The Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies finalized their draft day deal on Wednesday as Houston sent Gay and Stromile Swift to Graceland for Shane Battier.

So now that we've had more time to digest this deal, let's survey the damage:

While we still feel the price was hefty, Battier clearly will have a positive impact on the Rockets in 2006-07.

The 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward was drafted out of Duke by Memphis in 2001 and played 5 seasons with them. For the 49-win Grizzlies last season, Battier averaged 10.1 points on a career-high 48.8% shooting and 5.3 boards.

Battier also hit nearly 40% from long range the past two years. To put that in perspective, that triple percentage is better than any clip that a Rocket put up last year, including David Wesley. That's huge. This team took a large step back last season from long range and they can't afford to bring in players who are liabilities when they are forced to take open shots.

Defensively, Battier will also have an impact. He picked 1.14 steals and blocked 1.41 shots a game last season and has the ability to cover many shooting guards, small forwards and power forwards. He's not a Bruce Bowen-like defensive stopper, but he's very solid without the ball.

"We were very excited when we heard that Shane was available," said Dawson. "We made the deal without hesitation."

Perhaps the Rockets should have hesitated as they might have gotten more in the deal, but alas -- it remains to be seen what impact the 19-year old Gay will have in the league. The 6-foot-8 athletic freak out of Connecticut has knocks on his game, primarily his history of having disappeared in some college games, but he has potential that far exceeds that of Battier.

As for Swift, either way you look at it, this is a massive failure on the part of the Rockets. They turned a widely-considered steal as a mid-level exception (MLE) acquisition in 2005 in to a negative value contract in less than a year -- and they sold the stock as low as possible. Look for Grizzlies president Jerry West to find someone over the next year who will actually give up something for Swift as there are always times where certain teams (and GMs) are desperate for size.

The bigger question for the Rockets is, "What's next?"

This trade made it clear that the Rockets were going for gold over the next couple of seasons. With this deal in their pocket for a couple of weeks now, the Rockets had hoped to add another highly efficient player in Mike James with the MLE, but the team crashed and burned in their pursuit of the former Rocket as he opted to sign with the Timberwolves.

Dawson told Sports Radio 610 on Wednesday that the Rockets had in fact offered a player option for the fourth season in their offer to James, but the 6-foot-2 guard shocked them in the final minutes with a "trade kicker" request. When the Rockets balked, James went to the Wolves.