Why would we need Battier? For Defense?

That’s his largest contribution, but he does a lot of other things, too.

think many players in the league can play the same D as Shane if they are taught,

This is a fairly common opinion amongst NBA fans and pundits, so I think it’s a good idea to address it here.

People seem to think that what Battier does (or what Hayes does) is purely effort, and that’s simply not true. Battier is a supremely gifted athlete: it’s just that the gifts he has are different from your typical NBA player. He’s not very good at jumping high or running fast, but he has fantastic stamina and an ability to anticipate what his opponent is going to do that seems almost preternatural. If the average NBA player worked as hard as Battier does, he would not be as good as Battier. His defense would probably be improved, but Battier’s skills can’t just be replicated at whim.

Same goes for Chuck. He’s not very tall, but he has a very odd low center of gravity and exceptional strength, which – when combined with great lateral quickness – makes him one of the best post defenders in the league. Again, it’s not that he’s not exceptionally talented – it’s that his talents are very different from the typical NBA athlete.

The point is that these players are not guys who can be easily replaced. The Rockets cannot simply find a short PF and train him to be Chuck or a scrappy SF and teach him to be Battier. It just doesn’t work that way.