Batum

I'm starting to think Batum was a much bigger piece than we thought.

 

Defense, defense, defense.

He could defend 1's, 2's, and 3's.

That's what we're missing.

 

In hindsight maybe Ime would have been the better choice at the 15th spot.

 

20 minutes of above average defense wouldn't help us much.

 

Huh, you don't think being able to put Batum on a hot player like Ariza or Carmelo during a critical point in the game would make much difference?

I think Roy pointed out the true problem last night. Not word for word but something on the lines of "guys need to quite worrying about getting theirs (shots/points)". I'm assuming Webster and Travis got their asses chewed last night because they were more concerned about scoring than playing defense. With Batum you didn't have to worry about getting him shots he played tough defense and gave you the intangibles that you need to win games.

 

No, his defense is overrated.

Travis maybe, Webster not so much. He only took three shots last night before getting pulled for some reason. But yeah, Batum's overrated.

 

Webster was pulled because of defense.

Batum is missed.

 

I'm not sure what you were watching, Martell wasn't playing bad defense at all...Nate's rotation last night was retarded. Andre was playing well and Blake wasn't AT ALL and yet Miller played less minutes...

 

Webster wasn't playing bad defense at all, he was just pulled in favor of Travis. (So it couldn't be defense)

 

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/10/houston_111_-_portland_107_lac.html


When it comes to perimeter defense no one on this team holds a candle to Batum. He's easily better than everyone else.

 

And the player he got pulled for.......

Nate clearly didn't know what the hell he was doing last night.

 

He had two crappy defenders at SF. He went with one over the other, who cares.

He wishes he had his starting SF.

 

Why does everyone think that batum would have only gotten 20 minutes this year? I imagine his minutes would have increased a bit at least splitting time with Webster.

 

Yep, we could use a defensive-minded wing player right now.

 

Last year Batum only averaged 18 minutes a game with no Webster. Now you add Webster and Batums minutes are reduced unless you bench Rudy.

 

Outlaw stops playing SF, and Webster gets Batum's scraps. No reason for it to affect Rudy.

 

Even if Batum's overrated (which he's not) he's easily our best perimeter defender. Putting him in instead of Webster, Roy or Travis would have made a difference in one or two of those losses (IMO).

 

.....and Outlaw is better?

.....and is that why Nate was chewing Outlaws ass for leaving his man open?