I think Batum...

[Ghost Pepper]

and Outlaw could give fits to KD especially Batum. Oden should have a huge night and Roy may have another massive performance, he's due!

This will be a blowout game!

 

[Karl Malone's Elbows]

Batum and Durant is going to be a good matchup to watch tonight. I'm not sure why you brought Outlaw up though. He's not good on defense at all and he plays POWER FORWARD not SMALL FORWARD, I doubt they'll be matched up much if at all.

I find it dumbfounding that people still don't realize this. He's played almost all of his minutes at PF for three straight years.

 

[KingSpeed]

He does play some SF. He usually comes in for Batum and plays for the starters for a couple minutes before the other bench people come in.

 

[Ghost Pepper]

I think Outlaws length alone could cause KD fits to shoot over. That and Oden will erase him in the paint which makes me think Kevin will live from the three point range most of the game. Batum is really who I think will be the difference maker on D though.

 

[alex42083]

It'll be a good test for Nicolas. I'm looking forward to it. They're both long, rangy fellows.

 

[Ghost Pepper]

This game could be a coming out party for Batum as a top tier defender. That's what I hope!

 

[LittleAlex]

Durant is going destroy Outlaw. In fact, this is the match-up I expect to be most infuriated by. A close second is Westbrook's domination of Sergio in the first 6 minutes of the game.

As for Oden, he will be in foul trouble very early in this game covering for Sergio's patented Ole defense.

 

[Karl Malone's Elbows]

He does play some SF.

Exactly: some. But the vast majority of his time and success has been at PF. He has played a very minimal amount of SF over the last 3 seasons, yet most Blazer fans call him a SF or project him as a SF. But even Mike and Mike are constantly bring up how poor Outlaw plays when he's at SF and they're as big of homers as you can get.
I just wish Portland fans would recognize that he's not and will never be a SF. While he's versatile enough to play the position if needed, all of his potential is at the PF position.

 

[LittleAlex]

Exactly: some. But the vast majority of his time and success has been at PF. He has played a very minimal amount of SF over the last 3 seasons, yet most Blazer fans call him a SF or project him as a SF. But even Mike and Mike are constantly bring up how poor Outlaw plays when he's at SF and they're as big of homers as you can get.
I just wish Portland fans would recognize that he's not and will never be a SF. While he's versatile enough to play the position if needed, all of his potential is at the PF position.

I think we all call him a small forward because saying there is any power in his game is a sad joke. Portland is forced to play him out of position power forward because he is so useless at small forward. Outlaw at the 4 is one of the reasons we keep getting destroyed by back-up power forwards. He can't guard them. The only real hope is that he can negate them by scoring a bunch of points.

In short, it's not that he IS a small forward. It's that he SHOULD BE a small forward. The fact he isn't hurts Portland now and in the long run.

One other thing. Travis at Power Forward just means he gets destroyed by Green and not Durant.

 

[BalancedMan]

He does play some SF. He usually comes in for Batum and plays for the starters for a couple minutes before the other bench people come in.

Usually the same people that think LMA can "slide" down to play SF if we got another big man.

Really though Outlaw CAN play some SF depending on who he's matched up with defensively. He can shoot and spread the floor enough for that position. Outlaw is a tweener. So is Durant really (at least he was in college) but simply MUCH MUCH better.

Anyone else happy to see OKC playing Durant at SF rather than keeping him at SG like they initially tried?

 

[Karl Malone's Elbows]

Outlaw needs to continue to naturally put on weight and his defense at PF will be better. If he's up to 230 in 4 years with his athleticism he could be a solid defender. He has all the tools, he just needs a some more weight/strength and experience, both things that will progress naturally. He'll fill a vital role during Portland's Championship window.

 

[Natebishop3]

Outlaw can't really shutdown anyone. Batum on the other hand...

 

[PapaG]

So...is Nic Batum still the next Scottie Pippen? Wondering, because I saw a lot of that earlier this year.

 

[BengalDuck]

wow was that a dunk?

 

[MickZagger]

So...is Nic Batum still the next Scottie Pippen? Wondering, because I saw a lot of that earlier this year.

He just turned 20. What was Pippen doing when he was 20? Was he starting for a playoff bound NBA team?

Just wondering.

 

[Karl Malone's Elbows]

So...is Nic Batum still the next Scottie Pippen? Wondering, because I saw a lot of that earlier this year.

Kobe Bryant had bad games when he was a rookie too. He shot three air ball 3 pointers in a row against Utah in the playoffs ending the series. Why base your judgement of a rookie off of their worst performances? Judge them by their best performances, their tools which allow them to grow and repeat their best performances more often, and their repetitive negatives. If a lot of a players repetitive negatives can be coached and corrected don't weigh them too heavily, but pay attention to the repetitive negatives with a history of staying with a player.

 

[PapaG]

Kobe Bryant had bad games when he was a rookie too. He shot three air ball 3 pointers in a row against Utah in the playoffs ending the series. Why base your judgement of a rookie off of their worst performances? Judge them by their best performances, their tools which allow them to grow and repeat their best performances more often, and their repetitive negatives. If a lot of a players repetitive negatives can be coached and corrected don't weigh them too heavily, but pay attention to the repetitive negatives with a history of staying with a player.

I just don't think Nic Batum will ever be a Scottie Pippen. That's hardly an absurd stance.

 

[Karl Malone's Elbows]

He just turned 20. What was Pippen doing when he was 20? Was he starting for a playoff bound NBA team?

Just wondering.

Pippen's story is pretty amazing actually. He was a 6' walk-on at a NAIA school (just above juco, way below the NCAA) and grew to 6'8 by his senior year. He had an amazing tourney and got drafted fifth by the OKC Thunder, err....something like that.

 

[Karl Malone's Elbows]

I just don't think Nic Batum will ever be a Scottie Pippen. That's hardly an absurd stance.

That's not an absurd stance at all.


I personally think Batum will be a Pippen-like player in the same way Kobe is a Jordan-like player. I don't think that's an absurd stance either.

 

[MickZagger]

Pippen's story is pretty amazing actually. He was a 6' walk-on at a NAIA school (just above juco, way below the NCAA) and grew to 6'8 by his senior year. He had an amazing tourney and got drafted fifth by the OKC Thunder, err....something like that.

I've heard the Pippen story, its pretty good one. The Sonics made one of their greatest trades in history, trading him to Chicago for the great Olden Polynice.

 

[Karl Malone's Elbows]

I've heard the Pippen story, its pretty good one. The Sonics made one of their greatest trades in history, trading him to Chicago for the great Olden Polynice.

Just trying to emphasize your point. At 20 years old Pippen was a 6'4 sophomore struggling for minutes on a talent starved team. One bad game, or ten bad games from Batum doesn't ruin his potential as a prospect.

 

[PapaG]

That's not an absurd stance at all.


I personally think Batum will be a Pippen-like player in the same way Kobe is a Jordan-like player. I don't think that's an absurd stance either.

I think that's an absurd stance.

 

[WillG]

I don't think seeing Batum as an 'Pippen like player' is absurd. he's still but just a pup in terms of his career.
He has all the tools to be a very special player, and I hope he's a Blazer for years and years to come.

 

[PapaG]

I don't think seeing Batum as an 'Pippen like player' is absurd. he's still but just a pup in terms of his career.
He has all the tools to be a very special player, and I hope he's a Blazer for years and years to come.

I've yet to see any reason to think that Batum can even dribble the ball from the perimeter into the lane within a set offense, let alone run the point, defend players from Magic Johnson to Clyde Drexler to John Stockton to Gary Payton to Kobe Bryant, and intiate an NBA championship offense.

I just can't believe the expectations put on the young players here.

 

[alex42083]

I love Nicolas' game, but he's going to be more Tayshaun in his career IMO, filling in a nice role and will make highlight plays defensively. I don't think he'll be a vocal leader on the floor like Pip, and be able to play extended minutes as a point forward. But, I'm still a big fan of Nicolas and can't wait to see what he'll be like in a couple years.

 

[Minstrel]

I think the Pippen comparisons are rather off. His offensive game shows no similarity to Pippen's. Pippen had point guard skills in a slashing wing's body. Right now, it's anyone's guess what Batum's offensive game is going to be, but assuming point guard skills would be a huge stretch.

Defensively, there are similarities in terms of his defensive versatility, but even a rookie Pippen (who was older than Batum, to be fair) had a stronger frame. Also, Pippen not only had defensive versatility in his man defense, he had the (unique, IMO) all-court defensive ability to rove and disrupt, which came from a combination of instincts, athleticism and intelligence. Pippen was the only non-big man I've ever seen who had the ability to disrupt the team offense of opponents, not just lock down his own man. Batum shows signs of the man defense that Pippen had, but not the team defense and, again, it would be a huge stretch to project it as I haven't seen it from any perimeter player other than Pippen.

My upside projection for Batum is Gerald Wallace (he'll need to add muscle) and my mean expectation for him is Tayshaun Prince. At worst, I think he'll be Mickael Pietrus (the French nationality is coincidence!).