I'd love to see Battie back in Green. He's a vet that works hard for his paycheck. Thing is, how much is he making this year? Off hand i'd attempt to do a trade with TA and Scal to NJN for him, since it would match the talent level (not a clue if contracts match). Battie has a decent jump shot from short-(somewhat)mid-range (better then BBD) and he's similar to Powe on the boards, but not as hard. We also know that he's a good friend of Paul Pierce, so he wouldn't be a problem in the locker rooms.
If I could trade for him i'd let BBD walk and have a reserve line up of Marbury*,House*,Powe,Battie,Walker,Giddens. A bit small in the guard area but not bad nonetheless.
Not trying to sound like a prick, but that sounds pretty bad to me. That bench is argueably worse than the one that we had this year. Battie can block more shots defensively, but BBD's hustle on defense and youth balances the scales IMO. Theyre both similar on offense with just a midrange jumper. The backup SF wasnt addressed, and with Powes effectiveness next year being a question mark, the frontline of Garnett, Perk, and Battie is still very thin, especially since Battie hasnt exactly been a staple of good heath his whole career, and now factor age into the equation.
I know everyone has their eyes on McDyess and Sheed, but if we ended up with Grant Hill and Birdman, I'd be pretty happy, and being able to somehow have room left to resign BBD would be a bonus.
If we're going to be more concerned with health, why are we starting a 7'0 PF coming off of a half year knee injury that sidelined him for the playoffs? Battie is not older then Garnett or RA.....10-15 minutes a game he can do without any real health issues.
Our bench wasn't what killed us in the playoffs, it was the fact that we had 2 rebounding PF's who went down with knee injuries. Most teams don't have 3+ *great* rebounding PF's including us, we were out of options and played with what we had left in the tank. That doesn't mean at all that our *awful* bench lost it for us since that's far from the truth. Rondo checking out after the bulls series, and RA going for a choke series killed it. Pierce was unable to carry the team for the 600000000th time this season to a victory, but the blame ain't his. Marbury and House basically won us the last 20 games of the season since Marbury let house light up from 3 point land. So why people keep saying our bench is awful I don't see the reason behind it. The only *awful* part of this team is TA/Giddens/Pruitt/Scalabrine/Walker, we don't need five players sitting on the bench every game getting $ for proving nothing.
And dw about it greg, I don't see it as a mean reply since you do have several key points I agree with. The addition of Grant Hill would be great since you have a man who can play Point Forward/SF/SG/PF(for a short time) the only problem is his age.
comparing Garnett and Battie in regards to missing time is a little misleading IMO, thats like comparing Pierce and Vince Carter just b/c Pierce missed a bunch of time in 2007 b/c of his elbow. I dont think Garnetts been under 70 gamees played more than twice his entire career. Battie I know had knee problems on a couple occasions when he was in green, and had shoulder problems in Orlando, I dont know much about him before he was in Boston.
.....as far as the problems in the playoffs, if Pierce had a good SF on the bench backing him up, he wouldnt have had to carry us for the 60000000 time, he might have had some heroics left in the tank. I'll agree with you about Eddie House in the last 20 games of the season, he was phenominal, but lumping Marbury in there with him is a little much. Him and Marbury made a nice pair to finish off the season and into the playoffs but to say they won us the last 20 games isnt right. Marburys inconsistent jumpshot hurt the bench just as much as Rondos inconsistent jumper hurts the starting unit. I do think though that Marbury will be more effective if he were to come back with an entire offseason and training camp to prepare.
I do agree with you that what killed us in Orlando is our thin frontcourt and Rondo leveling off his play. Do you really think though that Tony Battie would have had the kind of series Glen Davis did?? I dont. I think if we have Tony Battie instead of Glen Davis the series doesnt even make it 7 games. All I'm saying is that we already know we're gonna be missing Leon Powe for a lot of the season next year, and Garnett should be back to full strength, but if we drop Glen Davis, and the only thing we add is Tony Battie, I think we're in the same shape we were last year at the beginning of the season, AT BEST, and dont forget since then Orlandos added Carter and Shaq is in Cleveland now.
