Reminds me of different styles of cornerbacks. Some want you bait you onto throwing a ball they can defend or intercept, while others prefer to discourage you from even throwing their way because their coverage is so tight.
Freak-o-las Batum. He's really developing into a unique player, and hasn't even hit his physical prime yet. With health (and a capable squad around him), I think Nic is going to become a very important player for a championship team (hopefully in Portland!).
He is a huge upgrade, but you may be overstating his impact a little. You are describing a Dwight Howard or Marc Gasol or Hibbert-level impact on defense. We obviously don't have a center that good at defending the rim, or else we wouldn't be giving up so many damned points in the paint. Lopez is a solid defensive center--he's a big body who does what he can to clog the middle. But he's not always in position to protect the rim--he's just a little slower and lumbering than the elite defensive centers. Still, though, he's light years better than Hickson.
I agree. I think Lopez is the glue guy on our team, not Batum as some people suggested. The really encouraging thing is that Freeland seems to be modeling his game along the same lines. Lopez has a better offensive game, but the good thing is that we aren't losing anything when we bring in our backup. So refreshing.
Batum's finally being used the way he was being used by Nancy in the lockout. All we need now is a few more post-up opportunities. [video=youtube;rdmKpd7jrSE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdmKpd7jrSE[/video] One extra bonus: it's less important that our guards lack PG skills because he can handle the distribution so long as they bring the ball up the court.
I think the scoring will come for him. The fact that he's doing so much is truly amazing to me. I think he's definitely earning his money right now.
One of those 2 variables (speed and distance travelled) is calculated from the other, so Batum is really excelling in 1 thing, not 2. I didn't look up the measurement method, just looked at your page a few seconds, but I can see the horizontal arithmetic starts with 1 of those 2 variables being an actual measurement somehow.
Sort it descending by Distance Traveled Per Game, and you'll see he's traveled 2.6 miles per game (tied with several others for 6th in the league.) Now notice his average speed? Notice everybody else he's next to? He's averaging 4.5 MPH while most of the other guys are in the 4.1-4.3 range. Nobody in the league (except Michael Carter-Williams) runs as far as he does as fast as he does.
I know I was gushing a bit, but did not mean to imply that Lopez was an elite, All-NBA level defender. What I was really trying to say is that he does a lot of things that help his team that don't show up in his individual stats. And, while perhaps not one of the top 3 or 4 rim protectors in the league, he is above average and that's a huge improvement over what we had last year. He is basically competent at doing the fundamental things you need a center to do (setting picks, blocking out, protecting the rim, scoring efficiently around the basket), and that's a refreshing change. It may not make him an all-star, but he was a great pick-up that cost us very little and has improved our team significantly. And he's only 25. BNM
