** Before the game, Nicolas Batum came out to warm up and test his bruised right knee (he looked on target to return for Monday's game against New Orleans) but first he stopped on the bench and waited for the court to clear of some of the younger players. As Allen Crabbe came off the court, he was besieged with autograph seekers. As Crabbe signed programs and balls, I noted to Batum that Crabbe was now a superstar. Batum smiled and said something interesting: "He reminds me of B-Roy'' he said, referring to Brandon Roy. Batum said Crabbe has the same cool personality and the same pace on the court as his former teammate. "I don't know how to describe it, but he has it,'' Batum said. "For some reason, when I look at him I think B-Roy.'' ** As Batum was talking about Roy, Damian Lillard perked his ears. "Man, I watched a lot of B-Roy on YouTube growing up,'' Lillard said. "That guy had moves.'' I told Lillard that he has a lot of B-Roy in him. "Nah,'' Lillard said. "B-Roy was 6-6 ... and there was a time there for a year or two when he was maybe the best two-guard in the league.'' The similarities, I said, were more in their late-game, killer instincts, and that sparked a memory in Lillard. "I remember watching that playoff game against Dallas,'' Lillard said. "I was home watching on TV and he brought them back.'' Batum could only smile and before he went to the court, he mimed some of Roy's moves. "Everything left,'' Batum said. "Everything left.'' ** http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/i...ers_notebook_meyers_leonard_might_be_the.html
That's so funny because I thought the same thing. The way he looks and how he moves on the court. I even said he looks like Reggie miller and Roy had a baby on his first start
Nope, Batum is a vet. Been through the playoffs four times, I believe. He can be relied on to not fuck up in big games.
It's impossible to tell at this point what Crabbe will be but we do know who Batum is. He is an above average complementary player who a shoots well and can play good D on smaller players. Batum will not be a player that creates shots on a consistent basis in the NBA. He can do that at times but he will never do that game in and game out. Is Crabbe capable of what Batum is now? That's the question. I don't think anyone would say trade Batum now but this will be something to watch as the year goes.
Couple things about that. First, the only way we're going to be worried about cap space/contract sizes/etc. is if we're trying to get enough cap space to sign a big free agent. We'll have Bird Rights on Wes and LMA and Freeland and Lopez and Wright and Robinson and Barton, and we'll have an option on Kaman, Crabbe, with Lillard/Nic/Meyers/CJ already locked up. So we either renounced some of those big holds (not likely if this team is pretty good) or we're not using cap space anyway, even if the cap does go up by a big number. Second, due to the cap potentially going up a bunch, you'll have lots of competition on any free agent out there. Third, with the cap going up, the tax will go up. PA has said he'll pay for a winner, but we could re-sign all these guys and still not be over the lux tax (or barely so). Maybe NO can pull all the guys together and do a Spurs-type collaboration event (or a LBJ/Wade/Bosh mtg) where he "negotiates" with everyone in the room to basically say "hey Dame, I know you're worth 19M or so a year on a supermax rookie deal. But if we can shave 4M off that (since you're getting a ton from your shoe deal) and give you a "regular rookie" max, we can afford to keep RoLo and Kaman and Wes and Nic around and still have some room for another MLE FA". I don't know if you can/should do similar with LMA. So basically, going into next year, we'll have either a stripped-down shell of a team that we have go re-create using only the salary cap, or just about the entire roster re-signed at a higher price and an MLE FA and first-round pick.
He wouldn't replace Batum. He would replace Wes, if he was really that good. Does anyone else wonder if CJ will be happy as a career backup though? I mean, he's fine as a sparkplug off the bench, but he's really too short to be a starting two and he's not a point guard. His career trajectory is a backup combo guard. Will he accept that?
