That part of his game I admit is under utilized when he has smaller players he is playing against I feel.
His lefty hook is almost as deadly as with his right, that's one thing that makes him good in the post.
He almost threw down a mean one handed dunk on Chandler when we played the Mavs. I couldn't believe my eyes. Battier is a great player.
That was just Duke hype. There was always a big gulf in their respective talent levels. Grant had all-star potential and became one. He could have gone to win a championship in a Pippen like role,if he hadn't gotten hurt. Shane is a better defender,but he is and always will be a solid role player. Nothing more than that.
He doesn't utilize it enough and neither does the coach. That makes him one dimensional on offense most of the time.
I agree with you there, but didn't battier average like 14 ppg the season before he was traded to us? It kinda makes me wonder how he managed to put up points like that with his pretty limited offensive arsenal.
http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Shane+Battier Battier is going to the post a lot more this year. The number of shots he attempts from <10 ft from the basket, but not "at the rim" increased from about 0.7 per 40 minutes in the 3 years past to 1.9 per 40 minutes. He makes about 47% of these shots, not a bad percentage. he also shoots 63% on his "at the rim" shot attempts (1.5 of those per 40 minutes, essentially unchanged from years past). I would think most of those are <10 ft shots are the post-up jump hooks he takes. It's a pretty signicant portion of shot attempts (9.1 per game).
No, that was his rookie year. It's not that hard for most NBA players to average 14 if they play enough and shoot enough. Battier played nearly 40 mins and shot as much as a third option would.
