Batum tonight

[Webster's Dictionary]

Well, since Zach and Brandon tore up summer league, I would say no.

And I think we've seen that Bayless has the talent to be a good player given a little time. Hardly ever saw that from Qyntel.

 

[The Professional Fan]

Sky is the limit for Batum. And criticizing him at this stage of his career is asinine. He's come in and filled in admirably for our starting SF. And he was 19 and barely understands English. He's a natural. And his ceiling exceeds the roof of the rose garden. If he can develop at a swift clip, he will be our long term answer at the 3.

Yes. Pippen. I don't think it's a stretch to compare the two. I can tell you one thing - Pippen wasn't this good at 20.

 

[Norman Dale]

Batum reminds me more of a young Grant Hill than Pippen. I think one experiement to try this summer is to have him handle the ball more in a point forward role.

Also, he played Williams fairly well last night. Wonder if Nate might try him on Paul on Monday.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Minutes are going to come after Trout + Raef are traded.

You will still have a log jam some where unless you are planning on trading them for a back up pF. And i don't see many back up PF's with a 17 million dollar contract,

We will always have a log jam with 15 players. Which IMO is good with the amount of injuires we suffer.

 

[bigbailes]

Batum reminds me more of a young Grant Hill than Pippen. I think one experiement to try this summer is to have him handle the ball more in a point forward role.

Also, he played Williams fairly well last night. Wonder if Nate might try him on Paul on Monday.

i thought the same thing, would love to see some run with a line up of; Roy, Rudy, Batum, LA, and either Big. don't forget nik also played some great D on Parker in that first SA game.

 

[Natebishop3]

Batum reminds me more of a young Grant Hill than Pippen. I think one experiement to try this summer is to have him handle the ball more in a point forward role.

Also, he played Williams fairly well last night. Wonder if Nate might try him on Paul on Monday.

That's what I'm hoping to see as well. Paul is quicker than Williams though... I wonder if that will make it more difficult for Batum.

One thing I noticed while he was guarding Williams, he doesn't go for the fakes or the jukes. He plays heads up, and he usually stays in front of his man. I was very impressed with his defense last night.

 

[Da_O]

I could easily see Batum turning into one of the top three best perimeter defenders in the league. On a different team he could probably be decent scorer and a teams 2nd or 3rd option. I just see that much potential in him. All he needs to do for us is get his outside shot down a la Bruce Bowen.

 

[Natebishop3]

I could easily see Batum turning into one of the top three best perimeter defenders in the league. On a different team he could probably be decent scorer and a teams 2nd or 3rd option. I just see that much potential in him. All he needs to do for us is get his outside shot down a la Bruce Bowen.

I'd like to see him attack the rim more. We know he can, but he does like to set up shop on the perimeter a lot.

 

[mgb]

Pip-pin.

barfo

I actually lol when I read that.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

He has the skill set of Raja Bell with a body of a young Pippen.

If only he can hit that open jumper with consistency. It's really the only thing he's missing right now.

 

[Natebishop3]

He has the skill set of Raja Bell with a body of a young Pippen.

If only he can hit that open jumper with consistency. It's really the only thing he's missing right now.

If that's all he needs to work on, I think we're good to go

 

[Nate Dogg]

I think he got a little fired up Wednesday night against the Grizzlies.
17 min, 4-5 FG, 1-2 3pters, 2-2 FT, 1 assist, 11 points.

 

[KingSpeed]

How do you pronounce "Batum"? I've heard about 4 variations of it.

Bah-TOOM

 

[STOMP]

I think he got a little fired up Wednesday night against the Grizzlies.
17 min, 4-5 FG, 1-2 3pters, 2-2 FT, 1 assist, 1 spectacular block, 11 points.

fixed it

STOMP

 

[Nate Dogg]

I think we also forgot this block by Batum on Ray Allen.
[video=youtube;v5kORrYcwUQ]
If he keeps on putting up numbers in the next few weeks he will slowy become more polished with his game. His 3pter looked pretty last night. I hope he keeps that up.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

I'd love to see more Batum and less Outlaw.

 

[number 10]

I thought he benefited more than anyone from our efforts to push the ball last night. In the half court offense, he stands in the corner and doesn't really seem to know how to get more involved. In transition, on the other hand, there's nothing he can't do. He knows how to run it, he's unselfish enough to pass the ball when needed (Roy and Bayless could learn a thing or two there...), and he has the athleticism to finish himself. He was unlucky he didn't play more.

Defensively, he seemed to struggle a bit defending Mayo, who was too quick for him. If you look into the future, ideally we'll see Bayless on Mayo, Roy on Conley, and Batum on Gay.

 

[ironcrotch]

How do you pronounce "Batum"? I've heard about 4 variations of it.

Batoom

barfo's answer is good too.

 

[The Sebastian Express]

I thought he benefited more than anyone from our efforts to push the ball last night. In the half court offense, he stands in the corner and doesn't really seem to know how to get more involved. In transition, on the other hand, there's nothing he can't do. He knows how to run it, he's unselfish enough to pass the ball when needed (Roy and Bayless could learn a thing or two there...), and he has the athleticism to finish himself. He was unlucky he didn't play more.

Defensively, he seemed to struggle a bit defending Mayo, who was too quick for him. If you look into the future, ideally we'll see Bayless on Mayo, Roy on Conley, and Batum on Gay.

Well the corner thing is a Nate scheme issue. Travis stands there unless he's playing PF or being called for the ISO, Martell stood there, and Batum stands there.

 

[number 10]

Well the corner thing is a Nate scheme issue. Travis stands there unless he's playing PF or being called for the ISO, Martell stood there, and Batum stands there.

true, but personally I think that's because Nate tailors the schemes to his players' skill sets. Despite their athleticism, Batum and Webster aren't great at taking it to the rim, and they both have a tendency to be too passive at times.

also - translated blog post coming soonish

 

[The Sebastian Express]

true, but personally I think that's because Nate tailors the schemes to his players' skill sets. Despite their athleticism, Batum and Webster aren't great at taking it to the rim, and they both have a tendency to be too passive at times.

also - translated blog post coming soonish

There's nothing wrong with tailoring it to your best players skill set but I think he runs Roy into the ground with the ISOs. I just wish we'd run more movement sets because Batum can catch the ball on a lob or a backdoor cut pretty well.

 

[HailBlazers]

Batum is worth waiting for. The previous Grizz possession before this "spectacular" block on Gay, Batum had just run down the court the same way and affected a break-away layup.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=""></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

 

[number 10]

[Blog Batum] “J’ai eu un petit pincement au coeur”

I arrived in Phoenix Thursday night, right after our game against Golden State. With Oden, Rudy, and Brandon Roy, we arrived in a private jet (we don't overdo things here!) chartered by the president of the team.

D12 and Duncan at the Jam Session

My weekend started Friday with a meeting with the team from Intérieur Sport, a show from Canal+, which is following my for a week. Then, I met some people, including some from la fédé [my guess is FIBA], who were in the same hotel. We made a quick stop at the Jam Session. It’s crazy, there’s too much to do! There are courts everywhere, video games everywhere, kids can meet NBA players: you can’t get bored there. For kids, it’s awesome.

And afterwards we left the room fairly early because I was commenting on the Rookie Game for Canal+. It was a really cool experience. It’s was funny doing that, even if at the beginning it was a bit hard because I didn’t really know when I was supposed to talk. But George Eddy and Bruno Poulain were really cool with me because they integrated me in the discussion. So it was really fun to do and I’m happy to have done it at least once.

During the opening tip, I was a little disappointed to not be playing. Especially since I spoke to someone from the NBA and in fact, I really almost made it. I was told that if there had been ten or 11 players, I would’ve been in, namely because there’s only 4 rookies that have been starting. But oh well, they only took 9. And I don’t know why. So I felt a twinge of sadness at first, but at the same time, looking at this rookie class… This year it’s ridiculous.

I thought that it was a good game, with a close first half. It wasn’t the Rookie Game where there’s +30 at halftime for the sophomores and it’s over. Here, it was close, the rookies were up 5 at half time. It was even a tough game: between Scola and Gasol, it was a Euroleague game. They thought they were in ACB [Spanish league], it was funny. They hit each other. Afterwards, I saw Gasol, I told him “you thought you were in the Euroleague with Scola or what?” He answered “I don’t know, I didn’t understand, he wanted to play hard, so…” Scola finished with 5 fouls.
Regarding Durant, I knew that he was going to have a good game, but to put up 46 points, 30 in the 2nd half... And he made 3 three-pointers in a row, when they were down 10 or 12, important three-pointers. It has to be said that he's good. We played him the Wednesday before the All-Star break and he was coming off of a series of 30-point games in February. With Travis Outlaw, we swore that he wouldn't get 30. In the end he scored 19 or 20.

After the game, I was at a little party at Steve Nash's house, it was nice. Saturday, woke up at 9:00 because I had a lot of things to do. I had a mini press conference with the French press at the Jam Session at 10:00... I finally got there at 10:30. After I went to see the practice for each conference. Quick practices, open to the public. It was more of a case of... they do three sprints, with high knees and heels-butt, they went over the plays a bit, and voilà. It lasted three quarters of an hour, an hour.

And between the practices, there was a guy from the Guinness Book of records. And there were lots of records tried. There's Devin Harris who broke the world record for crossing the court while dribbling: 3.89. There was a guy who spun the ball on his finger... except that he had two balls one on top of the other and he held it for 32 seconds. And at the end, the highlight of the show, the attempt on the world record for free throws in a minute, blindfolded. Shaquille O'Neal tried. We already know that for him with his eyes open, it's tough, so blindfolded... But in fact, the worst is that his shot had a better arc, better motion. But he made 4, when the record was 5. After there was Chauncey Billups who tried and he equaled the record.

 

[illmatic99]

Batum is worth waiting for. The previous Grizz possession before this "spectacular" block on Gay, Batum had just run down the court the same way and affected a break-away layup.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=""></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Wow. That user on Youtube must be a huge Batum fan.

Check out Nic in only his second game as a pro:

[video=youtube;vv8Caw4bNgQ]