Without Battier we would have lost by 20pts. His unselfish defense has rubbed off on J. Howard and Hayes, they are taking more charges now then they use to. I think he is #3 of importance on this team after Yao and T-Mac. It amazes me how some people think it so easy to make a trade like, our garbage for the other teams starter!!
I don't habe any idea why Bonzi/Head/1st rounder wasn't shopped and throw in Sura's contract if it could have made a deal work money wise. 70 percent of the board didn't even want to touch trading Bonzi........... this team is being managed by morons at the top. "knee jerk reaction to one loss" "JVG haters abound" BS Luther Head is trash he has consistently proven he has ZERO I mean ZERO point skills. I point out that most of the people that defend management, JVG and Luther also claimed JJ Redick was a "poor mans Luther Head" and Redick was a poor mans "Steve Kerr" You people are constantly exposed as having no bball knowledge. Bonzi is as good as gone thos offseason and they get squat for him. As for Battier, we lost that trade, no matter how much delusion abounds here and how much people drink the JVG kool aid we lost it. Now we have people even arguing that in a chance to get Lewis Battier would be untouchable.................. SPEECHLESS
Battier is arguably one of the best values (production vs. contract) in the NBA. Throw in the intangibles and the fact that he always guards the opponent's top scorer and he is just about as untouchable as any non-superstar can be. Luther is still on a rookie contract and (despite a few off games lately) is as clutch a perimeter shooter as they come. Change for change sake is never the right answer. Yes, if we could have obtained MJ or a quality 1 at the right value, that would have been great. My guess is that CD and DM shook all those trees pretty hard and no good deal was to be had. On the Millsap comment, the jury is still out (way out) on Novak. My guess is that if we had drafted Millsap, he would be riding the pine also as JVG is less likely to use rooks. Take a deep breath, we will have T-Mac back tomorrow and Yao back soon and they will cover up a lot of defencies.
If you had a chance to get Lewis in a sign and trade you have to trade Battier if they ask for him. How the hell can people not see that?
There is no problem with Battier (the only negative is he chokes in the playoffs) Battier is a championship calibre role player. The issue is he is vastly overrated here. Now granted his D is probably somewhere between Tayshaun and Artest and he does the little things ala Horry.............. BUT he is NOT Bob Horry or even healthy Bob Sura level of role player. He's still champion level role player though with oustanding D. But this idea that you would not try to land say a Rashard Lewis just if Seattle asked for Battier is fool's gold. If it took dealing Battier to get a final 3rd piece you DO IT. Hell then at that point you could really truly say you won that Gay trade. If the Rockets had a shot at Lewis in a sign and trade and it meant sending off Battier to get him, they are incompetent if they held off just because of the "glue factor."
You mean we can't package sura/alston for Steve Nash btw ju. Howard taking one charge is more than he used to take!! I think ju. ho. avgs. 1 charge per 164 games.
Did I say that I would or would not trade Battier for Lewis in my post? Nope. It is a waste of time to even think about all of the variants in a deal that you just pulled out of your _ _ _. The dollars would not come close to matching (Lewis would be A LOT more), so other players and / or picks would be factored in. Suffice to say that there are almost no untouchable players in the NBA. Probably Yao, LeBron, and maybe Kobe (T-Mac can't be on that list due to injury issues). To wildly speculate about trades that there is no shred of evidence that they have been discussed by the teams holds little interest for me. If you want to speculate, go right ahead, but find another post to reply to.
This is silly. We would have demolished the the Celts last had we had either Yao or TMac. It would have been a 30 point blowout. Instead, the Celts were double teaming Rafer and Bonzi. And since we couldn't hit from the perimeter late in the game, so our offense just didn't work. We gave it all we had, but the Celts got the momentum just in time to steal a win with their young talent. Lets face it, with both our stars out, we have less talent than the worst teams in the league. Same thing for most good teams. Take Dirk and Howard away from Dallas, and they'd be the worst team in the league, hands down.
You are missing my point. I am just saying enough with all the Battier hype around here. The vast majority of the board is convinced he could not be traded and they get all hissy at even the notion of it. You just said no one except perhaps a few is untouchable, I might wager Yao, Wade, LeBron, Kobe, perhaps Dirk. But since this is obviouly true why do fans get so pissed off when people make sound statements like perhaps trading Battier should be considered IF there were a possibility of someone like Lewis out there. You know realistically there probably is a chance to get it done IF they would just throw in Battier, yet this notion is a "deal breaker" to fans here. It simply sounds to me like the JVG kool aid is out of control.
The Rashard Lewis situation is going to get interesting this summer. I thinks he wants to come home. But we ain't gonna move Battier for him. I could see a possible Juwan, Luther, Novak, and a couple #1 picks for him though.
Why would you ever be scared when Alston brings the ball up. He is one of the best dribblers in the NBA. I don't know who else you would be comfortable bringing the ball up if you aren't comfortable with Rafer.
See this reasoning makes no sense to me. Explain to me this logic jopa. If Seattle would only do the deal IF we threw in Battier we say no because? Am I a total idiot or what? Or is the whole board drinking the Battier kool aid. Are you telling me this team could not land a replacement? C Yao PF Howard SF Lewis SG McGrady PG or C Yao PF Lewis SF Mcgrady SG Wells PG Now it looks to me like that leaves the MLE (assuming we send the 1st round pick to Seattle) to land a PG (Francis) or re-sign Bonzi (or some other SG). Look at PF's, SG's, PG's............ You actually think we could not land Francis or Bonzi with the MLE? Come on now the ONLY argument now is Battier is better than Lewis. This team Yao and T-Mac with Lewis would be INSANE There is nothing other than total short sightedness to not do the trade just because they asked for Battier. One MLE signing and Battier was replaced just like that.
I am glad the Rockets did not make a trade since some players might be bought out by this Thursday(Steve Francis, Chucky Atkins, Flip Murray) take your pick.
Based on your various posts and the replys to them, I'd say you are the one who is missing the point. And no, I don't know and you don't either, whether or not Battier would get a Lewis deal done. It just seems silly to me to speculate. I am sure if we offered our next three first-round picks to the Sonics that would get the deal done also, but we aren't speculating about something as inane as that are we? As to the value of Battier, I can't speak to what value the baord does or does not place on him. To me, it's pretty clear - he is the third most valubale member of this team and would have significant value on many other teams. Does that make him untouchable? Of course not. Does that make him darn difficult to get, you better believe it.
If Billups or Lewis came up in a sign and trade and the Rockets just automatically pull Battier off any offer like the board is suggesting then that is proof to me that I need to sne my resume to Les, because I will probably have the job shortly.
And what position would Rashard play here if Tmac is the 2 and Battier is the 3? We tried to start the season with Battier at the 4 and that didn't go over too well. I think Rashard will be S&T to someone, but I dont think it will be us. I dont think the package you have up there will be able to beat out some other team's packages. Part of me wants to wait until the summer before I start talking about summer moves. But at the same time, I would still love to try to trade for Mike James to help solidify our PG position. And I probably would let Bonzi go in favor of perhaps a better "swingman" fit in free agent to be, Morris Peterson. The Raptors are keeping a tight budget and might not be able to resign Peterson for the number of "years" he wants. Peterson is a better fit on this team because he has size, 6'7", can hit the 3pt shot and is durable. He also fits with our lockerroom chemistry perfectly. Mike James would provide that "create your own shot" skillset we would lose in Bonzi.
This rookie speaks wisdom! Mind you Rockets Dynasty... You can't win a championship with all super stars. I am not saying I won't throw Battier in a S&T if the opportunity arises, but he is worth a lot more than what this board gives him credit for.
