<div class="quote_poster">Sir Desmond Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Winning 50 games and doing what in the playoffs? Being swept every time around? You need a legit second option behind Gasol, and in Gay at least management have identified that need and tried to get it. Whether it works or not remains to be seen, and won't be seen in half a season, but he certainly has the tools to be just that. Battier is a great roleplayer, but roleplayers are easier to find.</div> I won't accept that tag on Battier. He's not just a "roleplayer," unless you think that anchoring the Grizzlies' whole defense makes him that, and by that logic, Kobe Bryant is a "roleplayer" because his role is to be the go-to-guy on offense. A player like Shane Battier is very hard to find, just ask any Houston Rockets fan, or ask any statistics guru like durvasa. He's at a level right now where he's more valuable as a defender than even Ron Artest. As for needing a legit second scoring option, that scoring option has always been there in Mike Miller. If the Grizzlies were really looking to make a radical change, they shouldn't be looking for it with the #8 pick in the draft. There's a reason Gay slipped that far. The guy has no intangibles. He lacks everything that Shane Battier has, and those are all things you need to be a star in this league. He brings no effort, lacks desire, doesn't do the subtle things that help you win ball games, doesn't bring the same effort on defense as he does on offense, and lacks any sort of leadership qualities. If the Grizzlies think that at any point he's going to emerge as a star, they're sadly mistaken, because those characteristics are not taught.
