Sixers sign Tony Battie

ankle420breaker · Post #1 » by **ankle420breaker** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:38 pm

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... ny_battie/

Not a bad minimum signing. He's a worker and plays with some decent energy. Thoughts?

ZarcMumoff · Post #2 » by **ZarcMumoff** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:39 pm

Not bad. Tough player, hopefully he can give us some depth and some quality minutes.

sixerfan1976 · Post #3 » by **sixerfan1976** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:42 pm

I like Battie. This tells me that a kapono trade may be a salary dump for a 2nd round pick or something like that. Dont really need a big man back now.

BringBackKorver · Post #4 » by **BringBackKorver** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:42 pm

I like it. Added bonus is that he got to practice against Dwight for so long that he should have some good experience tryin to shut him down.

HotSauce77 · Post #5 » by **HotSauce77** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:43 pm

The guy is pretty much washed up. Was on the worst team in the NBA last season - one of the worst in history. Appeared in 15 games and averaged 9 minutes a game. Shot 35%. He's basically an emergency big man, a veteran presence in the locker room. Generally considered a tough nosed defender. Guessing he'll appear in about 35 games, play maybe 5 to 10 minutes a night. His role will be to provide locker room leadership and positive attitude. That's totally fine. Every team needs a guy like that, but don't expect miracles. He didn't do much for the Nets locker room last season, or provide them much of anything on the court. On the right team, he can help a little bit. Otherwise, he's basically a guy who'll wear a suit more often than a uniform and get a lot of DNPs. If there is a rash of injuries or trades, he might get on the floor a little bit.

ankle420breaker · Post #6 » by **ankle420breaker** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:45 pm

Whoa... I wouldn't expect the guy to shut down Dwight Howard. I don't expect Battie to be much of a difference maker at all. At best, he'll get 12 - 15mpg and provide some leadership for guys who need it like Speights. That's pretty much all you can ask for out of any veteren big thats available for the minimum.

TheAnalyst · Post #7 » by **TheAnalyst** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:46 pm

I used to like him a few years ago in his 1st 2 seaons with Orlando. Seems as if he disappeared since then though. Still a good signing. It could help fill the void Sam left.

sixerswillrule · Post #8 » by **sixerswillrule** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:46 pm

He was solid in 08-09 with Orlando. Don't expect him to get much time here, though. He'll probably only see the court if there's foul trouble or an injury.

BringBackKorver · Post #9 » by **BringBackKorver** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:51 pm

ankle420breaker wrote:Whoa... I wouldn't expect the guy to shut down Dwight Howard. I don't expect Battie to be much of a difference maker at all. At best, he'll get 12 - 15mpg and provide some leadership for guys who need it like Speights. That's pretty much all you can ask for out of any veteren big thats available for the minimum.

I said he has experience trying, not doing. He's a big body and tough defender that can provide 6 quality fouls. Just saying that he knows Dwights game, so he can help a guy like Hawes with pointers on how to defend him.

Arsenal · Post #10 » by **Arsenal** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:52 pm

sixerfan1976 wrote:I like Battie. This tells me that a kapono trade may be a salary dump for a 2nd round pick or something like that. Dont really need a big man back now.

I don't think there is any chance we can dump Kapono for no salary in return and get a 2nd round pick also. If we dump him to a team with cap space with no salary coming back to us, we will be the team giving up additional assets.

youngcrev · Post #11 » by **youngcrev** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:55 pm

Meh, it's whatever. Just an extra big body. Might be good for practices or in case of injury.

ZzAzZ · Post #12 » by **ZzAzZ** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:55 pm

Another guy who won't be here after two years (if even one) instead of a young guy with potential, I keep forgetting we will be contending for a championship this year.

TheAnalyst · Post #13 » by **TheAnalyst** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:58 pm

I guess he's this years installment of our Henderson/Booth/Rattliff/Brezec guy.

HotSauce77 · Post #14 » by **HotSauce77** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:00 pm

That's exactly it. Everyone needs a 13th or 14th body. They aren't likely to be guys who will blow anyone away. He is Henderson, Booth, Raltiff, Brezec of this season. Nothing wrong with that.

Point-God · Post #15 » by **Point-God** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:02 pm

It shows that this team has no direction. It makes zero sense to sign such an old unaccomplished vet to sit the bench on a young team. You give that roster spot to a developing player or if you have a great young talent at that position, you sign a washed up vet that actually played well enough to be in the 8 man NBA rotation for many seasons. With Brand, Hawes, Speights, and Smith already being experienced NBA players, it's just best to have a developmental player who might turn into a player down the line. I'd rather see a 21 year old "future Battie" in that spot rather than the current washed up version. At least a "future Battie" still has a shot at developing into much more.

ZzAzZ · Post #16 » by **ZzAzZ** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:04 pm

HotSauce77 wrote:That's exactly it. Everyone needs a 13th or 14th body. They aren't likely to be guys who will blow anyone away. He is Henderson, Booth, Raltiff, Brezec of this season. Nothing wrong with that.

I disagree, why can't that guy be someone young who might actually surprise you? If he doesn't then fine, you get what you have. If he does, maybe you keep him and get a bargain and who knows, maybe he becomes a key part of your team eventually.

HotSauce77 · Post #17 » by **HotSauce77** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:15 pm

Teams who sign a guy like that typically fit one of two categories. A great team with a lot of depth who can have a developmental player at the end of the bench to work with for a few seasons, or terrible teams who have no depth and need to gamble to get lucky. Sixers are a team that just hired a veteran head coach and who have a GM on the hot seat. They drafted a guy 2nd overall for now and are in a terrible financial condition with little fan interest. They are trying to win as many games as they can right now and are already full of developmental guys - Hawes, Smith, Speights, Young, Williams, Holiday, Turner. According to their calculus, they want a veteran guy at the end of the bench to help teach these guys how to be a professional, little tricks of the trade, good practice habits, and possibly give them a few minutes. To them, that has more value than adding another developmental guy who won't see the court and might be a player in 2-3 seasons. They have plenty of those guys and will likely be adding more at next season's lottery. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but I can see why they went with Battie instead of someone 22 year old undrafted rookie.

KKell2507 · Post #18 » by **KKell2507** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:18 pm

ZzAzZ wrote:
HotSauce77 wrote:That's exactly it. Everyone needs a 13th or 14th body. They aren't likely to be guys who will blow anyone away. He is Henderson, Booth, Raltiff, Brezec of this season. Nothing wrong with that.

I disagree, why can't that guy be someone young who might actually surprise you? If he doesn't then fine, you get what you have. If he does, maybe you keep him and get a bargain and who knows, maybe he becomes a key part of your team eventually.

Its because every team needs that older veteran that isnt necessarily going to give you anything on the court other than spot minutes, but what he does in practice an on the sidelines can really help the development of the rest of our young players. You need a guy who is running the same drills and same plays on the court as the young guys so he cangive the players perspective advice that some coaches cant always give because they arent actually on the court seeing the same things the players are.

Its guys like these that give players like Kevin Ollie a place in this league. What has Kevin Ollie done in his career other than put on about a 1/3 of the NBA jerseys? But yet every year he has a place on a team. Theres no measure to what he probably did behind closed doors for Russell Westbrook and Eric Maynor last year in OKC.

ZzAzZ · Post #19 » by **ZzAzZ** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:21 pm

Well, you guys convinced me. If he is that kind of guy then I guess it's not so bad.

Gsraider · Post #20 » by **Gsraider** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:28 pm

I'm OK with this signing. Philly has almost no shot blocking ability and a dearth of proven back up big men. Battie's best days are behind him, but he can be used in situational possessions or to give a blow here or there for 5-6 minutes. If I thought he was being signed in lieu of a promising young player, I would dislike the signing, but I'm guessing he signed for the minimum as insurance if they cannot get anyone else. If they can, what makes anyone so sure he'll even make the team come opening night? If his contract is guaranteed for about a million and they get a better alternative, he can easily be included in almost any trade package.