Keep him unless he is part of a trade that brings in a BIG name PG or a swingman who can drop 20 a night. I don't see that happening. I'm sure this has been mentioned but he was less important this series because Utah's SG/SF are basically trash. There isn't a real scorer at those positions so all that great defense was wasted. I think you have to have him, however, to have a shot at beating teams with elite SG/SF. You don't get to the Championship without facing at least 2-3 of those.
Wow.. Trade Battier? Out of all the possible Rockets players, him? Why not Head or Hayes? Battier has done so much for us, being a great defensive player and a proven 3 point shooter. Yet, people want him traded? wow
not really a good trade in my opinion, giving up too much for two okay players. i mean, head and hayes obviously arent better than terry and stack, but i trust morey to utilize those two picks. but then again, getting rid of the picks, would make dallas said no. i dunno, stackhouse is okay, but i like terry's play. this trade might work, but i don't think i would like it.
You have to remember that Battier was playing with an injury that had him visably limping for large portions of the series. He just doesn't make a big deal about it like some players do. That and the fact that unlike most of the best teams, the Jazz do not have a top flight shooting guard/small forward, so his individual defense was not as key made him look less valuable than he normally is. Like any trade proposition, tell me what you are getting in return and I would consider it, but just trading Battier or any of our players just for the sake of making a trade is silly.
b/c head/hayes don't give you jack back. who would want them after the playoffs? an NBDL team? if the cavs offer me tmac for lebron right now, i'd take it if the magic offer howard or suns offer amare right now for yao, i'd take it so if teams are willing to return a very good player for battier, i'd take it we love battier, but we want to improve the team. realistically, tmac and yao are never going to get traded for the duration of their contract. scola/landry are too big of pieces for us offensively. battier is the only reasonable option. we want to keep him. but if he can yield a good player back, then we should pull the trigger.
head and hayes would probably net a travis diener in return if the rockets were lucky. battier isn't irreplaceable. he's the rockets best trade asset outside of yao and tracy, ie best chance to improve the rockets via trade.
I would not trade Battier for Artest. Simply too much risk. I would not trade Battier for Mike Miller. That's a wash. Offense for defense. I would not trade Battier for Outlaw and Jack, two second teamers. I would trade Battier for a combination of Martell Webster and Channing Frye. I would trade Battier as part of a deal for Shawn Marion, where say, Marion opts out and agrees to a 5 year deal at $60 million and Miami S&T's him to us for Battier and expirings. I would trade Battier as part of a deal for Mike Dunleavy. This is the guy I really want. Battier plus an expiring plus two future first round draft picks. Whoever we trade Battier for has to be able to play at least some defense. That's why we can't trade Miller for him. Miller can't defend a fire hydrant. They don't necessarily have to be a great defender, but they've got to be basketball savvy enough to cause guys like Kobe problems, be a deterrant, and make them work a little bit. You can't put a guy out there that Kobe/Melo/Lebron can just walk through everytime down the floor. I'm actually in favor of keeping Battier and trying to add a wing player with our expiring deals. I think Battier would be fantastic if we had that third wing player that could take another 30 minutes a game so we would alway have 2 of McGrady/Battier/new wing player on the floor at the same time. That's why I would prefer to look at our tradable assets as our expirings plus Rafer plus our draft pick. There's another possible deal for Portland that may make sense for them. Joel Pryzbilla is going to be a very high paid backup center once Oden returns. And he is really not necessary to them if they keep Frye. And they could use the cap space to really go after a premier free agent in 2009/10 if they did this trade. That would be BJax, Luther, Loren Woods for Pryzbilla, Martell Webster, and Jarrett Jack. This gives them cap space to sign somebody in 2009/10, and saves them a couple million of salary next season. They are basically giving up Martell Webster. Or it could give them the expirings to combine with a player like Outlaw and do a deal with Miami to get Marion up to Portland. I would even consider throwing in our first if we could get back their second rounder if they have one. This would give us our backup big man. It would give us Rafer/Jack/Brooks at the point with Francis being the wild card. And it would give us McGrady/Webster/Battier at the swing positions.
Just a horrible, horrible idea. People focus on stats and forget about DEFENSE. He is our best man-on-man defender. Without him, who guards the other team's best player? TMac? Give me a break. Sure, if you can get Ron Artest for him you do it. But that trade is a pipe dream.
Pretty much anybody is tradable. That said, I wouldn't send Battier out except for equal value back. The Rockets biggest needs are: 1) An upgrade at the point guard spot. 2) A big, powerful power forward. I think 2) is less urgent now with the emergency of Scola and Landry. Consequently the only way I'd trade Battier is if the deal involved somebody like Calderon.
Battier is a valuable asset but he's the Rocket's Bruce Bowen, Rocket's need that conisistent 3rd scoring option to compete in the West!
Only in Houston can a guy gut it through a gimpy foot that needs surgery (per the GM), and have fans want to trade him....
I don't know why some think Battier is a Kobe stopper, Kobe has off nights, you saw how in game 1 against the Nuggets he was struggling with his shooting(torn finger on shooting hand) and then he adjusted in game 2 scoring 49points 66%FG, you can't just watch one game and think that player is a Kobe stopper because then that would mean a lot of players are Kobe stoppers..only Kobe can stop Kobe. Just last year Kobe scored 53points TWICE on Battier, YES Kobe is human and has off-nights. peace.
There is no Kobe stopper. But what Shane has proven is that he can consistently make Kobe much less efficient, which bogs down the Lakers attack. I don't think there's a better player matchup against Kobe in the league right now and I think Kobe would tell you that. He would be very happy if we got rid of Shane.
