Battier is a class act off the court but this season, he sucks worse than ever on the court. I would trust the guy with my wallet in a heartbeat but not with a basketball in crunch time. He works his butt off and makes a lot of the under-appreciated hustle plays, especially on defense. He can shoot well when spotted up wide open in the corners. He is a pretty good defender but not nearly as great as he gets credit for. Bruce Bowen owns him in the latter category because of his far greater quickness. Unfortunately, despite the good stuff, Battier just simply has too many weaknesses, some of which stand out more than ever these days... 1. He is a pathetic rebounder for a forward. 2. He is slower than molasses and can't jump worth a lick. It often looks like there is glue stuck to the bottom of his feet. 3. He has poor ballhandling skills. At least he recognizes that fact and tries to avoid dribbling. He absolutely can not beat a guy off the dribble. 4. He has no low post skills. No matter what Bullard or anybody else thinks, that hook shot that Battier tries to pull off occasionally when he is backing a guy up down low is not far behind a Rafer tear drop or a Chuck Hayes' free throw in terms of uselessness. 5. He can't create his own shot or shoot off the dribble. He is extremely close to a blackhole on offense. His spot up shooting from the corners isn't enough, not even close to enough. 6. His reaction time is very slow rendering him a liability when trying to read defenses and make plays in this higher motion offense. This will only get worse as the team continues to adjust to Adelman's style of play. 7. He rarely finishes around the basket. When he does, it is usually off a broken play. He never finishes strong or and almost never gets to the free throw line. I truly don't mean to disrespect such a nice guy but it would be the best thing for the Rockets to move him as soon as possible and bring in a player that better suits Adelman's system. Some team will be able to use Battier's "intangibles" but what the Rockets need at his position is a guy with more "tangibles".
Yeah, this kind of goes hand-in-hand with the Chuck Hayes vs. Winning Thread due to the fact these are the two players in the starting line up that are not carrying their weight! Shane is the reason that Chuck has been supremely exposed this season; even the Hacka Chuck tactic was used by Stan VanGundy! We do need more tangibles from a starter; he's been coming up with some Ryan Bowen type crap this season. I need 15ppg from that starter, but we are getting 8.3 from him and that is unacceptable for all the cutting opportunities that they are provided with. I wonder how they practice because the passes look so uncomfortable for most of them.
He's not great, but not pathetic either. He's not good enough a rebounder for the PF spot, but OK for the SF spot. That's just your personal opinion. I don't think he is slow, and I don't see any glue there either. He doesn't need to, it's not his role. I think he should work on it, though, so he can surprise the opponent once in a while. I don't think that he cannot do it, it's just that he seems to think it's not the most effective move for the team when there are other players who can do it better, so he doesn't do it. That's just said for entertainment value. His fg % is much lower so far this season, but he is about a .450 shooter, which seems ok. Not great, but ok. His fg % should improve over the course of the season. It is enough. He is not a black hole. You are sort of repeating your number three here. This is completely wrong. He reads defenses better than most players. He is also a good entry passer to Yao. His reaction time is very good. I think he might be trying a little too much to "play within himself." I think he has the skills, but sometimes he should be more aggressive and just use them. That's one point where I would agree. No, Battier provides a lot more than "intangibles": - He gets a steal and a block and a three per game. These are all tangible. Not many players in the NBA do this. - He probably takes more charges than any other player in the NBA (I don't have the stats, but he must be up there). This is like a steal, and often changes the momentum of a game. - He gets a lot of deflections and tips the ball to teammates, something that doesn't show up in the stat sheet. - He is our best perimeter defender. It's due to him that T-Mac can often rest on defense. - He is a very smart player who explains stuff to his teammates. There was something in a recent game where he recognized what the other team wanted to do and immediately alerted his teammates. etc. Keep Battier. I think he is a fantastic asset, and I hope he will celebrate a championship as a Rocket before he retires as a Rocket.
You know what it is? It's how MECHANICAL he is out on the court. Shane plays the game in separate pieces. It's like he goes through this thought process of: dribble, now set up, now shoot. I feel like I can read exactly what Shane is going to do half the time before he goes and does it. When Shane isn't ending the play with a three or swinging the ball around, he holds onto the ball too long and allows the defense to reset. It's not just how slow he is, its how slow he plays. There are plenty of "slow" guys who have become fine scorers in the league. The problem is that Shane is what he is, and that isn't a decisive and confident player. The one thing I give Shane props for is running after a shooter after you have lost him. I see plenty of times where Shane gets burned and then runs up from behind to slightly throw off the shot. Against better players this method ends up getting him burned, but this is one intangible that does make a difference against certain players. He really wouldn't be a bad addition next to a guy like say - Dwade, he really is ideally suited for guarding 3's and playing with a two. Tmac on the other hand is clearly a three with his current mobility and should have at least a David Wesley level guy next to him. Unfortunately it looks like Miami is throwing in the towel on the season and we won't be able to give them pieces to "win now".
Why do people use the "class act" thing against him? The team didn't trade for him to be a "class act." He is a good basketball player. Ryan Bowen works his butt off. Shane Battier has more than hard work. The guy knows where he should be at any given time and makes critical stops over and over gain. It's not just "hustle plays." Wrong. He gets 1.5 offensive boards a game. Pretty good for someone spotted up for 3s often. His low defensive board relates to the fact that he is usually stuck defending the perimeter guy. His rebounding total is fine for a guy who makes his living in the perimeter. He isn't going to be out-fighting the Randolphs and the Boozers for boards, but that's not his job. How does a "slower than molasses" guy handle the primary wing defensive duty on one of the better defensve teams on the court? How does he do a good job on guys like Lebron James? How do you suppose he averages a block shot a gam without jumping? That ain't his job, and frankly, that ain't the job of many SFs in this league.
I don't think we can get a better player in exchange for Battier in a trade. We should keep him unless something unexpected comes up.
The ball-handling problem is legit. Easy buckets in transition happen a lot easier if you have three guys on the court who can handle the rock and run a fastbreak. Adelman's Kings had that. Instead, without T-Mac, we have only one solid ball-handler in the starting lineup.
Again,Battier's value is exponentially higher the better the team is. Once Brooks and Scola's minutes increase to where they will eventually be,we have our offense down,and Tracy is either healthy or we have the pieces from a deal look out. Chuck will see the floor much less and Shane won't be asked to do more than he should. This is a Championship level team,but it's a work in progress right now. Adelman is the perfect man for the job. I know it's hard to be patient at times but look at it this way.We're watching the building and maturation of a perrenial contender with a window of at least 6 - 8 years.............and make no mistake Shane will play a BIG role in the BIG games ( playoff time esp. when every trip down means so much) when we're in there.
How much better would a starting quality 2 OR 3 look, than Shane Battier? We had a chance at two of them, and JVG killed them both. A ) Brandon Roy B ) Rudy Gay
Our pick was that high because of injury and the brass took the safe route adding a proven piece you need on a title team.Hindsight's 20/20 and I would love to have Rudy,but we're going to win multiple titles without him. Plus getting rid of Stromile created space for moving parts in a chain reaction. We wouldn't have the quality depth we're going to have. I moved on the day after the draft. No depth under JVG,yet if we get past Utah who knows?We took a shot and we'll have more.....with much more realistic chances of a parade.
i actually can see where the op was coming from, but i can only disagree. i'm a pretty big battier fan. i was gonna say something to defend him. then i found out all what i wanted to say has pretty much been said subsequently...
we wanted to pick roy, but portland did ahead of us. we never intended to draft rudy. if the trade for battier didn't go through, we'd draft someone else.
OK, I understand you're going all out to paint a picture of Battier as being a zero on offense, but this is inane at best. If there's anything Battier is known for, it's his high basketball IQ and ability to read and interpret defenses/offenses better than most players.
I don't see any of these things. I think this is just a fan dreaming instead of seeing a reality. You are dreaming. I am seeing reality.
CD got outsmarted by the Blazers and the Wolves but it wasn't his fault. There was nothing he could do to stop it.JVG had nothing to do with it. No one wanted to take the risk of having Gay,which in my opinion was a short sighted decision. Shane has some plus points and quite a few limitations,but we have to live with it.
Thanks ibm. Now BB,for starters I want you to read your moniker 10 times. Just because you can't comprehend what is happening yet doesn't make me wrong. It's nothing but a Grand Illusion baby!
