I'd take Roy in a heartbeat. Remember guys, If we didn't have Battier than Gundy would've incorporated Bonzi in the SF role thus increasing his playing time greatly and not having anyone unhappy. Bonzi would've been more of a threat offensively than Battier. PG: Roy SG: T-Mac C: Yao SF: Bonzi PF: Hayes
With Yao and T-mac, we have more then enought offense (just need someone to hit those open 3 pointer). I woulda pick battier since I really think rox needed more on the defensive end then the offense.
Yao and T-Mac can't be in the game all the time. Why do u think we go on so many scoring droughts? We don't have a 3rd scorer. Roy would've been that 3rd scorer, and Bonzi is still our 3rd best scorer since hes technically still a Rocket. Battier is great but if we didn't have him I don't think our defense would suffer that bad.
It's easier to find a Brandon Roy type of player than a Shane Battier type of player. So my vote goes out to Shane.
ahhh didnt roy blow out both his knees already? and hes only what 22? id pick shane because i agree with the post above mine. shane's are really hard to find and we need a lock down defender on this team. he works out better for us anyways, we couldn't have afforded to risk having more injuries. if we had a higher pick though..of course we would have chosen roy. all that said and done, who knows how roy will end up in a year. pretty scary if something like the livingston freak accident happens. ill stay with shane.
...But if we're dealing with a realistic window, remember that drafting Roy probably means we have to keep Stromile. All in all, I'm glad we ended up with Battier. Every good team has a great defensive stopper, and we just added ours.
Shane is a good fundamental defender, but not a "defensive monster". He doesn't have the arm length to challenge shots as much as he'd like to. How many blocks does he have? He's taller than Kobe, but Kobe can still get shots over him, which is why Kobe got 50+ on us. T-Mac is a defensive monster in the playoffs.
All you guy forgot one thing. I think the trade for 8th pick for 6th pick (if we did it) was to include Head. Or do you think Min will do it out of the goodness of their heart. GMAB. So the question now becomes, how would you like to have Roy and Swift and not Shane and Luther? Not so good a trade anymore huh? I'd say we took off like bandits getting Shane and let him do what he does on the court speak for itself. Is he in a shooting slump, yep. Does NBA players get in shooting slumps? Sure Thing. Didn't Luther get in a major slump just before his current streak? Shane if I remember correctly, was doing very well on the 3pts before, NO?
Simply put... Battier is a glue guy, Roy is a points guy. Points > Glue I love Shane's game, and his charges and other plays give us free possessions, which may or may not translate to points. With Roy though, not only is he an NBA-ready scorer, but imagine that because of Roy being the 3rd scorer, Alston would be taking less shots and playing more like the great PG that he is. And I completely agree with rofflesaurus' point that Battier's inability to play the 4 position prevented Bonzi from getting more time. So really, the question could be would you rather have Battier or Roy+Bonzi? That's a no-brainer.
Roy without a Doubt... But if it was between Rudy Gay(Foye, Brewer, Thabo)/Swift and Shane, I would have gotten Shane... I STILL LOVE SHANE, He is BRILLIANT AND A TRUE COMPETITOR.
You forgot about Bonzi getting more playing time. Now that I think about it, Roy would be our 4th scorer since Bonzi was our 3rd. Don't worry about Swift. If Swift struggled again, we could get rid of him anyway. We still have Hayes and Howard, so the PF situation would be the same as it is right now. As far as trading Head to get Roy, why didn't we do it then? That wasn't in our plans. We were hoping that Roy would slip to us at the 8 spot. It didn't happen. So again, Battier or Roy + Bonzi?
I think that for the Rockets though, glue>points, especially since we already have established scorers in Yao and Mac and decent point contributors in Luther, JHo and yes, even Rafer. Besides Battier, while providing glue, also provides plenty of points/offense. The guy is just everything we need really, and I was glad the day we got him. I'm still glad we got him.
IMHO, Shane Battier definitely has the advantage over Brandon Roy simply because of three words. Jeff Van Gundy Reason #1. Battier is a season verteran who fits perfectly in JVG's system while Roy is just a rookie. Even though our fans are not fully satisfied with Battier's performance especially on the offense end, I think he's still the best trusted role player JVG would play on this team, he's kind of like the "b****" of JVG's, and I haven't heard anything negative JVG said about Battier in public, which is truly unbelievable. Reason #2. To be the rookie of the year or at least the candicate, a rookie needs to see plenty of floor time. According to JVG's philosophy, it ain't gonna happen. Roy has the talent to make a team better but JVG is in the last year of the contract and he can't be 100% certain Joy will fit into his defence-basketball system and he's a coach who thinks discipline is more important than talent. So Roy will probably still come after Rafer and Luther, maybe has to compete with JL3 for playing time. If you look at the fate of Novak, a rookie who was picked by some basketball critic to be one of the top 10 rookies of the year, despite his defence deficiency, he's rotting on bench. If we switched Roy and Novak's teams, I'd gurantee you will see a difference. And BTW, there hasn't been a single rookie of the year player coached under JVG to get that honor. In long term Roy is a better player than Battier. Roy would be a star and Battier would always be the best role player/teammate a team would have. I just wish we had both Roy and Battier because they would make different contribution to the team. But if a rookie can impress JVG and earn his trust, he must be really really really damn good and obiendient, which I don't see it happening quite often.
Ah, the points or glue debate... we won't really find out which is more important to our team till we see how we do in the playoffs. If we win a championship this year or within the next 3 years, then of course how do you not say Battier was more valuable than Roy (of course if we had Roy, we could also win it all IMO). Yao and T-Mac might be established scorers, but when you go against loaded teams like Dallas, you need more than 2 (see Game 7 two years ago). We've been looking for the 3rd scorer for quite some time. Roy could be that. Battier... not so much. Besides the two superstars, we need more than just a few "decent point contributors".
This is the exact kind of logic swarming around this forum that is really pissing me off. This whole mentality that JVG doesn't play players specifically because of their age or NBA experience. Total BS. Wouldn't expect anything less from the many clueless JVG haters that exist here. The reality is JVG's philosophy has nothing to do with that crap. Regardless of his contract status, his philosophy has always been to play the players that give him the best chance to win. Unlike all you posters, JVG and his staff get to see the likes of V-Span, Lucas, Snyder, and Novak in EVERY practice, EVERY scrimmage, and EVERY game. After watching their game, JVG evaluated that giving them minutes does not help the team win, PERIOD. He never blindly makes decisions to play or not play players because they are rookies or whatever. You think Roy would come after Luther? Roy battling with Lucas for playing time? WAHAHAHA!!! JVG would find out immediately that Roy is an impact player that could contribute to this team positively, unlike the players listed above. Whoever that basketball critic was that thought Novak was a top 10 rookie should be fired immediately. Novak is a hell of a shooter, and that's about it. Other than shooting, Novak sucks, and that's why he's not playing. Deal with it.
I don't see how this pole can be so close. Battier can guard anybody 1-4. Don't give me the Kobe dropped 50 on him- he did it on 44 shots in an overtime game. He does all of the things that superstars don't, which is what this team needs. This guy is just what a team like the Rox, where the superstars aren't very vocal, needs to hold it down. Roy is nice, and if he stays healthy, has a great future in this league but he hasn't demonstrated the intangibles in this league yet. Mike
I don't want to get into a quarrel with you about the details. As a fan, I'm like an outsider. I can't see how this team really functions at daily basis, what I can see is only the results. No matter how you defend the team and the coaches, what really matters is the final result. Regardless of how hard JVG has worked, the direction he's moving toward, the facts speak themselve, which is he's not the suitable coach to lead the Rockets to championship nor is he the perfect guy to develop young telant. And his personality issue is always one the players have to deal with. Speak anything you want, there's no way you can convince me that JVG can make Roy rookie of the year that Nate McMillan has accomplished.
