I think as a whole, we do overrate Batum quite a bit. The stats are telling. I appreciate him on our team, but I wouldn't care if he was trade-bait for pieces we need. IMO, he's just so inconsistent w/his play from game to game. I wish he would just be consistent.
Blazers are the only team with 2 of the top 15 scorers in the league. Do the Blazersreally want or need another top scorer in the SF position? Many of those top SF are scorers that shoot a large volume of shots . . . that is not what the Blazers need from the SF position. They need an all around player who can pass, shoot and rebound and as a luxury someone you can put on the opponent's best scorer in hte last 5 minutes. any SF's around who fits that profile?
Same position different roles. I'm happy with Batum. I'd rather have Batum for our team than most of those guys. I think rather than overrate him, we over scrutinize him. Familiarity breeds contempt.
Kwahi Leonard comes close but he is not the best passer. He certainly can defend, rebound and hit an open shot though. He also never complains about his FGA's.
Melo has played about 60% of his minutes at PF this year and 40% at SF but overall during his career he has been a SF.
Parsons defensively has given up 10, 20 point games this year, only allowing Durant to reach 30, which he has twice. Batum defensively has given up 12, 20 point games this year, Durant has gone over 30 twice and 40 once, Parsons also hit for 30, as did Gay twice, Smith as well, George dropped over 40 and Melo went over 30 In summary Parsons has 8, 20 point games allowed, and 2, 30 point games allowed. Batum has 3, 20 point games allowed, 7, 30 point games allowed, and 2, 40 point games. Parsons may struggle defensively at times but when Batum struggles his opponent tends to light up the scoreboard like a Christmas tree.
So the only reason Parsons has not gotten crushed for 30 as much as Batum is because his team defense is better? Or maybe his team defense is better because he is a better defender.
No, Parsons would have been equally crushed but he hasn't played a game for a long time after his injury...give him a shot and he'll get crushed as often as anybody
He better keep doing something if he is going to shoot 1-5 from the field, he was also the only starter with a negative +-. Thanks to Freeland his +- number was not the worst on the team like it was against OKC. Whatever he does he needs to contribute or get off the court and let someone else gets some minutes.
So, apparently someone was being serious when they started this ridiculous thread? Yeah, find me a better fitting SF for this team in the NBA.... Did someone suggest Rudy Gay???!???! Wow....Good stuff. Really well thought out.
