On the old imtrailblzaersfan.com Blog, I have been critical of Batum even prior to the Blazers getting hosed on the RFA deal.
Well, congratulations to you on being consistent - consistently wrong.
You started your post with a false premise without any facts to back it up.
Here's some facts for you:
Portland did not get "hosed on the RFA Deal". The season before Nic signed the deal, he was 46th in the league in scoring. The contract made him the 49th highest player in the league. And, this is for a player whose primary strength is not scoring. He was paid fair market value at the time of the signing and has been a relative bargain since. If anyone got hosed, it was Minnesota. They put in the time and effort to determine Batum's fair market value and then got absolutely nothing out of it. Ask Minnesota how not getting Batum worked out for them.
Yeah, Nic is in a shooting slump right now, but that's hardly a reason to dump the guy. He does so many more things that helps this team win. Last season, Nic was tied for 16th in the entire NBA in defensive rebounds. The only other small forward to make the top 20 was a guy named Durant. Yeah, we'd all love to have him, but Kevin Durant is not walking through that door.
Nic was also 13th in the entire league in VORP (Value Above Replacement Player) last season. Good luck finding anyone in the top 12 that's available and makes less money.
Nic averaged 7.5 rpg and 5.1 apg game last season. There were only two other players in the entire league last season that averaged over 7 rpg and 5 apg. They were Kevin Durant and Joakim Noah.
With the addition of Kaman, Nic's rebounding is down from last season, but he's still averaging 5.6 rpg and a career high 5.2 apg. He's one of only 5 players in the entre league average over 5.5 rpg and 5 apg. The others are James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Rajon Rondo and Michael Carter-Williams. Nic is also averaging a career high 1.3 spg.
And, we haven't even touched on his defense. The ability to put him on PGs during the 4th quarter of close games has won us multiple games this season.
Yeah, he's in a shooting slump right now and his scoring is down. Sure, we could find someone who could score more from the starting SF position, but they'd just be taking shots away from Aldridge, Lillard and Matthews. Good luck finding someone who scores more AND does all the other things Nic does that helps this team win. And, in case you haven't noticed, this team has done a whole lot of winning we "got hosed on the RFA deal".
I used to get persecuted for stating my opinion about his inconsistent play when the facts only concluded he played when we wanted to play.
WTF does that even mean???? What "facts" conclude "he played only when he wanted to play"? Since he signed that deal, he played 73 games at 38.5 MPG followed by 82 games at 36.0 mpg. He also averaged 41.7 mpg during the playoffs last season. Sounds like he played a whole lot of minutes, whether he wanted to or not.
He also showed up big time in the playoffs last season when he averaged 15.2 ppg, 7.6 rpg and 4.8 apg. Not bad for a 4th option. No way we win that Houston series without Nic.
I guess what bothers me most about his play are a couple of things:
1. He disappears and no one knows where his game goes;
2. He is extremely inconsistent in his play.
It's not really a "couple of things". You said the same thing twice, and it's not his game that's inconsistent, it's his scoring that comes and goes. You get the rebounding, passing and defense on a nightly basis.
If it comes down to Batum over Wes, the Team better keep Wes and let Batum ride off into the sunset. But of course trade him to Minnesota where he really wanted to go and play with Ricky Rubio.
Why wouldn't we keep them both? We will hold their Bird Rights and can resign them for as much as we want regardless of the cap situation. And please, stop with the rhetoric. Who, exactly, is Minnesota going to trade us that would help us win more right now than Nicolas Batum? If you're going to suggest nonsensical trade ideas, at least fill in the other half of the equation.
BNM
