Battier: Carmelo Most Predictable Star I Faced

Shane Battier is the poster-boy where advanced analytics are concerned, and had a reputation during his playing days of being one of the game’s more knowledgable defenders, taking in as much statistical information as possible in order to help him gain a competitive advantage.

While he admitted having difficulty guarding the game’s elite scorers regardless, there was one player that was so predictable in the way he played that Battier felt good in his ability to consistently shut him down: Carmelo Anthony.

“I had some success against him,” Battier said. “The numbers really play out with him, and as he’s gotten older, he has not been about reinvention. The last two years I played him, he did exactly what the scouting report said he was going to do, every single time.

via Brett Pollakoff of Pro Basketball Talk