Ripp wrote:dagger wrote:supersub15 wrote:Not sure why anyone would want Battier and Scola. If you want to finish 39-43 for the next 3 years and get the #15 pick, please go ahead. Except Colangelo, of course...
Battier is expiring. He is a quality player who would have trade value in his own right, even if he had two years remaining, but since he is expiring, he would be that much more attractive in a deadline deal. That's much different than a re-signed Scola.
but I understand your dilemma. Battier is all about the intangibles that you can't measure in your stats.
You're like a man without taste buds - you can't tell the difference between chocolate and strawberry.
Battier's impact is actually easy to measure:
http://basketballvalue.com/teamplayers. ... C&team=HOUBetter defense, slightly worse offense. There was a pretty cool article on the NYTimes a while back discussing +/- and Battier that you might like...google it.
Thanks, good article that kind of backs what im saying.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html?_r=3&ref=magazine&pagewanted=allHere we have a basketball mystery: a player is widely regarded inside the N.B.A. as, at best, a replaceable cog in a machine driven by superstars. And yet every team he has ever played on has acquired some magical ability to win.
Battier’s game is a weird combination of obvious weaknesses and nearly invisible strengths. When he is on the court, his teammates get better, often a lot better, and his opponents get worse — often a lot worse. He may not grab huge numbers of rebounds, but he has an uncanny ability to improve his teammates’ rebounding. He doesn’t shoot much, but when he does, he takes only the most efficient shots. He also has a knack for getting the ball to teammates who are in a position to do the same, and he commits few turnovers. On defense, although he routinely guards the N.B.A.’s most prolific scorers, he significantly reduces their shooting percentages. At the same time he somehow improves the defensive efficiency of his teammates — probably, Morey surmises, by helping them out in all sorts of subtle ways. “I call him Lego,” Morey says. “When he’s on the court, all the pieces start to fit together. And everything that leads to winning that you can get to through intellect instead of innate ability, Shane excels in. I’ll bet he’s in the hundredth percentile of every category."
A good player might be a plus 3 — that is, his team averages 3 points more per game than its opponent when he is on the floor. In his best season, the superstar point guard Steve Nash was a plus 14.5. At the time of the Lakers game, Battier was a plus 10, which put him in the company of Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett, both perennial All-Stars. For his career he’s a plus 6. “Plus 6 is enormous,” Morey says. “It’s the difference between 41 wins and 60 wins.” He names a few other players who were a plus 6 last season: Vince Carter, Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady.
The Golden State Warriors forward Stephen Jackson is an even stranger case. “Steve Jackson,” Battier says, “is statistically better going to his right, but he loves to go to his left — and goes to his left almost twice as often.” The San Antonio Spurs’ Manu Ginóbili is a statistical freak: he has no imbalance whatsoever in his game — there is no one way to play him that is better than another. He is equally efficient both off the dribble and off the pass, going left and right and from any spot on the floor.
Bryant isn’t like that. He is better at pretty much everything than everyone else, but there are places on the court, and starting points for his shot, that render him less likely to help his team. When he drives to the basket, he is exactly as likely to go to his left as to his right, but when he goes to his left, he is less effective. When he shoots directly after receiving a pass, he is more efficient than when he shoots after dribbling. He’s deadly if he gets into the lane and also if he gets to the baseline; between the two, less so. “The absolute worst thing to do,” Battier says, “is to foul him.”
This is the kind of thing that will help the teams defence. Someone that really understands how opposing players like to play and the kind of situations to force them into that will make them less effective. So much of defence is playing smart like this, and battier will improve the defensive intelligence of the raps greatly. I know ppl can see battier as a throw in or something that will perpetuate being a 'treadmill team' but really battier is the kind of guy that wins basketball games, and I think his presence on the team will be massive for the raptors if they get him. To me, he is the biggest piece that needs to come back if we deal with the rockets
