http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/9/27/1056778/nic-batum-interview What was your mindset coming into your first playoffs? Indeed I didn´t have a good mindset. That´s why I failed. I played like I do in a regular season game, whereas the intensity increases 100%. It´s totally crazy. You get banged, it´s hyper-physical. But I learned a lot, especially about the toughness that I have to bring to my play. Even the referees make calls differently. What was Portland missing that kept them from advancing from the first round? We suffered a lot from our inexperience. We got off to a bad start in the playoffs, from the first game, letting Houston beat us by 20. That finally got us going. After that all games were close, except the sixth one. Are you disappointed by the lack of confidence shown by your coach, who gave you less playing time during the playoffs? No, it´s normal since I didn´t have good games. I didn´t play well, so I spent more time on the bench, simple enough. I didn´t talk with McMillan after our elimination. He said me it was no big deal, that I´m still young, that it was only my first playoffs. He told me I should typically start in spite of Webster´s return. How do you evaluate your first NBA season? It was good. I´m satisfied, regardless of any highs and lows. I´m happy about my playing time and starting 76 games. Best of all, I´m on a winning team. Collectively things are very good, too: 54 wins during the regular season, that was something unexpected at the start of the season for such a young team. After a full season I´m still amazed by this league. It’s still a dream. To play in the NBA is huge — terrific! I don´t regret having left France, I’m privileged. How do you explain your quick success? I work a lot — a ton. There´s no secret, you have to work. What is the main difference between the basketball you played in France and the NBA? The physicality. In France when a big guy eaves the court a smaller guy replaces him. In the NBA the big guy is replaced by another big one. Everything goes faster, the guards jump higher, it´s more intense and more physical. What players have impressed you most? Definitely Dwyane Wade. He´s very strong. After him, face to face, Lebron James. He´s fast, powerful, intelligent, unselfish. He´s a real basketball player — totally complete. On top of that, during the game I defended him he put 34 points on — normal for him. That game remains my worst memory of the season. What´s your best memory? My 20 points against New Jersey in March. I made the basket that sealed the win in the last seconds of the game when we were only up by one point. It gave me an adrenaline high — 20.000 people shouting, making noise, for you and only you. What things do you need to work on? I must work on my physique, improve my shot and my game as a whole, so I can be a complete player. The Blazers have sent me a workout program for this summer. I´ve had three weeks of vacation. I´ve done some strengthening work and really carried out that program. Since mid June I´ve been working on my shot at Dallas with Alexis Ajinça and Mickaël Gelabale. I had three shot sessions each day. Nate McMillan wanted me to work my shot and dribble but don’t want me to bulk up a lot. He told me: You are good like your are. If you bulk a lot you´ll be in danger of losing your agility, especially on defense. When a guy like him, a two time All-NBA defender (1994-1995 with Seattle), tells you something like that, you listen. What are your goals for the next year? On the personal level, I want to continue working on defense and to be more involved in the offense, specially taking more shots. As a group, the goal is to finish second in the West and to make the Conference Finals. That´s the objective we, the players, established before we went on vacation. We discussed before we parted ways. I know we can do it. Everybody on the team knows what we have to do. Our team is complete, there´s a good coach, a good staff, and good management. Our strengths are our youth and our crowd. On our court it´s always something crazy. What do you daydream about? I dream about a title. I dream about being an All-Star someday. I establish deadlines: to be a Champion within 5 years, All-Star in the next 3 or 4. It maybe seems crazy but you must be ambitious if you want to improve. I can´t work if I don´t have a certain goal I have to reach. That´s why I set high objectives. I don’t dream of playing on a marquee team. Of course i would like to play for Chicago, Lakers, Celtics or Spurs, but that´s not necessarily one of my goals. What i want now is to win the championship with Portland, help the Trail Blazers to be a great team again, instead of going away to one of those franchises.
It makes a lot of sense really. I would think most players from overseas hear a lot about Boston, LA and Chicago. SA was mentioned because of Tony Parker, and the press he and SA probably get in France.
Batum's comments I take as playing for a franchise with title history Chicago - Jordan/Pippen Lakers - Shaq/Kobe Boston - KG/Pierce Spurs - Duncan/Parker All were at one time dynasties.
The kid has a great attitude. No sense of entitlement. He realizes that it's up to him to work hard and get better if he wants more minutes and a bigger role in the offense. I especially liked this part: Rather than bitch about PT, he (very maturely) took responsibility for his own shortcomings and accepted the coach's decision. Most people only include Roy, Aldridge and Oden when talking about our young core, but I think Nic will eventually be included in that group. He has the potential to become 1st or 2nd team all-defense - as does Oden. If you look back at the last 25 NBA champions, you will notice one thing, they almost all had one of two things - a dominant big man and/or two (or more) players on the 1st and 2nd all-defensive teams. Even the Jordan Bulls, who lacked a dominant big man usually had 2 or 3 players on the all-defense teams (Jordan, Pippen, Grant/Rodman). With Oden clogging up the middle, and a lockdown perimeter defender, the Blazers would be almost impossible to beat in the post season. Defense and rebounding wins titles. We already have the rebounding - and the potential to also have the championship caliber defense. With Roy and Aldridge around, I'm not worried about the offense. We have plenty of weapons there. I think the key to winning a championship will be the defensive development of Oden and Batum. I can't wait to see how much they have improved in their sophomore seasons - and beyond. BNM
