I think with the exception of Brand, the others like Danny Ferry, William Avery, Langdon, Magette, Dunleavy(??), Bobby Hurley, Jwill(??), and most probably Boozer.
Battier would be a great addition to the Rockets, I wish we could trade for him also. I haven't seen how he's done with the Grizzlies in the regular season but I have seen him numerous times in summer league play. From my observations Battier is one heck of a leader. He completely took over the Grizzlies team in the summer, not scoring wise or anything of stats but pulled guys aside during timeouts or freethrows and talked to them about where they should be or what they need to do. He was the only player I've ever seen that could constantly keep in contact with the coach while playing. What I mean is that the coach would tell him where the open player was or where the double was coming and Battier heard the words and adjusted to it immediately. Every time down he would talk to the coach on what to do and I have never really seen a player do it every time down, since he was playing the point alot of the time. He has got to be one of the more intelligent players I've ever seen, he just knew where everyone should be or where they were going to be. He is a team player and a leader but he's not going to lead the team in any stats, he just knows how to play and make key plays. What I like about him is that he's smart basketball wise(he's not going to take a shot he knows is not good like shooting of the dribble with 3 players on him with a wide open teamate near him), he can handle the ball full court, he can pass the ball very well whether it's entry passes or dishes on the drive, and yes I believe he is a very good team defender(not one on one, he knows whos open and how to get to them). He is underated in this department, he does get many key steals and blocks off other players man. He is not quick but he is not anything near slow. He is a SF, and is best playing a role of point forward. The reason is he sees the court very well, knows whos open or where a player is going to go on a play(I seen him pass the ball to guys very well off doubles). He's more like a Rick Fox(with less one on one defense and more handlng and passing skills) than a Scottie Pippen which many scouts called him in my opinion.
Battier's a pretty good player...BUT AT SHOOTING GUARD? And he already doesn't get that much playing time. But he looks pretty fundamental and intelligent. Yes. I would rather have Wesley Person as well. He would be great with Yao.
I posted this same thing yesterday! My version had us giving up Cato for Swift and Battier. We get rid of Cato's contract and get back two smaller contracts in Swift and Shane. Swift is basically Cato from the past few seasons with more potential and a much smaller contract and Shane would be a very good 3 for us. Battier does the little things nobody wants to do and he does it without complaining. No, he is not great at any one thing (maybe the charge) but he can shoot the rock and he makes the smart pass. I think that a small deal like this would be much better for the team then adding/subtracting big parts in the middle of the season.
Our new lineup would be: Francis/Moochie/Cat Posey/Cat/Hawkins Battier/Posey/Morris Griffin/Taylor/Swift Yao/Swift with a little Collier and Rice
Hmm...Swift is a pretty good shotblocker too. But he seems small. And what happens to Bostjan Nachbar and Tito Maddox? And what about Glen Rice? Does his contract expire this season?
stay away from duke players. all of them failed miserable in the nba, except brand. examples: hill laettner battier jwill hurley maggette william avery trajan langdon roshown mcLeod danny ferry cherokee parks and others
I'm not a Duke fan at all, but in fairness to some of these players, the jury is still out on Battier and Williams. Grant Hill was a very good player who had an unfortunate injury that is most likely going to cut his career short.
I wouldn't consider Boozer a disappointment. He looks like he will be a solid NBA player and that's more than you could ask from a 2nd round pick. Otherwise, yeah all Dukie's are overhyped, Brand and Hill pre-injury excluded. Gotta give some props to the coach for making them look better in his system than they really are.
hill is a bust, just ask the magic. injury is part of the game; every player should expect to get injured. so, they should work on their conditioning in the offseason to prevent or recover from injuries. hill hasn't done that. feel sorry for the magic, having to write a check to grant hill every 2 weeks.
He would be a nice addition to the Rockets, but I don't think I'd trade for him. He's a smart guy, that doesn't beat himself with many mistakes during the game, but he's also not very explosive on offense, or defense. He'd be just someone you could rely on to not force bad passes, and shots. If he were a point guard, I'd like him a lot more. He could play a Ron Harper role if that were the case. Even Ron Harper wasn't a true Point Guard, but he knew his role, did his job well, and was an excellent defender. He didn't have anything major to offer to the Lakers or Bulls when he played, other then just being big for a point guard. Maybe Battier could fill that role, and if he did a good job at it, it could be positive for the Rockets. I personally would really like to see Brand in a uniform before filling up any holes in our other positions. Griffin and MoT can put up points on the occasional nights that they happen to be hitting their shots, but they're poor frontside defenders, and don't really rebound consistently enough for my liking.
