I view Batum as our SF of the future but he's just not ready yet. He's a liability on offense, but I love the intangibles he brings already. He's just not ready yet, bottom line. Travis Outlaw is a nice spark off the bench and has been hitting the three with consistency. But he still makes bone headed plays and forces shots. His low basketball IQ shows at times. Martell is much needed right now.
22 on December 4th. Still quite young, but his development has been stagnant so far. I still have significant hopes of a break-out for him this year.
It would be great it if happened. I am certain that at least one of these 3 is going to be a quality NBA SF starter. My gut tells me it will be Batum - but nothing would please me more than it being Webster.
How about Rudy and Webster on the floor at the same time.....with an Oden that has wind and is confident? Yikes. But over all, I agree. Webster is going to be a great "addition."
Webster = overrated. The team isn't really missing him right now. That's the thing that KP is finding out during this brutal stretch without Martell.
That's nonsense, he certainly could have contributed more to the team than Batum tonight and most every night.
Although I cannot help but nearly bow to you when I see the avatar of 'The Dude' ... I have to disagree. Batum is ready, now. Needs to play, now. Needs to start, now. Needs 25 minutes a game, now. Is better then Martell, now. Batum is no joke and should not be taken lightly. I am not drunk.
I think the 20 minute a night role he's been given/earned is perfect. He gets to play and learn in the non crunch time quarters, which lessens some of the pressure and the mistakes that rookies typically make when the game speeds up -- Batum cutting to the ball the other night in the final seconds of the game against Miami and then getting fouled, when a better foul shooter should have received the inbounds pass comes to mind, and picking up a lot of touch fouls seems to have been an issue at times for Nicolas. I do agree Batum is probably the 3 of the future, but I am curious to see what Martell can do when he comes back from the foot injury; at this point I think the battle is between he and Travis (and maybe Channing too?) to see who sticks with the team and who is traded.
5-4 against the toughest schedule thus far. I don't hate Webster; I just don't see him fitting in as a starter when Batum develops or off of the bench due to his limited ability to create his own shot. Me saying KP is figuring out that the team doesn't need Martell is me "hating" Martell? Shaky and irrational logic there, Chris.
I think that Frye could be the one whose time will be cut when Marty is back - with Outlaw seeing more time at the 4. Of course, the entire complex of the team could change around the trade deadline. I can't imagine KP sitting on Raef's expiring contract and not making a move to consolidate.
While Batum has had a couple of good games, he has had a lot more lately where he is looking like an inexperienced rookie. There have been so many situations where having a guy with experience who would not make a bad decision would have been beneficial. Also I can easily say at this point that Martells outside shooting completely beats Batums hands down. Lastly, why are you kicking a guy when he is down? It sure is pretty easy to beat on a guy on the IR list isn't it?
Honestly, I do no think that saying that Webster is overrated is kicking him down. Webster is a below average starter in this league - and anyone that says otherwise is overrating him. But, he is very young and has improved (on the defensive end of the floor, not the offense) since his rookie year. It is clear that the team thinks he was worth around $5m per year - what we need to find out is if they thought he was worth it as a long-term rotation player or a trade-bait. Time will tell. I hope for him and the Blazers that he comes back blazing and makes the jump this year. Honestly, at $5m per year - we need him to make a big jump and become an average starter - because he will be paid like one.
there were plenty of posters saying the same things during last season. So far he's been pretty underwhelming as a Blazer... nothing special in any facet of the game and not so great at others. Sure he might someday figure it out and be a real player, but predicting that he'll be huge for us later this year seems wishful thinking as it's been very rare for him to significantly impact a game in a positive way. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that Martell is going to be mediocre for us when he comes back STOMP
if he can be an improvement over batum, it will only make us better. one thing is for CERTAIN. one of martell or outlaw is out of here.
