Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get better"

"LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get better"

"There have been these rumors that he has privately demanded a trade from Portland...

NB: I heard that too and I laughed when I read that. He doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get better. LaMarcus is a winner."

I think I'll take Batum's opinion over J.J. Hickson's, the local media hacks with an ax to grind and the chicken little posters in this forum. Batum has been teammates with Aldridge for 5 years. He knows him better than anyone who posts here, or anyone in the local media.

Speaking of the local media:

"I don't know if you read this interview with Jason Quick, the Blazers beat writer for The Oregonian. He talks about how he was pretty disappointed with the players and he mentions you specifically. Any comment on that?

NB: I heard about it. I don't really care about that. If he wants to talk about us like that... I don't really care, I don't focus on that. He's just a guy who left and got a job somewhere else. He's not with the team, I don't really care what he says about this. It's not my problem.

Did you have a good relationship with him?

NB: Yeah, yeah, I try to have a good relationship with every guy in the media in Portand. He left and got another job and now he talks about us... I don't really care."

So glad Quick will no longer be covering the Blazers. He's burned too many bridges. I don't claim to know Nicolas Batum, but I have met him. He was extremely kind and gracious to my daughter, who has been his biggest fan since the first time she saw him play a preseason game against Utah his rookie year. He seems like a really good guy who has never had any off court problems. Why Quick would go after him in print is beyond me. The guy is a bitter, resentful hack. The less he has to do with my favorite team, the better.

BNM

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

Great post.

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

Repped BNM.

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

Somehow I have fallen on Quick's side and I hate that. But can we talk rationale here. A local hack and an ex-teammate said the Aldridge wants to be traded. A current teammate denies that and says LA wants to stay but wants a better team. And logic says it is the local hack and ex-teammate who are bias and not the current teammate???

Nic saying LA wants to stay is like Mike and Mike saying LA wants to stay. I guess one can drum up biases against Quick and Hickson that may be valid, but can we say with a straight face taht Nic is being 100% candid in this situation. He, quite frankly, has the most to lose by verifying (if true) that LA wants to be traded.

Anyways, one of the few sad to see Quick go but being a Blazer fan excited to read the new person's articles on the Blazers. I think this is a crucial year in the LA saga . . . lot riding on the performance of some young players.

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet



I have also met Batum at an autograph session and he was extremely nice and even asked specific questions about the photoshop picture I had created for him to sign and he posed for a picture. Not that that means anything but I can vouch for having had a good experience when I met him.

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

Sounds like Batum is just thinking this is what Aldridge wants, not what Aldridge has actually told him.

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

I would take batums take moreso than a hacks take. But let's look back at the entire situation here.

1.) Aldridge said he didn't ask for a trade

2.) olshey said Aldridge didn't ask for a trade

3.) batum said Aldridge didn't ask for a trade

Or

1.) quick said Aldridge asked for a trade

2.) Ben goliver reports Aldridge asked for a trade

3.) Chicago beat reporter reports Aldridge asked for a trade

4.) Haynes reports Aldridge asked for a trade.


So I would take word from the person rumored and those closest to him.

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

I don't think LMA ever specifically asked for a trade. I do think it is likely that he said something along these lines though: "Shop me around to some teams, if the deal makes sense for you and for me at the same time then lets go with it."

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

Olshey and Batum will obviously give PC answers, so I don't necessarily believe them 100%.

Hickson was a teammate of Aldridge's as well, so that kind of blows a hole in your theory anyways.

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

Remember when Kobe asked for a trade? Players get emotional. They act and they react. Things change.

I doubt that LMA Loves Portland, but as Quick quoted.......he is fine. That is about as good as it gets these days. It is a business.

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

Batum has known LaMarcus and been his teammate for over 5 years. They came up together and became starters at the same time. He was with him for 5 regular seasons, 5 training camps and 3 playoff series. They have been through the best times and worst times of their career's together. Hickson was here for a year and a month. He went through one regular season, one training camp and no post season appearances with Aldridge. So, who do you think LaMarcus Aldridge is more likely to share his true feelings with, Batum or Hickson?

Also, keep in mind that in his exit interview, Aldridge explicitly stated he wanted a true center to play next to; a big body who could bang inside for 25 minutes a night. He basically told the Blazers Hickson had to go, or at least he shouldn't be our starting center. So, perhaps a little sour grapes on Hickson's part.

Who knows? Not me, but at least Batum's comments are in synch with what Aldridge himself has said, that he hasn't demanded a trade, he just wants to the see the team make significant improvement.

BNM

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

And you believe reporters 100%? They have papers to sell and need to drive traffic to their websites and blogs. It is in their best interest to generate as much controversy as possible. The days of objective reporting has long since passed.

BNM

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

Hickson was only a teammate for 1 year. Regardless, Aldridge is still here and those that support you thinking said Aldridge would be traded before the season started. So far, hickson, quick and others in the media are wrong and batum, olshey and Aldridge are right.

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

So? Lol. Like it takes 5 years to build some kind of relationship with someone?

You guys just seem to only want to hear one side of it, and make up weak excuses like Hickson only knowing Aldridge for a year when that person says the opposite of what you want to believe.

It just kind of makes me laugh is all.

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

And all you do is look for the negative in EVERYTHING and ignore anything slightly positive. Must suck to be you.

BNM

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

MediocreMan guaranteed LMA would be traded this summer. Still waiting on that one.

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

No what I'm saying is everyone that has said or rumored lma was going to be traded before the season started are wrong and everyone that said he isn't going to be traded is right.

So the credibility is to those that predicted he stays.

As far as those that established a relationship; I would take the word of a 5 year teammate, the player that is rumored and the gm calling the shots over a freelanced pf, hack reporters and pizza men.

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

BNM is right on the money when he points out that Aldridge basically kicked JJ Hickson off the team. Can't trust JJ on this matter. I think we're going to have a great year and he'll stay. Playing on a winner is important to him. We need to be top 8 team in league and he won't find a better situation from a team with caproom. How he gets along with Lopez and to a lesser extent TRob is crucial.

 

Re: Nicolas Batum: "LaMarcus doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get bet

We have to more then just make the playoffs to keep LMA long-term imo. We have to win a series. I would LOVE to see it. Tall task if we get 7th seed like I think we will though.