If Darius had the outside shot that Nicolas has...hell, if Darius had an outside shot period, he would've been unstoppable.
I'm a huge Batum fan. I'm glad KP was hesitant to throw him in on any trades near the deadline. I think his ceiling is Pippen-esque, and he's got the attitude to get there.
KP praises anyone that plays for the Blazers. Let's see how Batum reacts in the regular season first.
You hate that don't you. That's the only way I know how to post pics. Is below this window in the Manage Attachments section. I don't know how to post bigger photos.
Batum did a nice job filling in for Martell. He'll do a nice job backing him up next season. International qualifiers aren't quite as bad as summer league. But they're no kind of indication of NBA success.
Seriously, how does MW enjoy such blind support? None of his 3 seasons stack up to Nic's rookie year. Offensively meh... maybe, but all around it's a landslide in NB's favor. Hopefully Martell can be productive in spot minutes. We'll see... STOMP
I'm not sure it's a landslide if Batum holds any advantage at all. If Martell stays healthy. Look out. I think he is ready. One year away from the game, in limbo, with plenty of idle of time will drive you nuts. Taking that into consideration plus the progress he made the year before that. I think he is ready to make his name.
I guess one of the blinding things is that MW effectively relegated Travis to a bench role, playing bench minutes in a defined manner. Batum, while starting, played 18mpg (10 in the playoffs) while Travis kept up his 27 or 28mpg clip. However, it was the distribution of those minutes. In 07-08 (with Webster there), Travis played 10% of the team's minutes at SF, while 44% of the team's minutes at PF. In 08-09, the % were 37 and 19. Already discussed in this thread is Travis' ability to take slower PFs outside and help the team space the floor. At PF, his PER vs. PERAgainst is 23 to 19.9. He's not a world-beater on D, but more than makes up for that by being able to get his. At the SF position (where he played 37% of the team's minutes) his PER vs PERA is 14.1 to 17.2. That's comparable (slightly worse) to Webster's 13.9-to-16.6 ratio in 48% of the team's minutes at SF in 2007-08. Batum didn't stop Nate from playing Outlaw at the SF for a large chunk of minutes, to the team's detriment. Webster did. Maybe Nate's comfort with Webster vs. Batum was a factor in that. Maybe LMA and Frye made it so that, if Travis wanted to see the floor, it was at the SF position and at Batum's expense. (Batum, BTW, was better than both with a 14.8-to-16.4 ratio). I think it'd be great to have a 5-man rotation of Miller/Roy/Rudy/Webster/Batum at the 1,2 and 3. I don't think that's happening, though. I'd love to see Nic show off some of the offense we saw at Le Mans and the French team this summer. I'd love to see what Webs can do after a year off. I'm quite excited.
we've had several threads on this. In their respective rookie years Batum had a 12.9 PER while Martell had an 11.6. Webster improved all the way to a 12.0 PER by his 3rd year in the league... if Martell stays healthy and keeps improving at this rate he'll only need 3-4 more seasons to reach those lofty heights though here's guessing Nic's #'s won't stay put. Are you aware they have the same career 3pt%? But of course PER is only a comprehensive measure of offensive effectiveness. Factor in the other half of the game and the spread between the two players widens considerably. Batum was easily the best wing defender I've seen in Portland in years... maybe since PIP. Though I truly wish it wasn't the case, Martell has not been a good defender... I'd have to slip on a set of thick rose colored glasses to consider him average. After a lot of talk from him about steppiing it up on that end of the court prior to his 3rd season, unfortunately he continued to get torched. Thats why by midseason 2007-8 KP would site adding a quality wing defender as a top team need in every interview he gave. In the run up to the draft same thing, and then he traded up for Batum. I'd be very surprised if Martell beat out Nicolas for the starting spot. STOMP
I'd be surprised if he doesn't beat him out. If he doesn't that means we truly do have something special here with Nicolas. But frankly, I don't think Nic is quite there yet
Watching that first highlight clip reminded me of how much better Batum played at home than the road. It was more noticeable with Batum than anyone this season.
Nico was my favorite player last season. The sky is the limit for this kid. I have a higher opinion of Martell than most on this board (I think) but Martell is going to have to do quite a bit to get more floor time than Nico. But that's the great thing about it. This Portland team is seriously stacked, and on the verge of being mature in their development, and a playoff force. Whatever our "second" unit ends up being next season, I'd put them up against half the teams in the NBA. I love being a Blazers fan.
As I said above, the competition at three spot is going to be awfully interesting if the reports coming from KP are true.
It's fair to say that quite a few posters here don't think that Martell has shown to be anything special. As one of those posters, I don't think it's some great sign to beat someone like that out. If (as expected) Nic is named the starter, I'd put it down as by default. So far his play hasn't been that special either, but it has been decidedly better then MW's. just for reference, a 15 PER is an average NBA starter. STOMP
