Not an absolute certainty, but probably a near certainty. High flyers without much of a jumper have not historically aged really well. There's always exceptions, but GW hasn't exactly been the picture of durability over his 11 years in the league and he's take a ton of spills to the floor ... and to the ER.
Our bench has sucked so far this season, and Batum has had a chance (and failed) to make an impact off the bench. He looks passive and weak on both ends.
The problem is, it's a continuation from last year, when he came off the bench for Wallace. He'd only assert himself every few games, and then be invisible.
Its seems like each year Batum spends part of the season finding exactly how his role with the team is going to work. When you factor in our ever changing line-ups the last few years and Batum's improvement overseas this summer Im not surprised that it will take him a little bit to get going. His 2nd half was much better.
Ironically though, when Batum plays aggressively like he did last night posting up Jimmer for example and when he is aggressive on the defensive end he reminds me a lot of Wallace. I cant help but wonder if Batum played major minutes with that intensity would he have the same impact on the game that Wallace does?
He can't take over a game like Wallace without attacking the boards harder and pushing the ball. I think he's got it in him, but I'd like to see him emulate Wallace in that aspect of his game.
Personally I think some of us have unrealistic expectation for guys coming off the bench. Very few are "micro waves" . It takes most longer to warm up. Thats why those who are used to starting HATE coming off the bench. As long as Batum does he is going to be inconsistent. He will disappear for times. Batum will defer to others who may be warmed up. Crawford is used to it. He needs to continue to come off the bench. The question in my mind is who to start between Batum and Wes. Who is better coming off the bench? Right now I am leaning to starting Batum at the SG spot and hoping Wes is better suited to coming off the bench. I think we need Batum's to be more of an offensive force and I think he may have to start in order to do so.
Thats like saying if Rasheed had the drive of Michael Jordan I wonder how good he would've been? It's irrelevant because thats not the player Batum is. People comparing Batum's struggles to "Lamarshmello" is laughable, LMA was scoring 20ppg in the playoffs and the second best player on this team since his sophmore season. Batums best playoff series he scored 8ppg. Batum has been no where close to the level of an underachieving Lamarcus. I thought Batum looked solid last night, and I love having him off the bench, but he still looks like a role player to me and not a possible cornerstone of a franchise.
He doesnt remind of LMA, he reminds me of Wallace, at times. And I agree he has a long way to go to be that player. His flashes simply show me that he has the tools to do it.
As much as I would love for us to start Batum at sg, I doubt it will happen. Just not nate's style. The only time you will see any major shake up is when we have a series of let down, like losing 4 or 5 in a row. What I do expect is seeing more of that Crawford, Batum, Wallace, lma, camby line-up. I think that will be used more.
It doesn't really matter if he starts or not, but he HAS to play at least 30 mpg. Watching Kurt, JCross, and even Chris Johnson coming in before him was criminal. Nate needs to realize that Nic can play multiple positions, and just because GW has it going, doesn't mean Nic can't play.
I love having Nico and Crash on the court together. I'm not so sure how well Crawchuck and Weschuck will coexist though. Teasing aside, they both are suited to come off the bench and look for their own shots, IMO. And since neither are SFs, Crawchuck becomes the point guard, which is not ideal.
