I don't believe in this philosophy of pairing 100% defensive guys with 100% offensive guys and then expecting that it somehow all balances out. It's better to have more well-rounded players as starters and then use the specialists situationally off of the bench. This opens up the offense and makes the team more versatile on both offense and defense depending on the matchups. Like I said, when he was consistently putting up 10 points a game his offense was still weak, but his defense and intangibles made up for it. Now that's he's often only contributing 0-6 points a game it's a different story.
We don't need 10ppg out of his position, when the other 4 are scoring so well. All we need is for him to be a THREAT to score from his 3pt spot and to provide spacing for Yao on the low block. I expect most of Shane's minutes to mirror Yao's..... Ironically, this may be the year that Shane fits in the best out of all of them he is here. DD
Actually, the trend is not clear. FG%, particularly for someone like Battier, depends a lot on shot selection, particularly the proportion of his shots that are 3 pointers vs. 2 pointers, so it's quite possible for Battier's shooting efficiency to remain sthe same or even to rise even when his FG% declines. Shane Battier's TS% (accounting for 3s and FTs): 2005: .574 2006: .589 2007: .561 2008: .568 2009: .541 The fact is, aside from 2006, a great year shooting 3s, and 2009, playing without a star giving him space to shoot, Battier's overall efficiency has stayed fairly constant and above average. His ORtg (accounts for TOs and passing, I think) also stayed consistently high (even higher than Yao Ming, I believe, due to his low TO numbers). This really illustrates that the blended 2 pt/3pt FG% is a poor measure of a guy's shooting and overal loffensive efficiency. http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Shane-Battier-1619/
Not really. If its the fifth offensive option in your lineup, and is rarely asked to score or create because there are better options, whats the point? Its better to have that guy play defense and have a specialized role in the offense, ie spread the floor and make cuts. Battier is a perfect fit for that. Maybe in a Dantoni or Nelson system where there is no focal point, then a more versatile player would be better, that is not the case here. Many very successful teams have had a striclty defensive specialist in the lineup. Spurs had Bowen, Bulls had Rodman, Pistons had Ben Wallace. Shortsighted analysis. Any points a player score require them taking a shot. Taking a shot requires an offensive possesion and there are a limited number of offensive possessions in a game. You want your most effecient players taking shots in thier most effecient spots on the floor. Why would you want, lets say for argument sake, Sjax taking shots when Martin and Yao are way way more effecient at it? The answer is, you don't. Nor do you want to pay a premium for a player whose talents wouldnt be fully utilized, since your funds are limited. So in order for you to accept him as a player, you want him to take more shots at a less effecient rate, just as long as he scores 10 points? That doesnt make any sense.
I've had this argument with my friend over and over. He says he wants Battier to at least give them something offensively. So I ask, do you want him to go demand the ball from Martin and Brooks? Really? Battier serves his role by sitting in the corner or at the top of the 3pt line waiting for the ball when his defender over commits to someone else. He is and always has been very effective at that. I'd much rather have Battier in the current offense than Ariza jacking contested off balance shots.
You can be a good offensive player and not demand/dominate the ball. There's nothing wrong with having a supporting offensive player that can do other things than shoot three's. Like cutting to the basket to receive passes, getting a high percentage dunk every once in a while, participating in fast breaks, slashing to the basket and dishing off passes, making the player guarding you work a little on the other end of the floor, etc.. Battier does none of these. Having a more versatile offensive player also gives you some other things. It doesn't require that your big man needs to always be healthy for you to be effective. For instance, if said player has to miss some games you can still be useful and produce some things on offense any given night. Not to mention it just makes your team more unpredictable and difficult to defend when you have more players on the floor who can do more. I also think it's foolish for us to base everything about the team makeup on Yao being healthy, much less his ability to still draw a double team. Teams weren't even doubling him in the playoffs before his injury. Just putting one guy in front of him to deny him the ball. And the past two seasons it's resulted in 0-6 points a game half of the time? he's not nearly as effective or active as he was his first two season with the Rockets and has become more prone to completely vanishing on offense any given night. Honestly, there were sometimes the past two seasons I forgot Battier was even playing, and then I look at the boxs core and he played 30+. That was already rectified when we got Martin. His shot selection improved drastically. You think playing with Yao wouldn't have even improved on that?
You just described Battier. (other than the dunking) I can't tell if you are messing with us or what anymore.
Actually, I think everyone must be messing with you. Battier run's fast breaks, slashes to the basket, makes his man chase him around on defense? I think you're the one that's off on this.
Other than the entirely arbitrary nature of the claim of "situational" versus "well-rounded" players the main weakness in this argument is that you think that basketball is a series of 5 1-on-1 games rather than a team game. It doesn't matter who hits the open 3 from the corner. But what is important is that a team has a legit threat to hit the catch and shoot 3 to spread the defense. It doesn't matter if you have 3 guys grab 5 rebounds each or one monster who pulls down 15 a night. It doesn't matter if 2 guys score 15 or one guy scores 30. it's a team game and what's important is that as a team can penetrate, rebound, hit jumpers, play defense, create mismatches, guard stars etc etc If battier could not functionally hit an open 3 he'd be a liability but he's 36-39% from behind the arc and he's fine as for "situational" versus "well-rounded" it has nothing to do with those arbitrary designations but simply how good a player is. obviously having a "defensive specialist" like Joey Dorsey is crap since he cant score and doesn't make up for it with his rebounding but Dennis Rodman on the other hand = championship team. an all around player like Jason Kidd is balls while "all around" like Joe Alexander means he cant do any single thing well. Battier is a below average offensive player who is very very much above average in terms of defense and intangibles that makes him a net gain, especially on a team like Houston that will have 4 other scorers on the court with him at all times.
Battier is one of the best cutters on the team, he runs the offense to perfection. He may not finish with thunderous dunks, but a layup is all the same. Battier runs the fast break consistantly, he positions himself in the cleanup spot usually catching a rebound if the guards dont finish. Watch the games and stop looking at the stat sheet.
He made 57 layups all last season. That is probably one of the lowest totals in the entire NBA for someone playing 32 minutes per game. http://www.nba.com/hotspots/
The trend is clear. He's become more and more of a three point shooter only. The only reason his true shooting percentage hasn't gone down as sharply as his other percentage is because his ratio of three's taken to 2-pt field goals has increased drastically. It's not like he's making more three pointers or anything, or producing more points. You can understand why he's not doing anything else when you look at how bad his field goal percentage has become. It's due to a loss of his ability to do anything inside the three point line. It's him becoming more and more of a one-dimensional three-point player who just sits around the arc that makes the Rockets easier to defend, while he's also producing less in the way of points.
Amongst all swing-men last season who played at least 40 games and at least 20 mpg (81 players), he had the 7th lowest rate of field goals made at the rim per minute. Bottom 10: http://www.hoopdata.com/shotstats.aspx?team=%&type=pm&posi=S&yr=2010&gp=40&mins=20 Code: Anthony Parker 0.4 James Posey 0.8 Rudy Fernandez 0.8 Charlie Bell 0.9 Jarvis Hayes 0.9 Jerry Stackhouse 0.9 Shane Battier 0.9 Rip Hamilton 1.0 Anthony Morrow 1.1 Peja Stokakovic 1.1 But 0.9 made shots at the rim per 40 minutes is actually Battier's highest rate since he joined the team. Not so surprising since Yao wasn't around, so Battier had to get more shots off basket cuts and opportunistic tip-ins. http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Shane+Battier Code: 2007 0.8 2008 0.8 2009 0.6 2010 0.9
Ok, this is silly. I like Shane too but he NEVER cuts.....EVER....he goes to his corner and moves left or right. DD
Hmmm...someone producing like Trevor Ariza did when Martin joined the team. But seriously, I think the most perfect option is Tayshaun Prince.
Battier is not a cutter, nor a penetrator. So it is not surprising that he is that low. Last season was a low year for him offensively. I don't know if that's because (1) his injuries, (2), the lack of a superstar creator, or (3) age. We'll see how he does with Yao back, and back to the starting role. If he has not declined due to age, then I think his game is quite fit for the 5th-option role on a team with Brooks, Martin, Scola, and Yao, all capable scorers. He is a quick ball-mover and a respectable 3pt threat.
