Batums' lack of consistency and a quick first step (ala Durant, LeBron) will always hinder his game from going to an elite level. I like him as a 3rd or 4th option, but I have feeling he's going to be looking for a huge payday that he hasn't earned.
^ This guy gets it He's a 3rd option at best on a true contender. If you get deep into the playoffs teams can easily game plan to shut him down. Sorry
I hardly consider Aldridge a true #1. He's more of a #2 to me, and if I have him as a #2 there's no fucking way I'm putting Batum as a #2 as well. A prime Pau Gasol was a #2 on the Lakers when he was arguably the best post player in the NBA Stats and advanced stats don't determine where you sit in this conversation. A player is not a #1 or #2 or a superstar based on his PER. Sorry, will never buy the PER argument.
So basically this forum is trying to say Aldridge is a #1 and Batum is a #2? You're telling me this franchise has its cornerstones in place and just needs to build around them? These are the two guys to lead the Blazers to a championship? Aldridge and Batum? Does anyone buy that?
I do with the right coach and role players. We need shooters to surround Aldridge. We need a PG that can run a defense and hit some outside shots. Even a Calderon will make this team sooo much better.
Which is why I said we need a PG. That is our major missing piece right now. We just don't have anyone we can trust to run the offense.
roytoy makes some interesting points though, if lma was a true #1, and batum was a true #2, the blazers should probably be winning more games than they are losing, crawford, crash, camby, and wes are decent role players around a true #1 and #2 if a league average pg is the solution, they should have just fucking kept andre (and faried/hamilton for that matter)
We all know that the NBA has become a perimeter oriented game. This team is still shy a facilitator that anybody should trust. Maybe LMA and Batum aren't a true number 1 and number 2, (I'd probably call them a 1.5 and a 2.5 if we want to put this on some kind of numerical scale). But the real issue is that this team still needs some kind of efficient ball-handler/shot creator and they desperately need some depth/athleticism across the rest of the roster. Felton has been a colossal flop, Wallace is too inconsistent or doesn't quite fit (and doesn't appear to be aging gracefully). Camby is as old as dust and looks it more and more, Crawford is playing way out of position as a starting 1 when he should really only be a second unit shot maker, and add 4 years of busted drafted picks (with maybe Elliot Williams an exception, but it's still too early to tell) and the team is what it is.
I don't know how many people are saying Batum is a "#2 option" right now. It seemed that most were saying he's a #2 option on a good team or a #3 option on a great team in his prime, which means with some improvement. Also, numbering players as options, in terms of player evaluation, ignores defense, which is a big part of a player's value.
The point is that making him a starter hasn't made us any better. It has made no impact. We've actually been kind of worse.
LA/Batum can be 1/2 options and can be the corner stones of this franchise for the next 10 years. They will still need a PG who knows what he is doing otherwise it becomes easy to plan how to stop just 2 players on the other team when neither is a primary ball handler.
Batum lovers want to hear something scary? Reading a Timberwolves forum and supposedly Batum is target #1 for David Kahn this off-season. Does the thought of Kahn throwing money at Batum scare any of you? Are you sweating a little bit?
