# The Gay/Battier Trade Revisited



## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

everyone had to see this thread coming...

still worth it?


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

well, when you lose, everything looks wrong


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## Cornholio (Feb 13, 2005)

Pimped Out said:


> still worth it?


Yes. I don't think Gay and Swift would of helped us much in these series.


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

kisstherim said:


> well, when you lose, everything looks wrong


it looked wrong a year ago. the only thing people said to defend it was we would have a chance to win a ring this year. this was a short term trade; it was suppose to payoff immediately.


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

Cornholio said:


> Yes. I don't think Gay and Swift would of helped us much in these series.


looking at the team's future, who do you want? gay or battier? this year was a waste with either one so you go to the one with the brighter future.


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Pimped Out said:


> it looked wrong a year ago. the only thing people said to defend it was we would have a chance to win a ring this year. this was a short term trade; it was suppose to payoff immediately.


yes, we would have, had bonzi still been here and Yao hadn't have that injury. These two conditions have nothing to do with that trade. Sometimes you just have to take a risk, after all, Yao and TMAC don't have that many years left


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## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

I was thinking about this, but I think it is too early to tell. 
After next season I feel it would be a good time to analyze the deal. Battier tonight did really well and helped us stay in it in the first half. But I dont think Gay/Swift would have helped us at all this game. Gay would not get any playing time, and Swift, well no need to explain.

Not having Bonzi I think hurt more then we want to believe.


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Pimped Out said:


> looking at the team's future, who do you want? gay or battier? this year was a waste with either one so you go to the one with the brighter future.


So you already knew that this year was gonna be a waste when that trade happened?


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## zxuan (Apr 1, 2007)

it's over


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

kisstherim said:


> So you already knew that this year was gonna be a waste when that trade happened?


i never believed that shane was the piece that put us over the top as a championship contender vs teams like dallas, san antonio or phoenix.


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## Hakeem (Aug 12, 2004)

kisstherim said:


> yes, we would have, had bonzi still been here and Yao hadn't have that injury. These two conditions have nothing to do with that trade. Sometimes you just have to take a risk, after all, Yao and TMAC don't have that many years left


Didn't we get Bonzi after the Battier trade?


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## GNG (Aug 17, 2002)

One thing's for sure. Rudy Gay would not fit into a Jeff Van Gundy system.

Much like the Grizzlies under Mike Fratello, I doubt he would have even saw much time at all.


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

Rawse said:


> One thing's for sure. Rudy Gay would not fit into a Jeff Van Gundy system.
> 
> Much like the Grizzlies under Mike Fratello, I doubt he would have even saw much time at all.


yeah, but ive wanted jeff gone for a while too


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## hroz (Mar 4, 2006)

No it wasnt that bad the problem.

The problem really was that so many things that needed to go right just didnt

This was meant to be the lineup

Yao/Mutombo
Hayes/Howard
Battier/Wells
McGrady
Alston/Spanoulis/Sura

Spanoulis was meant to be our No2 PG or Sura was meant to come back and take that job neither happenned Spanoulis didnt live up to the hype(or didnt get an opportunity depending who you talk to) & Sura gave up on his comeback nor were we able to make a trade for another PG.

Also the McGrady/Battier/Wells rotation was meant to be the best in the league with possibly Head or maybe even Snyder getting minutes when one doesnt perform. Wells was injured then quit on the team.

Nothing went the way it was planned............


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## bronx43 (Dec 9, 2005)

Pimped Out said:


> i never believed that shane was the piece that put us over the top as a championship contender vs teams like *dallas*, san antonio or phoenix.


Had to do it. :biggrin:


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## AZNoob (Jan 21, 2006)

hroz said:


> Nothing went the way it was planned............


Seems to be a growing trend...Stro + DA didn't work too well either.

How IS Gerald Fitch doing these days? :lol:


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

bronx43 said:


> Had to do it. :biggrin:


if we had made it to the second round vs dallas, we wouldnt have beaten them

and it would have been painful to watch the tmac vs dirk choke-off


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## Rocket Man (Jun 10, 2005)

Gay would have never fit into the Rockets defense this year. It was a very good trade for not other reason than jettisoning worthless Swift and his large contract.


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## Hakeem (Aug 12, 2004)

Offensively, Battier was significantly better in Memphis than he was for us this season. His PER back then was around 15 (like Matt Harpring, Jamal Crawford and Al Harrington), but it was only 12 this season (like Rudy Gay, Smush Parker and Juwan Howard). He had easily the worst rebounding season of his career. I hope he isn't declining already.



Pimped Out said:


> if we had made it to the second round vs dallas, we wouldnt have beaten them


I don't know. We match up well with them with Yao.


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## crazyfan (Dec 9, 2005)

Well, would we have even gotten into the playoffs with Gay and Swift instead of Battier? 

Maybe, but we certainly would not have won 52 games.


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Without Battier we probably would've been a 6th or 7th seed and knocked out by SA or Phx in 5 or 6 games in the 1st round. Still happy with the trade, we just need more.


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Pimped Out said:


> i never believed that shane was the piece that put us over the top as a championship contender vs teams like dallas, san antonio or phoenix.


he alone is surely not, he and Bonzi might have been. Who could at the beginning of this season predict that Bonzi would suddenly leave this team? And I think when evaluating a trade we should always keep in mind that Yao and TMAC don't have that many years left, considering TMAC is so injury prone these days and Yao...well, most Chinese basketball players retire in their 32--34.


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Hakeem said:


> Didn't we get Bonzi after the Battier trade?


what I meant was: if Bonzi didn't act like a bum and stayed here/Yao had never had that injury, we could have been a real contender this year, couldn't we? Had we made the 2nd round or even WCF or further with the pre-injury Yao and Bonzi, how would you evaluate that trade then? And what do these two factors have to do that trade?


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## Hakeem (Aug 12, 2004)

^ I'm not sure the trade could have been considered good had the Rockets gone anywhere but the Finals. Especially not with the way Battier played this season. Gay finished the season very well, but it'll be a couple of years before he is clearly better than Battier. So I don't know. 

Eddy Curry, David Lee, Nate Robinson and Renaldo Balkman look pretty good. That's a nice young group. Maybe I'll spend more time watching the Knicks next season.


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## Krimzon (Feb 26, 2007)

It was a risky trade. Battier fits in the team well. I think it was a good trade for the present. As for the future, probably not. Right now it's all about getting to and winning the final. Bonzi is a good player to come off the bench, but stuff happen.


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