With Artest...what does this mean for Shane Battier?

Question

As a huge Rockets fan I am pumped to see Artest headed to H town....My question is, what happens to Shane Battier now?

They play the same position...and neither one should be on the bench. What do you guys think?

Answer 1

It means that Artest is going to play power forward battier small forwar and tmac shooting guard. In my mind the best overall lineup. a penatrator in tmac and 2 amazing shooters. better yet trying scoring on artest or battier. to add in Yao and that point guard i forgot his name. This is a very solid line up

Answer 2

It means a trade is in the offing. Having Artest and Battier is redundant. Artest is a better player, but Battier is too valuable to have coming off your bench. Artest can't play power forward, and Battier won't with the production they got out of Luis Scola. I think the most likely scenario is ... the Rockets are trading T-Mac.

Battier will stay at the three, Artest moves to the two, and the rockets get at least two impact players to put this team over the top. I would not be shocked to see a move of McGrady and another player or so (maybe Luther Head? Chuck Hayes?) to the Pistons for Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace, with draft picks involved one way or another. With Rodney Stuckey and Jason Maxiell developing nicely for Detroit and ready to move into starting roles, it could make sense for them, giving them the high-impact star they've been looking for. For Houston, it could mean a transition for Rafer to a sixth-man role behind Billups and a great complement to Yao (and a nice expiring contract) in Wallace.

Kinda wild, but could happen ...