Shane Battier stats after first 21 games of regular season

I still consider the 25-year-old Ariza to be the better player: Ariza was thrown in to a very unfavorable situation last season, and to be quite honest, he's facing another challenge this year with New Orleans. He is the go-to perimeter threat on that team, and he's expected to get buckets on a consistent basis. Not his role, and it never will be. Ariza's the featured wing on the Hornets, which is far from an ideal situation for him. He excels playing next to a feature SG, as he's primarily a spot-up shooter/backdoor slasher. He's not comfortable carrying the offensive burden, and Rockets fans witnessed his struggles under those circumstances last season. He would have proven his value on the current Rockets squad, as he's a perfect compliment to Kevin Martin.

Would you honestly rather have Shane Battier than Trevor Ariza on the current roster?

The Ariza/Lee deal will be remembered as a blemish on Morey's resume -- Trevor took heat last season because he was forced to shoulder the offensive load sans Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. It was an unfamiliar role for him, and he struggled mightily at times. My only issue was that Morey pulled the chair out from under Ariza before he was even given the opportunity to showcase his skillset with a healthy Yao Ming (obviously not the case now) and an offensively gifted wing (Martin).

His departure crippled our rotation. RA was forced to compensate for the loss of a 6'8'' defensive menace with an undersized wing. Not taking anything away from Lee, as he's a feisty perimeter defender and savvy shooter in his own right, but he doesn't provide the length/fill the SF role.

 

Pretty much none of this, he is terrible.

 

Then how do you explain his season in '06/'07: 14.3 points and 7 rebounds/36 minutes, 16.2 PER, 56.7 true shooting %. Or, his breakout campaign during the Lakers playoff run to a world title: 11.3 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 2.3 APG, 49.7 FG%, 47.6 3PT%, while consistently locking down the opposing team's featured wing... don't forget, he shot 42% from 3PT in the series v. the Magic.

I mean, c'mon. Give the kid some f***ing credit. It seems as if you despise Ariza based solely on his lone season with Houston... I know it must be hard, but try to overcome your deep-rooted bias toward Shane Battier.

 

not trying to hate on Battier, but that guy has more apologists on this board than anyone in history. that's about the only thing this thread proves.

the stat line posted by the OP is thoroughly average at best for any NBA player, but the attitude suggests we should be excited because he's back to his typical level of less than mediocrity!

I'm glad he's playing better. I'm glad the Rockets are winning games. I think it has a lot more to do with the team playing better as a whole than Battier showing up for a few games. He's not the glue guy.....this team will do what it's going to do with or without him.

 

Yes, I take Battier over Ariza every day of the week. He's a better team basketball player. That doesn't mean I wouldn't like to upgrade our SF position. I would. Between Shane and Chase, we got basically nothing until the last 6-8 games when Shane has played well. But we still need more from the SF spot. But I wouldn't want Trevor back. Nope.

 

The statline proves that his offense isn't as bad as everybody is making it out to be. Couple that with his high IQ and strong defense and that puts him above the level of an average NBA player (some of you fans only look at PPG and think you know everything about this game).

His typical level is less than mediocrity? He has been a starter throughout his entire career, made a couple of All-NBA Defensive teams, former Team USA player. How is that mediocrity?

So Battier's offense picks up to where it once was and the team starts winning and somehow there is no correlation between the two? One of the team captains, one of the leaders in the locker room, a guy who has been a starter on this squad for the past several years isn't a glue good?

You clearly have no idea wtf you are talking about. Go watch some Rockets basketball.

 

Also the reason we got rid of Ariza wasn't to make room for Battier, it was to get rid of Ariza's horrible contract. We made a mistake by throwing that much money at him in the first place.

 

It would only of been a mistake if the contract made Ariza untradeable. Morey knew what he was doing.

It actually turned out to be a blessing because Morey was able to get a player the Rockets had been after for a while in Courtney Lee.

 

Besides the fact that Shane's stats are simply better, I'd rather have him on my team than Ariza for one simple reason. I can trust him not to take a selfish, r****ded, off balance fall away 3s when we desperately need buckets. I can't say the same for Ariza.

Also, Ariza's a douche.

 

LOL at the no stats all star beating the stats version of the no stats all star in stats, with the latter one having cp freaking 3 on his team and the former guy returning to form the past 8 games or so.

 

Do any of those categories really tell you how valuable a player is to the team unit? A player could average 30 a night and still hurt his team because he needs 60 shots to do it.

 

Yeah... agreed, considering he'd account for the vast majority of his team's FGA. Extreme example, eh?

 

Is he really playing strong defense??? The last time John Salmons shot 50% from the field was about a month ago. He's hit that mark 4 times in 24 games this year, and shooting 36% for the year. I know Battier wasn't on him all game, but Battier is billed as the guy who takes away the other teams best perimeter guy. That hasn't been true for over a year.

High basketball IQ? Is his shot selection really that great? That baseline floater was the kind of trash shot selection I would expect from Iverson, but Battier seems to get a free pass.

I never said there wasn't a correlation between Battier playing well and the Rockets winning. My complaint is that Battier isn't very good and he rarely plays well. If we had a consistent contributor at small forward, this team would be a lot better off. Unfortunately, Shane isn't capable of providing consistent production and he really hasn't been capable for a long time.

Don't come at me with PPG. That was never in the discussion. I watch, know, and understand basketball. I know that points aren't everything. I also know that the "Shane's contribution's go beyond the box score" meme is old, tired, and has no leg to stand on. He's a nice guy, good teammate, but he doesn't have a whole lot to offer out there on the court.

I wish things would've worked out better for the Rockets. Battier was supposed to be the piece to help them advance in the playoffs. It didn't happen. It doesn't help Shane's case that the Rockets gave up a talented young prospect to acquire him. If all it had taken to pick him up was a 2nd rounder, you'd here a lot less complaining. Instead, a team that desperately needed a young athletic 3rd scorer, gave up a talented young player who was more than capable of filling that role for "intangibles".....

If you don't get this, then maybe you should watch some Rockets basketball.

 

Speaking the truth around these parts is frowned upon by Battier's staunchest supporters, who constantly cite "intangibles" and a handful of immeasurable qualities to justify his play.

In terms of PER, Battier's underwhelming 12.0 checks in at fourth worst on the team, ahead of only Budinger, Jeffries, and Ish.

He's the captain and self-proclaimed leader of an 8-14 squad, and is undoubtedly the starting rotation's weakest link. He just racked up a staggering 4 points (0-3 3PT) and 2 turnovers in a loss to one of the league's most atrocious offensive units.

The hypocrisy on this board is sickening. A similar performance from Ron Artest, Rafer Alston, Tracy McGrady, etc. would have drawn widespread hate/unrelenting criticism.

 

OBLIGATORY:

 

If Ariza even had Jr. High level handles, I'd like him a lot more. Hated seeing him move with the ball.

 

Hopefully he still has the flu...

 

Journeyman at best. Good lockeroom guy like the Texans have full of. Model citizens that dont amount to anything in wins column. Same argument until we get rid of him and you realize his replacement was better.

 

Yep...Teflon Shane. Sadly, it's not just limited to this board.

A near-direct quote from Matt Bullard during the Bucks game states "Battier's a good post-up player...he needs to go down there more often". And this was on a missed shot!

This rhetoric...and the intangibles stuff is mind-boggling. Doesn't anybody actually WATCH Battier? He can't dribble drive and his postup game wouldn't be "good" in a decent rec league game.

 

Bullard usually qualifies that with "against the right matchups" -- which of course makes it pretty meaningless.

Its like saying, "He's a good 1-on-1 player when he's being defended by someone that can't guard him."