of course we all want to keep shane but he is our best trading piece. i would love to get an upgrade at PF and PG w/o moving shane but it's nearly impossible.
Shane is at he's prime right now. hence he's value is accordingly high. if we can snare a ron Artest or Rashad Lewis for him, there should be no hesitation whatsoever. battier is a great player, but he is better suited in a team like dallas where there alot deeper and dont have to rely on him on offense. he is probaly at he's best as the 4 or the 5th offensive option.
Arrrrrrrggggggg. Does no one understand we have enough 2/3s. We need a POWER FORWARD in the worst way. I would take a chance on Artest simply because he is strong and quick enough to play some 4, but I would much prefer a true PF, a true SG or a real PG. Chris Mihm is a FA. If his injuries are healed, he might be the answer because he can play the PF and C positions. If we acquired him, we could take either Williams, Almond or even Kaponen. Trouble is we have to draft before we can sign a FA.
1. For a team short on assets, the first step should be to look to see if you can steal something for free rather than give away anything. That means holding on to your major assets Yao, McGrady, and, yes, Battier and see if you can use your minor assets to get some talent that are either somewhat overpaid (Diaw?), mentally unstable (Artest! Mike James?). Maybe try and see if you can get one more decent year out of certain cheap-ish free agents (Big Nasty Williamson, Joe Smith). 2. Battier is in his prime now and will likely be good for a long time. He is very smart, very dedicated and durable. Like Bruce Bowen, he's likely to be useful even well into his 30s. (on the other hand, we have the Vin Bakers, the Darius Miles, the Bonzi Wells of the world whose refusal to stay in shape make them flame out early).
I was listening to the Herd today and he said, I swear I heard this ,"former Rocket" Shane Battier was coming on as guest, perhaps on Tuesday... I called all my friends in H-Town and checked here and all over the nba sites... did anyone else hear this today? whats the deal?
Bruce Bowen shot 38.4% from behind the arc this season, while Battier shot 42.1%. Battier has a sizable advantage in 3pt shooting going by the most recent evidence. For their careers, Battier also edges Bowen out. But singling out 3pt shooting is pointless, because players shoot a lot of 2pt shots, and FTs as well. While Battier is very efficient on offense (58.9 TS%) with a limited number of shots, Bowen doesn't shoot much AND is inefficient (51.1 TS%). On what do you base this claim? Do you track a sizable portion of both of these players defensive plays and use that to judge defense? I find that most of the time when people are talking about defense, they're really just talking about opinion and reputations. As far as defense can be judged by stats ("opponent" stats allowed and +/- numbers, which can be found at 82games.com, not perfect but it's something at least), Battier has often had better numbers than Bowen. Which is apparently not used very much, since only 13% of his shots in this season were inside the paint. Battier attempted 24% of his shots close to the hoop. Which is why over the course of their careers, Battier both scores more and shoots more efficiently than Bowen has?
Well put, GATER! I've really liked Shane for a while, even before he came here, and he did add a bit to our team. But if we don't get more athletic we have no chance. As painful as it is, I'm glad you brought up the Utah series, because people need the refresher!
Was that the series where Sloan outcoached, outflanked, outadjusted the Rox coach, ol' whassisname? I am a Battier guy. That said, there are places that would overpay for him IMHO. Portland and Indy, in particular. If you're selling HIGH then bye - bye SB. If not, retain him and cherish him. If you're getting a ++ 1 for him then bye - bye SB.
No, he is not. Sura's contract is #1. Alexander's willingness to accept a 'salary dump' would be #1 if he were so inclined. Is he?
That's the series...the one where all the intangibles stats guys run to 82games to support Battier except when he's MINUS 6.7 for the series. And his rebounding was non-existent. Obviously, posters on the board know more about defensive adjustments than VG who never used Battier on Deron Williams. Or maybe VG knew what the other 29 coaches who have never placed Battier higher than 3rd team All Defense knew...good (smart) team D...not so good (slow) 1on1 D. Battier is without question the most over valued Rocket I have ever seen on this board. The best case scenario is that some GM thinks similarly as his fans here.
i'm pretty sure that if les accepts a salary dump by trading sura's contract for a player then he will insist on not spending the MLE this summer. also, i think we will continue to dissagree about what is more attractive on the trading block. it's hard for me to see how a $4M ending contract is worth more than shane.
I believe - if Shard is good to go for the Rox then Shane/Sura = deal. SB < RL but Sura allows Sonics to save enough $$$ to make the deal palatable. Rumors in today's Boston paperS have Ainge after Shard. But, if Danny Aint were to acquire lewis then what does he do with Szerbiak's $25 mil? Rafer and SURA? Could happen, why not? Sura and (fill in the blank) and Phx, Indy, Nugs, Sonics, Heat etc etc are all ears. IMHO, of course.
Most overvalued Rocket you have ever seen on this board? Hmmm, there was Eggie. There was cat. There were many...because Battier can actually play the game of basketball. SB's 'failure' v SLC was primarily because JVG did not put him, or anyone else, in the best possible place(s) to succeed. Yes, Battier should have spent considerable time slowing down Wms. Yao should have spent considerable time letting AK47 misfire. Of the other 29 coaches who eschew post-season awarding to Shane, how many would jump to add him to their rosters? Ans: most - or all?
Unadjusted +/- is noisy over an 82-game season stretch. Over a short 7-game period, it is even more noisy-- it is greatly influenced by factors such as one very bad stretch, garbage time, who you happen to play with, etc... evn more so than during a longer season because such things tend to balance themselves out over time. Battier also did not disapper in the series. He had a few bad shooting games, and some good ones. On defense, the issue was that the Jazz did not create offense from the wings, and Battier is a wing defender. Had the Jazz had a Lebron James on the team, you'll notice him more (to the extent Jazz wings scored in the series, it's mostly guys like Matt Harpring back-dooring Tracy McGrady... Tracy played rather underwhelming D during much of the series).
There really aren’t that many great wing players in the Western Conference, so that limits how valuable Battier can be here. You have Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony, who both play on mediocre teams that the Rockets probably could beat even without Battier. And then you have a couple of 3rd options in Ginobili and Josh Howard who aren’t the most valuable players on their team. The Eastern Conference is where most of the great wing players play (Lebron, Wade, Redd, Carter, Pierce, Hamilton, Gordon, etc.). In the Western Conference, it’s much more important to have a stopper at the point guard position. Unfortunately, Battier can’t guard point guards for s---.
well i guess it all depends on how you define valuable. sura will have more teams interested because he doesn't need any PT. he's a salary dump which helps clear a roster spot and cap space. i get that. teams are also interested because clearing $4M will allow them to use the MLE if the owner previously didn't want to do so. teams are ok with letting a guy who makes $4M go because most likely they aren't as important as a guy who gets paid $8M or $12M. i understand the great volume of possibilities that sura brings. however, none of them seem to have the ability to bring back the amount of talent a mere few shane battier trade possibilities do. so what makes a valuable asset? the amount of teams interested, or the talent level to be returned to the rockets.
