Casey Holdahl: "Batum's New Attitude"

You realize he shot 37% from beyond the arc and posted an overall FG% of 46 percent last year right?

He certainly isn't some kind of sharp shooter, high volume scorer, but he's pretty goddamn efficient for a 19 year old rook who played 18 minutes per game.

 

Those are good signs. But to be effective, you actually have to take some shots. I am hoping we see that this season. He definitly seemed much more agressive on the offensive end of the court at the scrimmage.

 

I agree that things might change if he's given a larger share of the responsibility to score, but for a rookie that was expected to spend his season in Boise, he definitely showed he was ahead of expectations, factor in the way he played over the summer in the European championships and his (supposedly) much more aggressive offensive game so far in training camp I think he's primed for a big jump in growth.

I'll be clear though, I don't expect some massive jump in per game numbers because I think at best he'll probably be a 25 minutes a night kind of player, but I think it's reasonable to see his efficiency on offense continue and to also see a modest uptick in his usage rate. My best guess is that he'll average somewhere in the neighborhood of 9-10 points per game, 3-4 rebounds and continue to show off his ability to block shots and generate steals.

 

Batum look very good last night. Better than Webster in that game.