I see your point...but if you're comparing them now, you can't throw out a championship run from almost 10 years ago to make Jax look better. Plus, beating the Mavs was hardly an upset when they had identical records and SA held the 1 seed.
Battier gets to much credit on the court for stuff he does off the court... Model citizen, well spoken, leader, etc. On the other hand SJax runs a rap label and is a bit of a loose cannon. However on the court SJax is still a gamer and still came up huge when it mattered. Batter gets all this credit but it is undeserved at this point and instead SJax should 'be been getting the praise.
That we have Battier is a overrated POS thread reaching 4 pages is actually pretty cool. I cant say I am not liking it because that would be lying. Anyhow he can still make it to the Finals off Lebrons huge games or if Wade and Bosh wake up soon. Lets be clear Battier needed a super team of 3 stars to even sniff the Finals. Yet sadly it may still not be enough because he does suck that bad or they would have handed the old Celtics players their heads already.
Jax's team put in 6 games. So Jax isn't exactly championship caliber this year. Lets see what the Heat does.
I've critiqued against Battier's "p***y Offense" the whole time he was in Houston. In the NBA, there's the few times where a wing player goes from 4th scorer to a game's high scorer. Battier RARELY did that, just stayed the same selective high efficiency 3rd guy at most. Thats his role, fine. But just a little bit frustrating. There's the 10 games where you could use someone to step up, and you kinda know it wasnt gonna be Battier. I was okay with him cuz I don't crap on Rockets players. But Battier's career is like all of a sudden Chandler Parsons goes from a willing offensive player, into just accepting a "specialist" role. It might seem like "sacrificial" team ball. But its just playing it too safe. <table class="sortable stats_table" id="stats_games"><tbody><tr data-row="62" class=""><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr></tbody></table><table class="sortable stats_table" id="stats_games"><tbody><tr data-row="62" class=""><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr></tbody></table>
1) Kobe vs Rockets Battier had games of 5-20 FG, 8-26, 6-18, 11-33. Kobe vs Rockets Battier 16 games, just 5 games he shot over his career FG%. Not saying Battier is "Kobe Stopper" ability. But thats undoubtedly on the good side of defense. 2) Just wrong about "Kryilenko". '07 where he went M.I.A. uninvolved like a b**** - Scoring 7 points the first 4 games COMBINED? Not saying that Battier caused that. But acting like Kirilenko's 2 decent games out of 7 didnt happen is just inaccurate. Kirilenko the following year, not much better actually. But everyone knew Rockets didnt have a chance without Yao. Harpring, yeah... 3) Not much doubt there. Battier did shoot his Rockets high FG% final year with them (contract year), but that was good for upping his trade value. Like I just posted, I'm not Battier fan. But not gonna "misremember" events to support a claim against him
That's true. I wasn't really agreeing with that point though, but rather the fact that Jax is slightly older, yet still more capable on the court.
To add to this, the Rockets almost always defended Kobe with one defender. Whether it be Battier or Artest. And the Lakers as a team perform worse when Kobe put up a ton of shots but don't create for others. In the end, what I regret the most with Battier was that he sucked in the playoffs. His only job on offense is to shoot the open 3, and he pretty much sucked at that in all his playoff games with the Rockets. He also declined quite a bit after his injury. Overall though, solid years with us, and Morey traded him before his value totally ran out.
Whether Battier is/was overrated is debatable. But some of you are really reaching. Blaming Battier for the Heat's losses is one of the most ridiculous things I've seen in here. And that says a lot because I've seen a lot of ridiculous things here. What's more funny is that some LeBron fans are arguing that blaming LeBron for the losses is ridiculous.
Every championship team has role players that step up during the playoffs. The Lakers had Ariza. The Mavs had JT and Barea. Boston got some solid play out of James Posey during its run. But who has stepped up for the Heat? This is where Battier should get blamed. He has been bricking his open 3s more often that not and his defense hasnt been great by any means. In over 30+ mins in Game 5, Battier produced 5 pts and 2 boards. Thats not gonna cut it. Especially since Miami needs someone else to take some pressure off of Lebron and Wade. Carroll Dawson's parting gift. Trading the rights to Rudy Gay for Battier. Nice going.
Dude, how can you hate on Shane Battier, like that after what he did for the Rockets? He was probably the best at what he did and is consummate professional. For most of his career, he was a *premier* defender in the league. It's easy to bash a player when he's at the twilight at his career., very big of you.
We've seen it before, slower outside shooters seem most susceptible to get shut down in the the playoffs when the intensity picks up. The Peja Stojakovic, Dan Majerle types on down, once they get a Bruce Bowen in their face the whole time. Sometimes they can be contributors when the focus is on the main guys and not on them. But generally the postseason defenses tighten up and leave them less space. Thats where Rudy Gay >> Battier, for postseason potential. Looking at stats, hard to believe Battier by FG% actually was pretty good shooting against the Jazz both years. Was only bad against the Lakers. That goes right into what we're saying about not PUTTING IN MORE contribution when SITUATION calls for it - ONLY being a 3rd guy AT MOST regardless of need. What good does the efficiency do when its RELUCTANT efficiency? Missing 2 more shots out of 6, making 2 more shots out of 6. its still just a max of 6 thats not gonna decide much of anything.
