I'm so glad he's better, and that Chase is asking him questions and hopefully learning defense from him. I think with him back the defense will be better.
The good thing about Battier being out is that it showed us once again how much our defense suffers without him. Hopefully this will cause people to stop making "trade Battier threads" and realize that the Rockets NEED him.
Glad he is back. Hope he is ready for the season. I doubt he'll lead the team but I hope he does. He is seems to be comfortable as a role player and I don't recall seeing him lead this team.
Yeah, um...we're 2-1 this preseason, having played 3 of the top 6 or so teams in the NBA, and we're giving up 96 points per game. That means that despite losing Yao, and despite playing at a faster pace, and despite these whistle-happy replacement refs, we're only giving up 1.6 points per game more than we did last season. It's one thing to argue that we "NEED" Battier, but it's laughable to suggest that our performance this preseason somehow bolsters that argument. If anything, it's the opposite. This preseason has shown how little we need Battier.
It all depends on what you're looking for when you watch a game, I guess. In the Spurs case, not only did we face their C team, but we also missed rotations on jump-shooters 60% of the time and got bailed out because they weren't hitting their shots. Also, our bigs were getting pinched because of bad help-defense. I know for a fact that Shane helps out pretty significantly in these aspects. Boston was a similar problem, although the refs (wow... those refs) jacked up the game so much that it was hard to tell what either team ever really meant to do. I can't speak for the Magic game though, as I didn't see it. I do see your point that we can't simply sit and say that Battier will fix our problems without seeing the proof. However, I have a hard time seeing that it proves that we don't need Battier. I think your point about 96 ppg can be attributed at least partially to the fact that B-teams scored less points against us than A-teams will. If anything I think Battier will make a positive difference, but not enough to solve our team's obvious size and experience deficiencies.
You can't compare statistics of a few preseason games against the Austin Toros against a full regular NBA season. The preseason is not a good measure of how the Rockets stack up against "3 of the top 6" teams.
1) This preseason proves that we don't need Battier 2) This preseason doesn't prove that we do need Battier. I'm arguing #2, not #1.
