Ah, he deserves it. This guy has no business with member status; 99% of his posts just scream "ignorant."
Good analysis. Hopefully people in this board will start realizing the big difference between Ron and Battier.
I honestly don't think he is playing bad he just knows he is not the focus point to score on this team. He defers to the stars and works hard on defense, thats it. Like DM said this morning on sports radio 610 they are not concerned about him scoring.
I'm firmly against Artest starting. We've all seen the ineffectiveness of McGrady + Artest on the court. Artest needs to lead the second unit so he has as many touches as he wants to. Just a couple days back we were complaining aout Artest & McGrady hogging the ball. Now this? We have enough fire power in both lineups. We're fine.
See sig. Ahh Kwame, Kwame. Hahahaha. You've proven that Adelman's a dimwit. Morey's dumb. How else would Battier still be playing 35 minutes a game? This team's defense does not rely on shotblocking and steals, instead on missed attempts and great help defense. The initiator? None else but Battier. You can say LeBron would despise having Artest guard him more, because only Ron can match up with LeBron's combination of size and quickness, but Battier's got to be the most irritating defender. Hand in your face, always on you, smart plays, and great flops. Defense is all about matching up too. I'd much more comfortable having Battier on Kobe than Artest. You could say that Ron's a better lock down defender, but Battier, especially in our system, is the better team defender by far, and due to our defensive concept, he is more important to the team's overall D. Plus, I'm also against starting Brooks. He's already closing out games, what more can you ask for? We need solid, solid starts. Rafer is still much better at controlling the tempo, getting the ball to Yao, and defending bigger PGs. If the offense doesn't work out the way we want it to be, you can always still make subs. Point is, you need to set a tone for the game from the start. And Rafer's much better at that.
artest shouldn't take battier's starting spot b/c: 1) artest has shown he's played better off the bench (shoots better) 2) he can be the go-to guy with that unit without question 3) he can be a game-changer ala manu however, it's not to say it's b/c battier is good this year. battier doesn't need to the ball (or doesn't want i don't know) so it makes it easier for the team to start the game going to yao/tracy -> allows them to get into a rhythm early. however, battier simply cannot play big minutes anymore. his offensive ineptitude will hurt us eventually. hopefully his defense at least can get back to all-nba level real soon. max mins for battier should be 20 minutes. but battier is such a good politician that every coach likes him. if rafer is the same way and not play so cocky at times, he might still have his minutes despite brooks' good play. our role players have gotten better. brooks now can neutralize rafer. so if rafer sucks we can reduce his minutes without hesitation. we have artest/wafer to neutralize battier. if battier sucks, sit him without hesitation. we couldn't do that in the past so if rafer shoots 32%, we had to play him 40+ minutes. if battier can't do anything, we had to play him b/c we can't play luther too much. now we don't. so hopefully adelman takes advantage of that "depth" that morey has accumulated.
ditto but to be fair, Ive known this for a while....game chat is always better when JeopardE is in the room and active. He sees the same things I see, but is much better at explaining what he sees that alot of the more casual fans dont notice. there is....but it isnt what you and Kwame( really??? you picked the name of a TOTAL AND COMPLETE BUST? really?? roflcopter) seem to think. artest's defense is so over-rated it isnt even funny. What IS funny is that you extol the virtues of a guy who gets burnt so often cause all he does is gamble over a solid defender that not only makes life difficult for his mark, but helps cover for his teammates defensive lapses. Your metric for success in this field is who has won an award??? really? Is that because you cant tell what good D actually is so you need someone to tell you? stick to something you actually know about, cause on this aspect you aint got a clue.
I love it when bandwagoners intuitively generate their own storyline when trying to explain away egregious cracks in their theories: Good one.
great post, but i got to say i disagree with you Shane has a very high BB IQ, that's for sure. It's the reason why he is doing so many little but smart things on the offensive end (those plays you mentioned are very good examples) But those plays are basically "makeups" for his offensive inability. Let's go to the first senario you gave us. Just imagine if Shane could take gordon down by himself (like ron or AK or prince or even matt harpring could do), why would he set a screen for tmac to force the switch? Shane is better than those guys who have very little offensive weapons and don't know how to make up for it (like head), but you can't take those makeups further than they deserve
You're joking, right? When he brings the intensity (see 1st half and 4th quarter of Cleveland game), the difference between Battier and Artest defensively isn't really even close.
Jeoparde, You are a good poster, but please stop calling people bandwagoners etc.... Just because people have different opinions or a lesser understanding of the game than you, doesn't mean they care any less than you or I. Questioning someone's fanhood, or calling them a bandwaggoner seems silly to me on a BBS dedicated to the Rockets. Sure people may see the same thing on screen and think something completely differently than you, I, R2K anyone...but that doesn't make them less of a fan. It just makes them stupid. DD
Cabbage, Artest gets burned on the perimeter all the time, he is just not that quick laterally. Sure he is great at reaching in, but he does it so often that he exposes the bigs to fouls and the team to easy baskets. Ron is not all that great at team defense, this year, IMO...maybe it is his ankle etc...but he is getting beat a lot, and is reaching in from behind as his man blows by him..... If you like, I will be happy to document it from last night's game...there were several instances. DD
DD, I'm just calling what I see. This BBS is very prone to trends. The latest trend is "Battier is not contributing on offense", and every day now we see a couple of new threads to that effect. I don't doubt their fandom -- fans get on bandwagons. It's normal. Even I have been guilty of riding a bandwagon or two. I'm calling this for what it is -- a baseless bandwagon whose wheels will eventually come off in due time.
hopefully never. the rotation/minute-split we saw against the bulls is EXACTLY what i have been begging for.
battier does do "some" good things. but i also saw a lot of other things. i saw battier didn't even want to take on ben gordon, who is 6 inches shorter and is at terrible defensive player to the post. you even see vlad rad or luke walton do that (hell luke did do it v. duhon when the lakers played the knicks 4-5 times a game) so the defense can be more spread out. i also saw battier receiving a pass from tracy 5 ft from the basket with gordon on him. what did he do? he took 2-3 dribbles AWAY from the basket and launched a fallaway that had no chance of going in. i also saw from the philly game he received a pass in the corner (i expected him to shoot b/c he was oh so wide open), but instead dribbled in and did nothing good. i also saw ben gordon having no regard for where and who battier is. LITERALLY. rafer also sets good screens for tracy. chuck hayes sets TREMENDOUS screens for tracy. a lot of players on this team sets good screens for other players. and rafer and chuck hayes have their own positives on the offensive side of the ball too. rafer is great at actually playing PG and having a calming influence at times. chuck is a pretty offensive rebounder and never looks for his own shot also. that doesn't mean those 2 should get big minutes either. so i see this as a LONG-TERM thing. when we start playing the "elite" teams, you gotta have guys who are capable of at least making a shot or doing SOMETHING with the ball if tracy and yao are consistently doubled. you just gotta. there's a reason BILL WORREL AND CLYDE brought up the reason the offense struggles at times with the starters is b/c they play 3 ON 5. and we all know bill just doesn't criticize anybody. battier can play a big role on this team. but he simply just can't play big minutes anymore, at least not until he shows he can at least do some of the things he used to do (we actually ran post up plays for him in the past whenever a midget guards him. adelman ran one play earlier on and battier just missed it badly and never went to him again)
Yeah, to me, that's the big thing. Artest gambles a lot more on D so he also gets burnt a lot. He'll get you more steals than Battier, but Battier contests the actual shot more. Battier is also an excellent shot blocker for his size while facing his man (not just coming from the weak side). Shane's defense on the break is crazy good. Shane has plenty of value, and none of it has to do with his personality.
um no, they bench odom b/c he's more of a PF (despite his game). now you see odom starting b/c gasol now moves to C. and there's a reason luke never sniffs 30 minutes a game. but like shane, luke is that "consummate teammate" that all coaches love and will find playing time for. ask phil about luke and he'll overwhelm you with ridiculous praise. but ask laker fans, he's a scrub.
