I saw that and I also saw that you suggested we should trade him for Outlaw as well, which was leebigez's idea and I completely agree with it. I think a lot of people are finally starting to see what you, I, and a few others have been talking about for a while - that Battier is the most overrated Houston Rocket on this board by a landslide. I think solid nailed it a few posts above this one when he said all he's doing is basically running around out there.
Battier, with his French name, is turning into the Rocket scapegoat du jour. Personally, I like to pick on Rafer, but I do recognize that Rafer gives full effort. But what is up with Shane's 4 shot attempts in 30+ minutes? Does he make any effort to contribute offensively? Or, do his teammates have so little respect that they don't even pass him the ball? Something seems seriously out-of-whack here.
He has basically turned into a starting sf version of Chuck Hayes minus the strength, defense, and rebounding...basically, he's a scrub. To think, what we gave up for this guy..."win now mode" my ass.
Thanks, I more or less agree with you. With Battier, what you don't see, with his innumerable intangibles, adds up to what you don't get....like points, rebounds, an occasional clutch, game-winning shot...alll the intangibles are there (magical, invisible stuff)...just not much anyone can count on I'm disappointed with him. And his is my nominee for the Rocket scapegoat du jour. Gotta take some pressure off Rafer, TMac, and Ron.
Kwame you've pretty much hit it on the head with how I feel about Battier. I have nothing against the guy...if he signed here as a free agent I would've said that's a good pick up. When he has games like he had tonight, which is more often that not....I still to this day cant believe that we traded a lottery pick(a damn good player)for this guy. If Adelman was here a year earlier I bet that trade wouldnt have happened.
I've been saying it, now people believe it. We can argue till we turn blue in the face about who made the trade. CD would never,ever give up a high upside pick for a battier type player. CD in the lotto or with a high pick normally went for potential. Point being, I think a healthy shane is still a 20 min bench player on a contender. Ariza was acquired by trading cook and he does a lot of things on the floor. Matt Barnes and Mo Evans make 2m and do the same things. Outlaw would be great with the Rox because he's young,long,athletic and cheap. Battier can do more to help a young team like portland than a older team like houston.
said it all along. trade battier + hayes + head for mike miller + madsen. losing battier would be ok since he's been out most of the season. we can slowly integrate mike miller into things just in time for the playoffs. then we can move madsen for some conditional picks or cap relief.
Why does Shane have to camp out behind the 3 point line all the time. I saw Shane posting up on some smaller players earlier this season but they only did it that one game. When he played for Memphis he had a nice face up jumper but now all I see him do is run around and stand behind the 3 point line.
That's what I've been telling people, he was a more diverse scorer. He only shot like 150 3's in memphis, not its like 300+. He used to go to the ft line 200+ times, now its less 100 or less. He used to take 300+ shots inside the paint, now its 100 and something. People think I hate on shane, but shane was a better offensive player in memphis. That's what they thought they were getting, not the guy we have.
Should've traded him for Outlaw+Frye when we had the chance. Still might be possible considering the way Frye is riding the pine in Ptown. Hell I'd even trade for an injured Martell Webster. Battier is already 30. He's never had great or even average athleticism. I know he's been injured but the guy looks slower than molasses out there. And to the people who say he's a winner what's he won besides a National championship in college like 8 some odd years ago?
can we just start wafer? I can't believe the guy starts over wafer and artest. its really unbelievable
It's a bad sign when our two best defensive, shut-down players - Battier and Artest - both have bad ankles. No wonder the D is suffering. EVeryone has to step it up.
I completely agree. Portland has made it known that they've committed themselves to Webster. Thus, Outlaw is the odd man out and like you said Frye is riding the pine. However, Battier has played like garbage this whole season so I don't know if we could get this deal done anymore. As leebigez pointed out, players like Battier are easily available through free agency and minor trades. The Spurs got Bowen and Udoka via free agency. Boston signed Posey as a free agent last season and New Orleans did the same thing with him this season. The real test that will show whether this trade was a failure or not is this: Can Battier get you a lottery pick in a trade? I think we all know the answer to that. At this point I don't think Battier can even get you a lottery ticket. Hopefully, Portland sees things differently.
Mario Elie wasn't a great offensive player. He wasn't a guy who could break people down off the dribble, he wasn't as good of a defensive player as Battier was, he wasn't putting up over 10 ppg, but we won championships with him. We didn't include him the trade for Barkley. There is a reason for that. He did all the little things. He got dream the ball, he spaced the floor, he took on the best wing player, and he was a vocal leader. Shane Battier does all of those things and plays defense better than Elie. The one thing Ellie had going for him was that he was a good finisher on the fast break. Jordan had Ron Harper do the same thing. Magic had Michael Cooper. Isiah had Rodman, and he didn't have any offense. Tim Duncan has Bruce Bowen. Kobe has Trevor Ariza and had Rick Fox before. Tayshaun Prince is that guy for Detroit Dwade had Posey when they won it. All of these guys are very similar in how they play the game. They are not primary scorers. They feed off the great players around them. They do the little things like play defense, take on the best wing player, set good picks, take a hard foul, take a charge, hustle, tie up a player with the ball, inbound the ball, be a decent free throw shooter, and get the star the ball and space the floor out. EVERY team needs a player like Battier, Ariza, Posey etc. Look at the lower teams right now, most of them don't have that glue guy, even though they have the star player. the wings look to score, there isn't a guy who takes on the "glue guy" role who sacrifices for the team: Grizzlies Twolves Thunder Wizards Charlotte Raptors- (they have moon, but he can't play D, shoot poorly, just dunks) Knicks Warriors Pacers Bucks Nets All of these teams would greatly benefit from having a "glue guy". Most of these teams have talented stars, but they need good, smart players around them, instead of people trying to outdo their own star. We are lucky to have a guy like Shane Battier on our team. He is one piece of a championship teams. We still have to fix 3 of our big pieces and then we'll be fine.
^^^^ Many other teams would love to have the Batman. We need to feel fortunate that we have him. He has resorted to only shooting open 3 pointers in the last few seasons, but he has the ability to post up smaller players and hit jumpers.
i've always been a big supporter of shane battier. this year his performance has been down noticeably. there have been times that i feel it's tough to defend him against the ones who have a bias against him. at this time, i'd give him the benefit of the doubt to him not being 100%. but if a suitable trade comes along (a small chance), i won't be surprised to see him go, either. i hope he gets to 100% physically soon. hopefully he takes the allstar weekend as an opportunity to achieve that. and once he's 100%, his performance has better to go up. i'm talking about some tangibles here. you can't have intangibles unless you bring something tangible to the table.
