Wall, Turner and Favors would not be available at 4. Cousins is high risk high reward at a position we don't need. The rest do not project higher than Batum IMO.
Well, one probably wouldn't start. My guess would be that the finals MVP & 3-time all-star would get the nod. Miller off the bench is OK, as long as he's not the better player. Or perhaps Miller's expiring contract would be a tradeable asset that some team would be interested in. I don't know. What I do know is that given the choice, I would take Parker/Brewer over Rudy/Batum.
If they would have added Rublio (or whatever the hell is name is) into the deal, I'd have done it in a heart beat. We would start Cunningham and not so much have skipped a beat, pick up two probable quality players to boot for the loss of a good, but redundent, SF on a team stacked with them. That would have been the "pritch slap" that saved his job.
I put players like Rudy and Sergio maybe because the potential they showed their rookie years. And then falling off. Hoping they would regain that form they showed. LMA I cant really throw into that because honestly before this year we probably didnt want him traded, so not sure he has had a chance to do so. (unless you mean money wise) Bayless I'm not so sure on, how has he shown he overvalue him?
Yes he is. When we played small ball, Nate sometimes used him at the four, but he's an NBA three. Nate's talked about him as a three and he has played some there when LA was in the game. I like Batum. He's a young player with some good upside that has not been realized yet- and may or may not be realized. Cunningham is a different type of player, but the same upside. To get this year's #4 and Rublio for a duplicate SF off our team would, to me, be a coup.
I like Cunningham a lot as a glue role player.. and maybe he can be a three.. but he does NOT have the same Upside Batum does IMO.
Thanks for posting that. Minnesota didn't seem to be trying hard in that game, but you can just see in that clip why he's worth the #4 pick. Great shooting, clever passing, excellent finisher. Didn't even show his defense, except for the one block. I know it sounds crazy, but Batum may have a higher upside than Brandon Roy. He doesn't have anything close to Roy's handle or coordination around the rim, but he's four years younger and already is a much better shooter and defender. I'll be pretty disappointed if he gets traded in a package for anything short of a Roy-level talent.
Cunningham does not have the same upside as Batum. And Cunningham is not able to defend most NBA SF's. I've never been a Rubio fan, and that hasn't changed. He's more of a drama queen than Rudy.
To me, it's hard to judge as they are such differnt types of players. Batum is a thin slasher type who possesses a very good outside shot. He plays good positional defense and uses his length to tip and deflect a lot. He can't finish (unless it's an uncontested shot) or play in traffic and is easily dominated by stronger players. My mother could post him up in the key. Cunninham is a physical player who has a great mid range shot and can play well in traffic. He defends better inside than Batum, but not outside. Since they are 100% opposites (in general) it's hard to measure their development as players side by side. For me, I just prefer the stronger and more physical players on this team. Slasher types seem to disappear in games more and they also seem m ore inconsistent. We're fortunate, for now, to have both of them. Since both are NBA starter material, one will eventually have to go. I suspect it will be Cunningham.
While I'm generally for what BP is proposing, I have a couple of caveats. One: I really, really like Rubio. I think he may be an All-NBA PG. I don't know if he'd give Nate an aneurysm, or if Nate would choke him out first. 50-50, in my book. Two: I also have a hard time saying no to a Rubio+4 for Batum deal. Three: But LOL at Dante Cunningham starting over Rudy or Webster at the 3. When the kid gets 10 minutes a game (or even 2mpg at SF), then we'll see if he works out well enough to get more minutes. Survey right now says "X". Four: Take Johnson if he's available (I'm still not super-sold on him), or Cousins if you don't think Oden's going to be the Man going forward (personally, I do). Five: If we don't keep the 4...swap with NJ (or PHI, if they end up taking Turner, which I doubt) to get Turner. This year we have Miller/Roy/Turner/LMA/Oden, and next year we put Rubio in there.
That's crazy talk. So far Cunningham has shown that off the bench he can hit jump shots at a pretty efficient rate and play passable defense. He has yet to make a single NBA three pointer. He logged only 11 mpg, on a team whose starting SF was injured for most of the year. Batum has shown a much better handle, is a much better finisher, and has a deadly three point shot. Batum often covers the other team's starting point guard. Batum is also a year younger. I like Cunningham. But I'm not even sold that he'll ever be a consistent starter in this league. Batum stands a pretty good chance of making some All-Defense teams before he's done. Nobody ever says that about Cunningham.
I like Dante, don't get me wrong, but he's attempted exactly 2 NBA three pointers (and missed both), his handle is questionable and he lacks the lateral quickness to defend the elite 3s in the league and he is probably closer to being a finished product after 4 years of college. On the flipside you have a 21 year old player that shot 41% on threes 52% from the floor and guarded positions 1-4 because of his elite length and quickness, plus he sees the floor better, has a better handle and managed to garner All-NBA defense votes after only playing a half of a season. Dante is a great player to have off the bench to provide a nice pick and pop shot and he can play against backup 4s reasonably well, but he can't space the floor like Nic, he can't handle the ball like Nic and he can't guard as many players as Nic. ps. if he has just as much upside and is functionally equivalent to Nic then why aren't other GMs demanding that he be thrown in as a part of a potential trade?
Hmm. We have this report, and we also have a report about how Batum was included in the proposed 4-for-2 trade for Chris Paul. What does it all mean?
