Nicolas Batum, Portland Trailblazers (Age 25. Drafted 25th overall in 2008) – Nicolas Batum is one of the best two-way players in the league, and arguably the best “glue-guy.” He does a little bit of everything for the Trailblazers, and is a huge reason why they advanced to the second round of the Playoffs last season. One of the reasons why Batum flies under the radar is due to the fact that he is not a volume scorer (just 13 points per game last season). But on a team with Damian Lillard, Wesley Matthews, and LaMarcus Aldridge, Batum doesn’t need to score a lot. Instead, Batum spreads the floor with his three-point shooting, grabs rebounds at a high rate for a small forwards, sets up teammates as a playmaker, is great in transition both offensively and defensively, and often defends opposing teams’ best scorers, even if they happen to be a point guard. He even fills in at power forward quite often, allowing the Blazers to play at a quicker pace and add more three-point shooting. Last season, Batum averaged 13 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 0.9 steals, and shot 46.5 percent from the field, and 36.1 percent from three-point range. Batum was one of three players in the league last year to average over seven rebounds and five assists a game last year, along with Joahim Noah and Kevin Durant. At age 25, Batum still has room to improve his game and take another step in his development. He is one of the most versatile players in the league, but he would really turn heads if he can get scoring average up. However, on a high-scoring Portland team, it’s not really necessary for him to do so. But for Batum, a bump in nightly scoring to somewhere near 17 points a game would put more attention on his all-around impact on the game, and earn him the recognition he already deserves. Batum has improved his production each season and projects to continue that upward trend with the up-and-coming Blazers this upcoming season. http://www.basketballinsiders.com/five-nba-small-forwards-on-the-rise-in-2014-15/
In before the Batum hate starts. They can't fathom a human being in a reporter role EVER saying "best glue-guy in the NBA" and meaning it.
On the Danforth, Dirt, and Sprague show on 1080, when one of them goes off about something that pisses them off, they have the Frozen song "Let it go" play for a second or two.