Well, probably not. But he's damned good. And Michael Lewis of the New York Times, best known for his book Moneyball (about the stat-obsessive front office of the Oakland A's), is out to prove that Battier may be the Rockets' most valuable player, and the focal point of GM Daryl Morey's mad genius schemes.
In a nutshell, the Rockets and Morey have hired a metric ton of statistics geeks over the past few years, all with the goal of analyzing every game at a level of detail that far surpasses conventional scouting and box scores. As part of their analysis, they created a statistic known as plus-minus, which basically measures what a particular player brings to (or takes off) the table while they're in the game. A player need not score a lot to have a good plus-minus; they can distribute the ball well, or shut down the opposing team's best player, anything that increases the point difference between the good guys and the opposition.
As it turns out, Battier's plus-minus is in the same stratosphere as MVP-caliber players like Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, and Carmelo Anthony. Why does a guy who can't shoot and doesn't block shots get into this territory? By forcing the guy he's guarding into low-percentage shots and always being in the right place on offense, contributions that statistics can't measure. Kobe Bryant might score 30 when Battier guards him, but he'll have to work much harder at it, giving the Rockets more opportunities to match his scores.
Naturally, some debate has arisen (on the Internet of all places!) about Lewis' thesis, particularly pointing to the fact that the Rockets gave up the statistically superior Rudy Gay to Memphis to obtain Battier. Regardless, the article is a fantastic read, even if you're not a sports fan, giving insight into Battier's background, and how he sees himself on the court.
C'mon: at least he's not T-Mac...
---
Photo: flickr user sulla55
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit