I don't claim I know if Bateer can be a adequate backup C, but I think you maybe interested to know he was injured last season even before the cut.
I want to say it again: Bateer will be fine if he understand the system he is in. He is fine with CNT because he understands the system. He played games against mavs summer team and dominated on both ends. He needs to improve his english, or get someone help him understand what is going on. Yao can do that easily. Collin can do that too. Once the language barrier is overcome, Bateer will be a heck of backup C.
First , I don't consider scoring 13 points as a starter against Dallas summer league team as eating anybody alive. 2nd, does "ate Pavel alive" really mean anything? At this moment that Pavel guy is 10 time worse than Bradley. He' very slow, has no clue on court. The guy was drafted only because he was claimed to be 7'5, although he looked more like 7'3 to me. You won't see Pavel on court a lot this season. Bateer won't do much better either, he's a 3rd string backup center at best.
We need someone that can give us 15-18 good minutes per game. Bateer averages more fouls than points or rebounds. He wasn't a good backup on any team. What on Earth makes you think he'd be a good backup here? Wow, he played well against a 7'3" stiff who's weaker than him and hasn't played a minute in an NBA game. I'm not impressed. Bateer would be an okay practice player. We need someone that can contribute in a game. He couldn't contribute in Denver, he couldn't contribute in San Antonio, he couldn't contribute in Toronto. He won't contribute here.
OK... the whole friggin point is career backups like Mark Blount (grant he may be more than a backup) are getting something like 6-7 million dollars a year. this is NOT the year to try to go out and pick up quality free agents. Bateer is cheap and can be serviceable.
Personally even if we sign him and he never plays, I'd be okay with that. I think his biggest benefit would be to accompany Yao. They seem to have a good friendship and a Yao-Bateer friendship goes a long way in the confidence area than a Yao-non-chinese player friendship would. You see how Yao is hard on himself all the time? Everyone knows what he's thinking but I doubt any of the players know how to calm him down or say the things he needs to hear. His english may be good enough to understand but again..it's nothing like hearing advice in your own native language that you understand to a tee w/o even thinking.
Wrong, in the final game of Asian Tournament between China and Korea, he didn't even play a single min for the Chinese NT, not a single minute. Yao played the whole game. He played less mins in the semifinal than a normal backup should also. His NT coach didn't even trust him as a backup in the Asian tournament. "He played games against mavs summer team and dominated on both ends"??? What is that coming from? How dominate he was? 25+pts, 12+rebs, 5+ blks? Only that kind of stats can be called dominate when facing a summer league team, right? Bo Outlaw even scored 30pts in a summer league game last year. Finally, talking about English skills, Bateer came to US one year earlier than Yao did. Now Yao understands and speak English far better than him. What makes you think he will understand more when he plays along with Yao? Is Yao or Collin a better English teacher than his translator?
Bateer is a capable backup centre for Yao. People doesn't know that he hasn't play well because of the language barrier. I'm very positive he could do well with Yao's help. I mean what do we have to lose? He's very cheap and BIG maybe Ewing could help him out. He should have more confident playing with Yao.
Are u crazy? Griffin is a lot better than Menk already and everyone deserves a second chance especially when we invested so much in him.
It was the final game, and they just want the best player to play as much as possible. Yao did it because nobody was banging him like they do in NBA. It doesn't say anything. Bateer was the best big man when Yao sat out. Pavel got 0 points in the third game when Bateer was playing the starting C. How much Outlaw will get in this summer's FA market? But Yao spoke English in China. He started playing CBA as a teenager and he had american teammates, so his english was decent to start with. Bateer didn't speak English in China, and didn't have any help in the US. Yao acts as the intepretator of Harris, and he can do that to Bateer if he is on Rox team. Typical translators don't know much about BB. Collin actually does some.
