Shane Battier

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Shane Battier

Position	Small forward
League	NBA
Height	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Weight	220 lb (100 kg)
Team	Houston Rockets
Nationality	United States
Born	September 9, 1978 (age 28) Birmingham, Michigan
College	Duke
Draft	6th overall, 2001 Memphis Grizzlies
Pro career	2001–present
Former teams	Memphis Grizzlies 2001-2006
Awards	1997 Naismith Prep Player of the Year, 2001 Oscar Robertson Trophy, Naismith College Player of the Year, John R. Wooden Award, NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player, ACC Athlete of the Year (2001)

Shane Courtney Battier (born September 9, 1978 in Birmingham, Michigan) is an American professional basketball player with the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association and the U.S. national team.

Battier was born and raised in Birmingham, Michigan, and attended Derby Middle School, before starting his basketball career at Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills, Michigan, where he won many awards including 1997 "Mr. Basketball of Michigan" while playing for coach Kurt Keener.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 College 1.2 NBA 2 Other 3 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] College

Battier went on to attend Duke University, where he played under head coach Mike Krzyzewski. He led the Blue Devils to two Final Fours, in 1999 and 2001. The Blue Devils lost to the Connecticut Huskies in the 1999 finals, but came back to win the national championship by defeating the Arizona Wildcats two years later. In 2001, Battier swept the major National Player of the Year awards, and subsequently had his jersey number 31 retired by the Blue Devils. Coincidentally, the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the Blue Devils won the 2001 championship, was the very same building in which they won the 1992 championship with Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, and Bobby Hurley leading the way. (In fact, the path taken by that Duke team -- Greensboro, North Carolina to Philadelphia to Minnesota -- was identical to the 1992 path.) Battier himself drew many comparisons to Hill, and he played all four years at Duke. (Under Krzyzewski, no Blue Devils player had left Duke early for the NBA until 1999 [1], when Battier's teammates Elton Brand, William Avery, and Corey Maggette declared early for the draft.)

[edit] NBA

Battier was selected by the Memphis Grizzlies with the sixth pick of the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft. He was the Grizzlies' second draft pick since the team relocated from Vancouver, Canada after six years. Pau Gasol of Spain was selected in the same draft with the number three pick, also by the Memphis Grizzlies.

Battier is a versatile player with the size to play inside and the range to score from further out (particularly the corner three-pointer). However, he makes his living as a hustle player on the defensive end, where he defends three positions (shooting guard, power forward, small forward) with a high degree of skill, nets a good number of blocks and steals, dives for loose balls, and frequently draws offensive fouls from his opponent.

Battier has often been called "the ultimate glue guy" for playing sound, fundamental, team-oriented basketball, making his teammates more effective without flash or padding his own stats, and for making the most of his skills with discipline and hustle rather than raw athelticism. ^[1]

On June 28, 2006, Battier was traded by the Grizzlies to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Stromile Swift and the Rockets' number 8 selection Rudy Gay in the 2006 NBA Draft.

[edit] Other

He once told ESPN Magazine's Stuart Scott: "I don't know what I will end up doing post-basketball. I've always been intrigued by politics. I may be a bit too idealistic to run for office. We'll see." [2]

He was featured on the cover of EA's NCAA March Madness 2002 video game.

Preceded by Joe Hamilton	ACC Male Athlete of the Year 2001	Succeeded by Juan Dixon
Preceded by Kenyon Martin	John R. Wooden Award (men) 2001	Succeeded by Jay Williams
Preceded by Kenyon Martin	Naismith College Player of the Year (men) 2001	Succeeded by Jay Williams
Preceded by Mateen Cleaves	NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player (men's) 2001	Succeeded by Juan Dixon

[edit] External links

• Shane Battier player profile at NBA.com
• 2001 Oscar Robertson Trophy

2001 NBA Draft
First Round Kwame Brown | Tyson Chandler | Pau Gasol | Eddy Curry | Jason Richardson | Shane Battier | Eddie Griffin | DeSagana Diop | Rodney White | Joe Johnson | Kedrick Brown | Vladimir Radmanović | Richard Jefferson | Troy Murphy | Steven Hunter | Kirk Haston | Michael Bradley | Jason Collins | Zach Randolph | Brendan Haywood | Joseph Forte | Jeryl Sasser | Brandon Armstrong | Raul Lopez | Gerald Wallace | Jamaal Tinsley | Tony Parker |
Second Round Trenton Hassell | Gilbert Arenas| Omar Cook | Will Solomon | Terence Morris | Brian Scalabrine | Jeff Trepagnier | Damone Brown | Mehmet Okur | Michael Wright | Earl Watson | Jamison Brewer | Bobby Simmons | Eric Chenowith | Kyle Hill | Sean Lampley | Loren Woods | Ousmane Cisse | Antonis Fotsis | Ken Johnson | Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje | Alton Ford | Andre Huston | Jarron Collins | Kenny Satterfield | Maurice Jeffers | Robertas Javtokas | Alvin Jones | Bryan Bracey