Minnesota wants Batum @ 11.25M a year

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  1. Fez Hammersticks

    Fez Hammersticks スーパーバッド Zero Cool

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    If a S&T were to happen I think Williams/TPE makes a ton of sense. We can flip that into something -- a SG upgrade perhaps?

    Batum is NOT worth $12.5m/per.
     
    Fez Hammersticks, Jul 4, 2012
    #461
  2. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    And what would that position be? I'm guessing 3, although his game is much more suited to 4. I sort of agree that he might make a solid backup 4, but unless Aldridge plays quite a few minutes at the 5, there's not many minutes for him. Especially if Freeland is (a) signed, and (b) worth playing more than about 10 mpg.

    Putting him at SF would be silly, I think, because it emphasizes his weaknesses and fails to exploit his strengths (i.e., his strength). His game is Blake Griffin-esque, from what I saw: face the basket PF who takes people off the dribble. Put him at SF and he'll just jack up threes.

    (a) Just about everybody in the league does
    (b) No he doesn't (see below)
    (c) Babbitt, Claver and Wes (our other SF candidates if Batum goes) are much MUCH better. And Claver and Wes are better defenders.

    Here are Williams' second-half-of-the-season stats, when the Wolves were obviously never going to make the playoffs and so had every incentive to play their prized rookie as much as possible:

    Code:
    Scoring Statistics
   Player           Pos  G M/Gm  FGm  FGa  PCT  3m  3a  PCT  FTm  FTA  PCT  AVG
 5 williams,derrick  PF 33 24.6  118  298 .396  26  92 .283   87  118 .737 10.6

Rebounding Statistics
   Player             AS AS/g  ST ST/G  TO TO/g  BK BK/g  TND  OR OR/g  TR TR/g
 5 williams,derrick   20  0.6  14  0.4  44  1.3  19  0.6  9.8  38 1.2  178  5.4
    As you can see, he shot a LOT of threes and was GOD-AWFUL. And his overall FG% is similarly dire.

    ...for a PF. Not for a wing.

    ...which we still haven't established. If it's PF, then he's pretty average. Perhaps his best use is posting up SFs, but then they'd burn him on the other end.

    That's sort of the problem. Jamison moved over to PF eventually, and put up numbers for perpetual underachievers.

    I'd prefer not to use minutes on a player like that instead of Barton (Wes can have more minutes at SF), Claver (SF) and Freeland (PF). Even Babbitt can at least HIT threes. Here are Babbitt's second-half stats, on a team with a one-game better record than Minny:

    Code:
    Scoring Statistics
   Player           Pos  G M/Gm  FGm  FGa  PCT  3m  3a  PCT  FTm  FTA  PCT  AVG
 9 babbitt,luke      SF 29 17.1   67  162 .414  41  95 .432   17   20 .850  6.6

          Rebounding Statistics
   Player             AS AS/g  ST ST/G  TO TO/g  BK BK/g  TND  OR OR/g  TR TR/g
 9 babbitt,luke       14  0.5   9  0.3  24  0.8   3  0.1  6.1  15 0.5   82  2.8
    In fact, for shits and giggles, let's compare Babbitt's and Williams's /48 stats over the second half:

    Code:
    Scoring Statistics
   Player            Min  Pts  Tnd/48  TC  EJ  FF  PF  DQ STA PTS/48
 5 williams,derrick  812  349   19.03   1   0   0  56   0  11  20.63
 9 babbitt,luke      497  192   17.22   0   0   0  43   0   4  18.54

          Rebounding Statistics
   Player            AS/48  ST/48  TO/48  BK/48  OR/48  TR/48
 5 williams,derrick    1.2    0.8    2.6    1.1    2.2   10.5
 9 babbitt,luke        1.4    0.9    2.3    0.3    1.4    7.9
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2012
    Rastapopoulos, Jul 4, 2012
    #462
  3. Fez Hammersticks

    Fez Hammersticks スーパーバッド Zero Cool

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    Williams is a PF, btw.

    An explosive, face-up, slashing PF. Decent size, too: 6'9" w/shoes || 9'0" reach.
     
    Fez Hammersticks, Jul 4, 2012
    #463
  4. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    If he's a PF, why is he shooting less than 40%?

    And can he play defense? Like, at all?

    Williams is one of those players that have to be superstar level at the thing they do well or they're pretty much useless (like Adam Morrison). Blame people like Charles Barkley and Allen Iverson who were exceptional for people keeping taking chances on them. They have to be stars at one thing to make up for their failings at everything else. He's below average at just about everything, though. Y'know - like Beasley.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2012
    Rastapopoulos, Jul 4, 2012
    #464
  5. Fez Hammersticks

    Fez Hammersticks スーパーバッド Zero Cool

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    Never found his grove in Minnesota. Playing out of position at SF or spot-minutes behind Love couldn't have been easy.

    The reason why I like the potential of trading for him is I think he'd fetch something nice. He has potential if used right.
     
    Fez Hammersticks, Jul 4, 2012
    #465
  6. Rhal

    Rhal Well-Known Member

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    I honestly do not know (seeing as I only was able to watch him play for a bit with the wolves and in college) if he has the athleticism for that spot. He doesn't seem to have the footwork for it, but it could be that he just isn't quick enough for it. If he is then I think he can be a fine 3 if he improves his footwork, at the moment he is very easy to get by from the perimeter. He isn't a prototypical 3 so you will have to adjust how you want people to play when he is on the floor ( a lot like we had to do with Wallace when he wasn't able to hit the side of a barn).
    If we do get him to flip Fez I think we need an upgrade at SF more then we would at SG.
     
    Rhal, Jul 4, 2012
    #466
  7. DaLincolnJones

    DaLincolnJones Well-Known Member

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    Very nice break down Rasta
     
    DaLincolnJones, Jul 4, 2012
    #467
  8. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    But playing being Aldridge would be easier?

    Seriously, couldn't you say that about every single player? And the trouble is, you have a team to think about, and better players who should be taking the shots that he'd need to "get into his comfort zone".
     
    Rastapopoulos, Jul 4, 2012
    #468
  9. Fez Hammersticks

    Fez Hammersticks スーパーバッド Zero Cool

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    I wouldn't keep Williams, I'd immediately look to package him with the TPE for an upgrade at SG.
     
    Fez Hammersticks, Jul 4, 2012
    #469
  10. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    I would have that deal ready before the trade. In fact, make it a three way, so Williams never even has to pretend to be a Trail Blazer. But what GM is going to take a player that even David Kahn is offloading?
     
    Rastapopoulos, Jul 4, 2012
    #470
  11. Pinwheel1

    Pinwheel1 Well-Known Member

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    NO official offer has been made to Batum by Minnesota. Why do you think that is? Are they going to wait until the very last second before they let the Blazers know what the offer is? What offer could possibly catch the Blazers off guard by doing so? Maybe we will know in the next couple of days, but it seems odd that they have not made an official offer yet. I doubt a sign and trade is the reason.
     
    Pinwheel1, Jul 4, 2012
    #471
  12. The_Lillard_King

    The_Lillard_King Westside

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    Watching ESPN last night, the scroll on the bottom said Wolves offer 4 yr 45M dollar to Batum
     
    The_Lillard_King, Jul 4, 2012
    #472
  13. Chuck Taylor

    Chuck Taylor BATUUUM SHAKKA LAKKA!

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    My thinking here is: why are we waiting for Minnesota to sign him to an offer sheet? Olshey said a big reason in not signing Nic during the season was so they could have more $ to spend this summer and then go over the cap to sign Nic. We can still offer Nic a better deal than Minnesota by signing him for an extra year. If we're willing to match as much as they say we are, wouldn't it work best for all parties involved to just skip the Minnesota part and sign him ourselves? Nic gets his 5th year, we can ask him not to sign with us until we have spent our free agent money, and everybody's happy! We might even be able to pay a little less than Minnesota if we give him 5 years instead of 4.
     
    Chuck Taylor, Jul 4, 2012
    #473
  14. Nikolokolus

    Nikolokolus There's always next year

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    If we sign him ourselves we use our capspace and not our right of first refusal ... i.e. no Hibbert.
     
    Nikolokolus, Jul 4, 2012
    #474
  15. The_Lillard_King

    The_Lillard_King Westside

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    Makes sense. The big question to me is if there is any truth to the report Nic doesn't want to come back to Ptd. If he truly wants out, then he signs an offer with the Wolves right away or an arrangement for a sign and trade is done.
     
    The_Lillard_King, Jul 4, 2012
    #475
  16. Pinwheel1

    Pinwheel1 Well-Known Member

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    Maybe I mis-understood Quick's tweet on Hoopshype

    Quick: Also, to be clear: No offer has been made to @Nicolas Batum. Twitter

    http://hoopshype.com/rumors/tag/nicolas_batum
     
    Pinwheel1, Jul 4, 2012
    #476
  17. RR7

    RR7 Well-Known Member

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    missed the bolded part.
    I can see an agent being worried about waiting to sign, worried somehow, you might just decide nah, screw it. But, I can see this as a real possibility. Batum coming in here tomorrow or Friday, whenever that is happening, and saying Minnesota was offering 11. And us saying yeah, we'll do that, don't bother with the offer sheet, we'll lock you in for that after we sign hibbert and...whoever.
     
    RR7, Jul 4, 2012
    #477
  18. Chuck Taylor

    Chuck Taylor BATUUUM SHAKKA LAKKA!

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    Yeah that would probably throw a wrench into this plan though. I really doubt it's true though. Even if he does really like Minnesota, I bet he still likes Portland a lot. And if he has a slightly better offer (i.e. 5 years over 4) I bet he would be happy to stay. Of course, one other possible issue is that his agent sounds like a dick.
     
    Chuck Taylor, Jul 4, 2012
    #478
  19. BrianFromWA

    BrianFromWA Editor in Chief Staff Member Editor in Chief

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    it's worse. Scott Boras is a dick, but he knows what he's doing and hooks his clients up. Everything Ndaiye has said has been antagonistic and wrong. That's what bugs me. "We're signing the first decent offer?" WTF was that? How does signing the first decent offer help your client do anything? Burning bridges with POR when they have ROFR? Seriously?

    Clown Town. Choo Choo.
     
    BrianFromWA, Jul 4, 2012
    #479
  20. Rhal

    Rhal Well-Known Member

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    Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

    Batum has got to fire his agent if he stays with us. The guy has done nothing but sour himself with the Blazers and if Batum is here on a long term deal that agent has got to go.
     
    Rhal, Jul 4, 2012
    #480
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