JQuick one on one interview with Nicolas Batum

JQuick on 750 the game this morning:

Jason was riding his bike downtown over the weekend (how Portland of him) only to find Nic and his girlfriend hanging out at Director Park. Claims it was a random meeting, crazy if true.

After ten minutes of conversing with Nic and the tape recorder rolling, the infamous Bouna Ndiaye calls. After a discussions in French that Quick can't understand, Nic requests (obviously from his agent) that nothing in the conversation be quoted.. for now.

So No quotes, but Jason gave the gist of the meeting:

Batum is very upset with how he's been portrayed: that he has anything against Portland, or that he harbors any ill will against the Blazers. If he does re-sign with Portland he's gonna play hard and give it his all.

With that said, he much likes the allure of playing with Ricky Rubio and the Timberpups. Says the PG position is a big influence and their style of play is definitely an attraction to him from a basketball standpoint. Lastly, he knows that it's not his choice being RFA.

Quick: Doesn't think the 4/45 Million dollar offer is real. Thinks its all posturing by his agent, and that there is no way Batum is worth it. Doesn't think Minnesota has the wherewithal to match it or should put all it's eggs in one basket (tie up all its space). Quick's guess is that Nic will get 8-9 million dollars with Portland.

 

When did Batum leave for France? He's been there since before the weekend, I thought.

And as for the $8-$9M - only if Batum fires his agent. I don't think that he's put himself in a position where he can accept that.

 

Hope the last sentence is true. That's fair to both sides.

 

So, who's going to tell Batum that negotiating through the press is a very bad idea because it usually makes the player look terrible and that he should fire his agent for it. If he really wants Minny, just shut the he$$ up, play out the year, and leave. If he really wants to play in a different system, he should be thrilled. The team just fired the coach who used the system he didn't like. Let management know about what you didn't like and why, then maybe the blazers will hire a coach who uses a system you actually like.

 

So the idea was to get Portland to do a sign and trade before the 11th? or to hope Portland would give up before a real offer was made by Minny? I do not understand Quick's guess about the 8-9 million. This makes no sense to me.

 

His guess is based on Minny never actually offering the supposed 45 mil contract, and the Blazers signing batum after July 14th to 5 yr 45 milISH contract

 

My guess is 5 years 50 million.

 

Best bit of "reporting" Quick has done in a loooooooooong time.
Batum needs to get rid of his douchebag agent.

 

LOL so because he reported that Nic said nice things about Portland it was one of Quick's best reporting efforts?

 

Seriously, this guy has to be one of the douchiest agents I've seen in a while. When was the last time you've seen an agent behave like this publicly?

 

This whole report kind of confuses me. Batum says "don't quote me" and then JQ suggests he knows stuff that he can't report and then offers his opinion based upon what he can't report. Either JQ is acting in poor form or Batum and his agent want JQ to report stuff that isn't really attributed to Batum/agent but appears to be attributed to Batum/agent.

 

He got lucky, and got a candid one on one interview with Batum during a time when Blazer fans really want to know what's going on in Batum's head.

 

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY.

Batum appears to be complaint about the old regime. We are starting fresh in more ways than one. Minnesota has a star that is disgruntled and wants out in Kevin Love. They are hardly a ideal situation for a FA to want to go to. I would rate Portland situation much higher, also seeing that this team can quickly turn it around if a guy like Hibbert does end up here and we get a coach that will play anything but snail ball.

I don't see Batums complaints and no way I see them being justified anymore. If this was last offseason, yes. But not this one.

 

Quick, regardless of it being good or bad news, has become much more trustworthy and thoughtful in his reporting over the past few years. I read his work and believe that he is trying to be straightforward in his reporting. Canzano on the other hand, is a slimy douchebag and people should not trust him. Dwight Jaynes is just a idiot.

 

Yeah... I'm not too clear on that either, but generally I don't think you can tell someone that it's off the record after the fact. If you say something, and he records it, you can't say later "that was off the record". Of course, I'm sure Quick doesn't want to burn bridges with Batum, so he's just relaying the gist of what was said, and not directly quoting him.

With that said, Nic's agent is taking the word "tool" to new heights.

 

Maybe the agent is trying to bracket the price. I see it all the time in marketing, buying a bar of soap or in major contract negotiations. Start with a ridiculously high number so that everything thereafter seems reasonable (not just to the owner but fans/media).

"Batum is worth $10 mil/year!" "No he isn't." "Ok, we'll settle for 8." "Ok."

The old rule used to be that he who mentions price first loses. But behavioral economists have really come around to the idea that in many negotiations the guy who mentions price first anchors the price negotiation to a certain region of numbers. If you can anchor the negotiation to your side, you can work out an agreement that's much more favorable.

There was even a study were subjects were asked their social security number, and then asked to speculate on the price of a bottle of wine. Those with higher SSN's guessed significantly higher prices for the wine, just because the SSN was still lingering in their mind.

The human mind is weird shit, yo.

 

Thanks for that insight on that. I don't really know the journalism etiquette, but that makes some sense to me. It's probably Batum's agent who said don't quote us. Batum probably didn't really care since he was being interviewed on tape.

 

I think this has more to do with JQ not wanting to piss Nic off because there's a good chance that he'll be back next year.

It sure seems like Nic's agent is trying to play a game with the media and the Blazers. I hope it all blows up in their face. I don't want to see this kind of behavior encouraged by a big contract. It's cheap, it's dirty, and it sure makes Nic look bad. If he ends up getting a huge contract because his agent played a dirty game, I'll really hate the message that sends to other players/agents.

 

The thought of Jason Quick just 'coincidentally' running into Batum in the park as he rides his unicycle and then pulling a tape recorder out of his ass is funny to me. And then the agent just 'coincidentally' calling as they talk, as if he's lurking behind the bushes, is also funny to me.

When the agent said no quotes I'm sure he meant off the record. Lost in translation is a bitch.

 

"Off the record" isn't a legal designation, no matter when you request it. It's simply a journalistic etiquette thing, so it doesn't really matter whether the interview subject requests it before or after the interview...it's always still up to the journalist whether to use it or not. Journalists usually choose to respect it simply to remain credible as being trustworthy so they don't end up cut off from being talked to. If what they're being told is such a bombshell (like a senator admitting he/she strangled someone), they would probably print it regardless of whether the senator requested that the admission be off the record.

So Batum telling Quick it was off the record after the phone call has the same "weight" as saying it before the interview even started. Sometimes interview subjects will call up the journalist after the journalist has returned to his/her office to request parts or all of the interview be off the record.