role player, unlike others who are mentioned in this thread. He was a major player when he and Danny Manning keyed the former perennial loser Clippers to their back-to-back (and only) playoff appearances in the early '90s, under, guess whom, Larry Brown. I watched quite a bit of Clipper games in those days and I noticed Harper was every bit as self-assured as you would see from an All-Star. He was also a big time player in his earlier career when he was with the Cavaliers. He adjusted his role nicely and played the second fiddle to bigger dogs when he joined the Bulls and later Lakers.

 

If he wins a couple of rings with Yao and Tmac, the media will hype him up as one of the best role players ever. And the fans will think so too accordingly. If he doesn't, I don't believe anyone will remember his name 15 years later (except the Rockets fan of course). It's just the way how the sports world works.

 

Correct, and that's what IMHO makes him even more special.

You don't see a 20-5-5 guy turning into ultimate role player every day.

 

is this like being the tallest midget?

 

Depends on what you mean by role player. Do you mean a guy who does a bunch of things well but nothing outstanding? Or do you mean a guy who complements some superstar (sidekick)? Or do you mean a guy who does a thing or two very well and his "role" on the team is primarily that which he does well? I take it to mean the latter.

I don't consider Horry a role player... I think he's a decent all-around player, a sidekick, who is at the top when you're talking about being "clutch."

Rodman was a role player... D and rebound... anything else was gravy... that's one of the reasons he imploded in SA as he was asked to be the second best player on the team and he couldn't swing it... too much responsibility... he was much more comfortable being a tertiary contributor like he was on the Pistons and Bulls.

Microwave was a role player... Instant O.

Bobby Jones of the 76ers was a role player... D and run.

Michael Cooper was definitely a role player... D.

Deke is a role player... D and a breath for Yao.

I don't consider Battier a role player... he falls in to the Jack of all Trades category, where he does a bunch of things well. We'll eventually see if he complements Superstars and barring major injuries, he should have a chance to show "clutchness" this year.

 

i'm gonna throw bruce bowen out there


*flame suit on

 

I think he's a good example of a role player... as is Ben Wallace, who has already been mentioned.

One thing about "role players" is that you only seem to find them on winning teams. Everyone talked about in this thread... with the notable exceptions of Battier and Deke, who we hope will not be exceptions come June... is that all have been on a championship team.