Last night Mike Rice commented that Nic is not a good finisher at the rim. I was quite surprised by that statement, because I thought that Nic was money when he got to the rim. Other than a couple of exceptions in the last 3-4 games, I thought that Nic nearly always finished when he got to the rim. Am I just blinded by my man crush on Nic, or was the wild one drinking too much last night? Go Blazers
According to this post, over the previous 5 game span, Batum missed or was blocked on 7 of 11 layup/dunk attempts. I think Rice pays better attention than we think.
I think Batum will be a great finisher. He has length, long arms and some hop to him. But he is young and frequently looks lost if he is running the break and looking to either finish or pass. I think once he figures out spacing and adjusting speeds, he will be tough to stop when he is charging at the rim . . . last night I thought he did a much better job of finishing around the rim compared to the few games prior.
Yeah, I agree that very recently he's been less than stellar finishing at the rim, but over the course of the season, I thought he was very good doing that. Maybe I'm just a homer. Go Blazers
I think most would consider Roy a good finisher, comparing him with Batum according to 82games stats on shot selection is easy enough. Roy: http://www.82games.com/0910/09POR7.HTM Batum: http://www.82games.com/0910/09POR9.HTM So on close shots(layups mostly) Nic is shooting an eFG% of 63.6% to Roy's 62.4%, dunks are 90% to Roy's 100%, and tip ins are 60% to 57.1%, all pretty close. Those numbers are of course over the whole season so maybe he has had a noticeable slump lately, but that just means that before the slump he was even out 'finishing' Roy. Even NBA.com's hotspots has Nic shooting 53-76 on the year at the rim 69.7%, to Roy's 61.9%.
He does! And I think maybe Rice thinks Nic needs to get stronger. In the open court he is great, but when things are bunched up down low, he gets knocked off balance pretty easy.
If I saw this about two guys on another team, my thought would be that the two players finish the same. But being a Blazer fan, if it is about driving to the rim and finishing, in spite of the stats, Roy is much better than Nic right now. I've never been much of a stat guy. Maybe the stats don't factor in that Roy takes it to the hoop a lot more and under much more difficult circumstances (the whole defense is focused on him) whereas Nic is cutting and gets the pass if he is open. I don't think tip ins is really about finishing around the hoop, but that is subjective. Really I can't explain the stats, but I swear Roy is a better finisher.
He just needs to curb that pussy shit and throw it down instead. Dude has the hops and the length, but doesn't dunk nearly as often as he should. I love his underhanded finger roll when it goes in, though.
“Batum is a guy I’m afraid of,” Nuggets acting coach Adrian Dantley said. “A lot of people don’t know a lot about him. He’s a good defender, and you’ve got to be aware of him shooting the basketball.”
Nic is the one I'm most worried about in the playoffs. He only played 10 mpg in the playoffs last season and will be asked to do a lot more than last year. He looked very nervous and not ready for prime time in our most recent game in Denver.
Gonna have to disagree with the wild one here. Ya, I'll admit, he's had some fast break layups blocked or missed LATELY. Uhh..scouting reports? But when that happened I was fuckin shocked! Why was I shocked? Because Batum is normally fucking MONEY when it comes to finishing on the fast break. MONEY. In fact, there was a lot of times this season when I saw the defender comin from behind and thought there's no way Batum finishes this off going full speed at the rim like he was...actually I thought he was about to get taken out Rudy/Ariza style...but his body control is amazing. KEEP!
I like how he attacks the rim. He tries to dunk anything close and on anybody in his way. He's only 21, too.
yeah "A New Frechman" and "The Frenchie Strikes Back" were good, i'm still waiting for "Return of the Frechman"
