No - what he was saying was that you can't gamble as a wing defender when there's no "eraser" behind you if you get beaten. However Shane doesn't tend to gamble anyway - he plays court position and blocks space and makes his opponent shoot from the spot that Shane would have him shoot from. Battier is also a decent weakside shotblocker on the help rotation. I think we can still be a decent defensive team - we tend to make teams settle on the jumpshot instead of giving up the penetration anyway.
OP is saying to re-read that section. If we're willing to sacrifice so much of our team defense by not acquiring.a shot blocker, consequently Battier's defense will be profoundly impacted. I've said it before: show me a great individual perimeter defender and I'll show you a shotblocking, lane patrolling bigman. Without that, Shane's value drops and unless you're planning to keep him for the rest of his career you'll never get a greater return on investment than the beginning of this season. Don't be surprised if we sign a younger similar player that could, in time, fill Shane's shoes...
The anchor defensively is gone, No question. However the Pick n roll defense will be improved greatly. Yao is more so of a liability when it comes down to defending those pick n rolls, due to his serious lack of mobility. It's pretty much the same thing with Shaq too, Shaq has never been able to defend the pick n roll to save his life. Usually when I compare Yao's defense to anyone's It's Shaq's. However, teams that run pick n rolls constantly in games will no longer have an advantage against us anymore. This was why the Lakers started Gasol in Game 2 in the 2009 Playoffs against us. He wanted Kobe and Gasol to constantly run the pick n roll to exploit Yao and also to fatigue him out. It was a good strategy by Phil Jackson, and I knew he would figure it out eventually. This is why Shane Battier stated that the Rockets WILL HAVE TO play the Suns Style of play. To generate points AND play defense now. The Rockets will be more perimeter oriented then ever. Rockets don't have a player that can create for himself and for others in the low or high post. Luis Scola is a pretty good post scorer, but he can't create for others in the post. Rockets no longer have a reliable post player that you can run constant plays to anymore. Bottom Line: Rockets may lose their interior presence defensively, but their perimeter defense should be improved.
The '96-'98 Bulls had no one to protect the rim. Luc Longley and Bill Wennington were stiffs. Rodman was no more an eraser than Hayes or Battier.
Verse, 1. Where do you think the Rockets will rank defensively next season? I would bet $500 they'll end up in the top 10. 2. Battier, and the rest of the team, looked pretty good defensivley in the Lakers series without Yao. I am not sure the lack of a big man rendered him useless. 3. Battier's Memphis teams also did well defensivly with only Pau Gasol, who is not exacly a great defender, as the real lane patrolling big man. They even did well when Gasol missed half of the 04/05 season. 4. Artest in SAC was a good perimeter defender even though they didn't have much in the way of interior help. 5. Jason Kidd in the early part of the decade was recognized as a good defender, and there wasn't exactly an lane patrolling shot blocker on those 01/02 or 02/03 Nets teams. The top shot blocker for the those Nets, for example was Kenyon Martin, who was only 6'8'' or 6'9'' and blocked a little more than 1 per game (and less than 1 per game in 02/03). Jason Collins was not exactly a shot blocker. The 03/04 Nets, by the way, blocked the 3rd least amount of shots for the season, and was the 4th best team in terms of defensive efficiency. 6. Shawn Marion and Raja Bell are recognized as good perimeter defenders on the Suns, even though they didn't have help from a real big guy in the middle with the Suns playing Amare Stoudemire or Boris Diaw at C.
lets just wait and see what happens, its way to early to complain or make predictions. the rox could still make a move. i will wait till october before i complain or make predictions, but i think this team will be exciting to watch and thats my mindset right now.
even without a trade we will be fine without a shot blocker. i love our D. we will be a top 10 defensive team.
Adelmen has done it before in Portland and Sacramento. Webber was a decent shot blocker, but not quite an eraser when averaging below 2 blocks per game. I don't disagree with our defensive ranking taking a plunge.
I think you might be overrating the shot blocking statistic. As good as those blocked shots look they are only a few missed shots per game at best and if we can get someone (Chuck Hayes etc..) who can alter shots and defend the pick and roll successfully the result is practically the same. I think it is the offensive end that we need to worry more about when it comes to losing Yao.
What's up with thread ratings? Why does a well, entertaining post (this one) rate lower than T MAC is BALD, which has a picture and a caption (basically consisting of a LOL)?
The OP raises an interesting point. While I agree 100% that having a legit shot blocking presence is always preferable, I by no means think we're conceding anything by rolling into next season without a bonafide shot blocker. One enormous correlation between teams that play good defense and teams that win is: REBOUNDING. For years we have been one of the top rebounding squads in the league. Rebounding and defense is what has kept us legitimate even despite the multitude of setbacks that we've experienced over the years. I strongly feel as long as we continue to play solid fundamental defense and dominate the boards that we'll always be in the thick of things. We may not have the personnel to be serious next year but I have a hard time believing we won't at least be floating around .500 and respectable (considering the circumstances). A good counterexample to the OP's argument is the San Antonio example, that somebody already mentioned. Last year, Duncan was their only real shot blocker yet even despite their low shot blocks per game total as a team, they were still able to register as one of the league's best defensive teams. Granted, I realize part of the shot blocking element is also shot altering (equally important), I still believe you can alter shots and protect the rim without having 1-2 players that statistically record multiple blocked shots per game.
He should until Andersen or even Dorsey show some resemblance of contributing at the center position. Small ball to start the season unless a trade can be made to obtain a center.
its obviouse we are not going to put as much emphases on defese like years past furthermore we are going to push the ball and try to score more often. are biggest priority is going to be transition defense if we can solidify this i truely believe our perimeter defense can make up for our lack of paint shpt blocking T-MAC come back and earn a new conract because as much as we trash you we love you.
i think you dont need tall guy to be good defense team. you can just be small and steal thats how we got owned in my team.
The Rockets had a top-rated defense last season despite being 24th in blocked shots. Yao's a good help defender, but he's not the entire focal point of our defense the way Hakeem was. And the Spurs had a better defensive ranking even than the Rockets, despite blocking fewer shots than we did. The Laker series showed us that our weakness isn't going to be penetration, it's going to be big guys like Gasol who just outmatch us size-wise. Hopefully, Andersen can get a body on those guys and contest some shots. In other words, this thread fails. I agree that it's entertaining, but it's flat out wrong.
Yeah - what does Yao block? 1.8 shots per games? But it's not just about blocking shots - it's about altering them, and a genuine shot blocker certainly provides intimidation around the ring.
A lot of you guys fail to realize the simplest issue. Without Yao we have 0 real shot blockers on our team, unless Dorsey plays. Without the threat of a shot blocker teams will attack the paint. Just the threat of having a shot blocker makes a world of difference. I agree with the OP, our defense is going to suffer in 82 games.
