Lee, Do you ever stop and consider that you may possibly be underating Battier? I always see you trying to hammer in your point and I just don't get it. You keep saying he wasnt worth a lottery pick, maybe not, but he was worth THAT lottery pick. Clearly the Rockets wanted Roy first and foremost, feeling he was the prize and they were right. Battier isnt and wasnt worth Roy, but he was worth Gay, especially at that time, especially with the added salary ramifications. Rudy is an above average wing who may one day flirt with being an allstar, but that trade made us contenders at the time whether you believe it or not. 2007 was our chance. McGrady and Yao were peaking, our bracket (Jazz, Warriors, Spurs, Cavs) was favorable and we had a legit shot at the title that year, if not for the dreaded Jazz matchup. Even this year, add back in McGrady and Yao, and this team was a legitimate contender for the title. Defense is/was our bread and butter and if Gay was here instead of Bats, we are worse off. You said not to long ago that some of us would be bad GMs, but I say in this case the reverse is true...Battier fit, Gay didnt! Going forward from here, yes, perhaps the Gay trade is better for the Grizz, but Battier can still be flipped for something valuable. Even hawking over at the Grizzlie fan boards they really wanted Scola/Battier for the #2 pick/Arthur.
Until the addition of scola and brooks, this team was never good enough offensively to sustain the offensive defeciency of shane and rafer at the same time. Thats why the failures have been more offensive than defensive. In a ideal situation for a team like lakers that have a arsenal of offenisive options starting and off the bench, its easier for ariza to have a bad stretch for a game or so like he did in the playoffs, but the rockets never had that luxury. Now if they had a healthy,tracy,yao,artest, and everyone else, yes he could score 5ppg on the road and shoot 30%, but if he produces like that and rafer does the same, now we have problems.
Suppose we make the Rafer trade, and our playoff roster is: Brooks McGrady Battier Scola Yao Artest Landry Lowry Mutombo Hayes Let's suppose, somehow, the stars align and this group can be healthy for an entire postseason. That group of players, plus solid coaching from Adelman and his staff, to me would be a contender last year. Having multiple guys who can create shots off the dribble (McGrady, Brooks, Lowry), plus good offensive rebounding off the bench with Landry, Mutombo, and Hayes, plus a strong low post threat in Yao would create more open shot opportunities for Battier at home or on the road.
If anything people overvalue him to me, but that only a opinion shared by a few on this board. There were also people singing the praises of alston becuase in the 2 games he played against the jazz in the playoffs, he played well. Battier is a really good role player on a title team. This isn't new, nor is it popular, but i never thought the Rox ever had the pieces to contend with the elite teams. Like i said, its not popular, but its just my feelings. I dont think battier can ever be underrated looking at the compensation package given up for him. If byron scott would've come in and been a 7ppg defender during the lakers glory days, its would've re-written history because of the players they gave up for him. This is really about the op trying to make people decide on one vs the other. Its like if you're a shane fan, you like guys that are savvy,smart,unathletic and if you like von, you like athletic young guys, that makes errors, but one guy has been in the league almost 10 yrs after playing 4yrs of college and was drafted 6th and traded for the 8th pick making 7m vs a 1 yr college guy in his 4th season making minimum. Even if wafer makes 2m per, its a really good bargain for his upside and production. Memphis actually had a really good year and made the playoffs when Posey was starting and shane was coming off the bench also. A great quality shane does have is he plays the same no matter how good or bad the team is. Some players are affected by team performance more than others. If shane was on a sorry team like he was his 1st 2 yrs, his play was the same as its been when hes been on good teams.
With Artest healthy, yes, because he would've been a good 3rd option, but previously since shane was reluctant to be a viable offensive option, except at home, we had a inconsistent scoring. Also, that team never had versitility on the defensive end. The same guy that will work yao and pull yao out is the same guy that could do the same. The same guy that works scola over also works over landry. The same bigger guard that would trrouble brooks would trouble lowry also. I guess we will never know because the if's never would align and when they had decent health, the support wasnt good enough.
Here's a question that might sound smartass-ish, but I genuinely would like people's opinions. In the 2006/2007 season, the first season after we traded Gay for Battier to 'win now', which player actually did more to help his team win, Rudy or Shane? Before you answer, or after I guess, take a moment to go over this article.
