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[QUOTE="dyedorange, post: 2615053, member: 3729"]
Somewhat surprised by the almost unanimous choice of Tyus here, this is a pretty tough question IMO.  Battle was huge for us last year, and I know he was asked to do a ton for a team that didn't have that many other offensive options, but the reality is that he was fairly inefficient in that capacity, shooting less than 40% overall.  That's not a knock on him; lesser players might have done worse under such difficult conditions.  But to think that Battle would have a bigger impact than Bazley next year--and Bazley was by all accounts a very special player--you'd have to assume Battle will make major improvements on last year's numbers.  There are lot of other considerations that might shift this decisions in Battle's favor, like zone experience, overall team chemistry, comparing a Junior vs. freshman, etc, but when we look at Battle's efficiency, it's not clear he'd be the better player.

Not trying to be pessimistic, and I'm totally over Bazley not coming, but I'm coming at this question thinking about what kind of player we're getting with Battle next year.  Will the offensive load be spread around better, allowing him to be more efficient?  Or will he still be expected to shoulder the bulk of the scoring and will his efficiency suffer as a result?  Not to mention he's clearly eyeing the NBA after next year and will want to maximize his exposure, possibly meaning more forced shots than we might prefer.  I think the truth may be somewhere in the middle, with his efficiency coming up but maybe not to 2016/2017 levels.

Rhetorical question anyway, and overall I'm ecstatic to have Battle back.  As in life, best to focus on what you have rather than what you don't.
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