I don't want to see Battier go, but let's be clear about who the real leader of this team is: Ron Artest. Who got this team out of the 1st round, in his first season, and fought the Lakers to 7 games? Who has more charisma and drive? Who are the younger players on the roster more likely to listen to? Battier is definitely a scrappy player and a good citizen, but ultimately Ron's energy is what pushed this team to the next level.
You post doesn't make sense. Battier was brought in to the rockests to play 82 games and more. If you worry about match up about one particular player, then Yao should not be on this rocket team either. For me, a great part of the fun rooting for this rocket team is because they are a bunch of classy and good guys; guys that you would like to invite home for dinner. I am patient. I am more than willing to wait until the team and every body are healthy and go for the championship, which is not very far away in my opinion. When these guys win the championship, it will be just that much sweeter. All we need is to fill that 23 million dollars missing link and we are good to go. 让世界永远消除战争、消除仇恨. Let the world forever eliminate wars, and eliminate hatred.
That's not the whole equation though. You have to account for a number of other variables, mostly efficiency: If Kobe requires 30 shots to get 30 points on Shane, that's pretty good for the Rockets as that means he has rendered Kobe's impact to that of an average player (I think the average player gets about 1 PPS). If the other guy gives him 35 on 30 shots that means that Kobe/Lakers are scoring more per possession, which is what you want to avoid. Conversely, Shane scores his 6 with a very low shot output/usage rate on offense. Does imaginary other guy hit at a highly efficient clip? If so then those 17 points represent a benefit over Shane. If not, and he takes shots away from other more efficient options on the floor (Brooks Yao Scola etc)
I believe it's more like 1.08-1.09 points per shot. http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2009.html NBA teams got 1.083 points per possession last year (accouting for offensive rebounds and TOs, FTs and 3s). The average league TS% was .544 or so, or 1.088 ponts per true shot attempt (account for getting fouled and going to the line).
That's understandable, but shane shot 31% and 26% from 3. That imaginary guy could be a 45% shooter, so he would take 12 shots and get 15-17. The other night, kobe shot 13-28 for 40, in game 1 vs houston he shot 16 for 28 for 40. They lost and the rox won, but he got his both times. In the series, battier did a great job of keeping kobe off the line and basically conceeded the 17 ft contested jumper. Kobe like most great scorer's really don't mind shooting contested jumpers. Guys that are the focal point shoot contested shots anyway. What helped boston beat la last yr is kobe had to defend pierce or allen so in the 4th, his legs weren't as fresh. Chasing and defending allen through screens as well as having posey and pierce playing defense can wear a guy out. Guys like kobe never get tired of scoring, but when they have to play defense, it wears them down a bit.
In fact, Battier is better than Ron Artest and Tmac. Why the thread guy want to move him,ah? Dont u think we should move Tmc more premier?
the average player may fatigue, maybe it would be a factor in an OT game, but in regulation Kobe should have the endurance to play D on the other end and still be Kobe on offense. It's not like he's guarding Lebron on the other end, that's probably the only swingman that would tire him out and bang him up. Remember this is Kobe we're talking about. The guy love competition, loves to get worked up, loves challenges. When he faces Shane he's rthinking about what the media has been saying, not what shane said or is saying, and definitely not how Shane is trying to score on him, which Kobe would take as a challenge. Part of shane's success with Kobe may be because of that, he kind of puts him to sleep out of boredom in a way and Kobe is more likely tobe in cruise control, just scoring ocassionally and probably satisified with having an average game.
Even though i put a smilery i'm am serious about that comment though^^ Like i've said before, shane's offnesive issues become a problem because our true scorers have issues, i'm not talking about just having an off day, but on an average night they have trouble scoring. The offensive talent, skills, etc is all there, in abundance actually (when healthy), you get that going and along with shane's leadership on D you got a championship team. Trading Shane to make up for the rest of the team's inability to use their talent to the fullest may help the offense, but it's not going to improve it enough to make up for the drop in defense you'll have. At best you're just going to cancel it out, move your points scored up, but also move up points allowed by a similar amount. Yeah you can argue the new offensive player would open up the offense and therefore the increase in offense would be very great...but i think that's only true if he was a very good play maker. If you're just getting a shooter, or a richer Wafer-type, then it's not going to open up the offense that much. Why? Because our other guys have individual problems, it's not just an overall team issue. For example, executing a perfect entry pass is a team issue because it involves more than one player, but then you have the individual problem of Yao not being able to hold position, losing the ball, not being aggressive, etc. Same thing goes if the entry pass is to landry. He's got his issues with lack of post moves, inconsistency with his J, if fouled he's a bad free throw shooter (lately ). Scola hesistates a lot on his J. Brooks also hesitates on his J and finishing moves, tries to pass too high and not low when trapped. Ron has very bad shot selection. Ron's actually a perfect example here. Personally, i would rather make him more efficient with his scoring, get him to be in better control and increase point production that way and keep shane's D, than bring in an offensive replacement for Shane, who scores some more but also attracts a defender, therefore also giving more touches to Ron so he can jack it up more, and the new guy would also give up more points on D than Shane.
Rv6, you know what I think you seriously miss? In 03,04,and 05,the rockets were like top 5 in defense. Who was the lockdown guy on those squads? Once you tell me that, we can move forward with our discussion.
Actually, the Rockets were 5th, 4th, and 6th in defense in those years. They were 3rd, 2nd and 4th in the 3 years with Battier. I believe during this past season, they were either 1st or 2nd in D during the 2nd half of the season, once the rotation got settled, Battier and Artest got healthier and TMac got out of the rotation. So, the Rockets did go from good to better. Keep in mind, also, that guys like Mutombo (younger back then) Francis, Mobley, Wesley, James, etc. played hard on D during those Van Gundy years, so that we don't exactly have a low baseline. In any case, Daryl Morey spends more of Les's money and has more man-hour devoted to this than I can ever hope to. I trust he's been making the right decision based on evidence.
I am still trying to figure out who is supposely sitting out there as a ready and realistic target for a Battier trade that would help the team so tremendously-- and that we can't get without trading Battier. People b****ed about needing PF, and we found Scola and Landry without costing Battier (or much of anything else). People b****ed about PG, and the Rockets now has a promising duo of young guys. People b**** about needing scoring on the wing, and we got Ron and Von in the same offseason without giving up any rotational players. What exactly are the Rockets looking for now that requires a Battier trade to accomplish?
That's kinda my point. The were top 6 in the worse yr before battier and now they top 5 in the worse yr. That's not 1 man talking or being the glue, that's the team concept. Like tonight, 2 teams in the east were top 5 without a defensive stopper. If you look at Orlando, they have 2 small forwards and normally a 5'10 jameer nelson at pg. I know howard covers a lot of space defensively, but no one other than pietrus and howard are known as defensive players. Its always more about team defense. Earlier in the season, without battier, the rox were top 5 defensively and that was with a hobbled tracy and a guy like scola at 4.
We all know what we need.A Lebron or a Kobe to take us to the next level along with a fit Yao Ming. We don't have the goods to pull that off.McGrady can't get that done. PF was a desperate need,we had Weatherspoon and then later Chuck Hayes? Was asking for an upgrade there b****ing? Even right now we need more size and athleticism in the frontcourt and I don't mean Stro Swift. Do you think that Morey would have gone after Ron Artest or Von if he were satisfied with the wing position even with McGrady and Battier? Does asking for an overall improvement amount to b****ing? As far as PG is concerned,one is a scorer who needs to improve as a passer and the other one needs to shoot better and get more experienced.
I've watched a lot of magic ballgames over the past couple of yrs and I think what people don't understand why howard doesn't get double as much as yao is the personell on the floor. Howard does get double more than what posters on this board think, but what the magic's formula has been is similar to the old rox. I look at 2 guys like hedo and lewis is what really make them a hard team to gaurd . I've thought about this all season and tried to see if the rox would be better off with their team built like orlando vs the traditional way its built now. I have to say, and this isn't a knee jerk of any kind, I think orlando's way would be better , especially with a player like yao.
No, because he gets torched too easily and he needs play finishers to be effective. He gets broken down so quick and easily that the defense doesn't even have time to react.
Who was the defensive player of the year? Once Yao wins the award, then we can trade all of our defense guys and just line up 3 pts shooters around the arc and be confident knowing Yao's going to be scaring players to death, until then, we need guys like Shane.
