Unless you want to trade Yao or TMac, that is. Look, I love his hustle, and I love that he helps to space the floor, but his game is not built for the playoffs, at least not for being the 3rd best player on the roster. Does anyone think the spurs would have won anything if Bowen was the 3rd best player on their team? Battier is a solid player, has a good rep, and a sizable enough contract to make things work. rox need someone else who can create, not just bring intangibles. I don't think a new coach would make a huge difference with the roster we are stuck with, and unless vspan really is a stud being held down(unlikely), or the brass hits a homerun with their 1st rounder(unlikely), then we are pretty much stuck with what we have. Thoughts?
Have to disagree. Ming and Battier are keepers. Battier being the third best player wouldn't matter if your first two options had killer instinct and heart.
It has more to do with talent than "killer instinct". In a league with unparralleled emphasis on athleticism and uptempo, Shane Battier as your 3rd best player is suicide.
agreed, of course. We don't need to trade him for depth, but for some sort of package for a better player that would help us get over the hump in the playoffs.
Who would give you a better player? Battier is only useful for championship teams as a role player, which championship team will give up a more talented guy to add battier? he pretty much has zero meaningful trade value. The only talented guys that team are willing to let go are teams who are looking to blow it up and rebuild, teams like that dun want or need a "glue" guy like battier.
Even if I agreed with you that TMac(or Yao) needed to be shipped out because he has no heart, I don't think there is really any way that the owner or GM would ever trade one of the big two.
battier doesnt clog the paint, he hustles on loose balls, and he keeps the defense honest. he doesnt' need to go. him and yao are perfect for each other.
If you believe the team needs a significant upgrade in talent, trading Battier is really the only viable option. He’s the only player on the team, outside of Yao or Mcgrady, that has any semblence of trade value. Trade him to a young, undiciplined team like Atlanta or Portland for one of their young talents. His professionalism would be more valuable to them than it is to the Rockets. Hey, I’m sure the Rockets hated trading away a great blue collar player like Otis Thorpe too, but it helped win them a championship.
Maybe we can trade him for Rudy Gay provided they throw in Stromile Swift. Seriously ppl, I don't think we should trade him, he is a true team player and brings effort every night and can hit the three ball. I am glad these decisions are not up to me.
I think you would be surprised how a team can develop a mancrush over someone solid and trade away a better talent to get someone who they think fits. See : rafer alston. But what you say may very well end up being the case. Hopefully not though. There has been some interest in the past couple of years in even Juwan for his character, and his game and contract(counting the days) suck.
I think if the offense does change with a coach like Adelman Battier might have an even bigger role which wouldn't be all that bad. We just need to write up more than just one post up play for him. Set some backdoor cuts and get him some easy layups. His midrange is decent too. I could see Head doing well for himself in an offense like that as well. I think we have a couple of solid guys who should bring their game in a little closer to the basket. Luther would be an awesome Adelman starting one ala Mike Bibby. He's got the stroke and is a better outside shooter. But his ball handling is sub-par. I hope he works on that hard in the summer. Even better though as I said before I could definitely see Spanoulis working in the Princeton offense like that. Passing is a highly coveted skill with that and the constant motion would definitely be advantageous to him.
31 is too valuable without him we have no one to hold the the opponents scorer. I am all for scorers but lets not let go of something we have built over the past 3 years our defense.
I'm not sure if he is THE guy I would want, but he is definitely one of the 1st names that popped in my head.
What?? Why can't we just sign a third best scorer instead of trading away our best hustler???? you guys make no sense. battier played well in the last two games of the playoffs
I've wanted to see some of that offense ever since we drafted Yao. Not as optimistic as you that Battier would be significantly better in that offense though it would be interesting to see.
Sign with what? The MLE? You REALLY think we are going to get anything significant with the MLE? I don't.
I think you underestimate Battier. He hustles his a$$ off, plays great D against most teams dominating scorer, is a smart player and can hit the three ball. I think we keep him for sure and sign a scorer. Also, Battier was very effective all season when he shot that little hook from each side...never understood why we didn't go to that more. The real problem is Juwan's contract and Rafer's contract. No teams would want them
