I love Batum also. I love our core. Before the year all I knew for sure were we had our SG, PF and C of the future... but as the season went on, I really feel like we have our PG and SF of the future right now also. I think they can grow together and be lethal! Which is why I don't mind if we don't trade before the deadline and work on finishing out the roster with vets in the offseason... Even though a bench of... Blake, Rudy, Webster, Outlaw and Pryz is REALLY good if we can keep them together.
exactly! i remember being intruiged by his potential, and stating anything he could give us this year would be pure gravy. gravy baby!!
Definitly. Tonight isn't the first time that Nate pulled the old Phil Jackson trick out of the bag and put Batum on a PG. You could also tell that after they made the switch in the 2nd half, that Williams wasn't quite sure how to deal with him, and became much more tentative.
I, too, had very low expectations after summer league. Seemed to be a player with oodles of "potential" but no actual skills. How many have we seen come through... and amount to nothing? It is great to be so wrong in this case! iWatas
After the Cleveland game and last night's Utah game, can there be any doubt that Batum is our best perimeter defender?
Isn't it usually the other way around, though, that those who do and look good in summer league (a la Quentel) turn out to be such disappointments? But I agree, it is so supremely rightous to see a young rookie kid with so much raw potential develop in front of your eyes. Way to go Nico! How sweet it is! JAFO
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
