Fans ask the questions, the Nic Batum edition!

Okay guys, Batum has always been a fan favorite, recently he's taken his game to a whole new level. Scoring, assists and now rebounding he has one of the best all around games in the NBA.

Have a question you want to ask him?

 

Do you read RipCityTwo?

 

The Oregonian has "borrowed" our fans ask the question idea. Here are the questions they asked Batum,

ptblazerfan
Q: Do you dream in French or English?
A: “Actually, both. I surprise myself sometimes. Both.”

PDX65
Q: How is your project coming to build a village in Ngaparou, Africa? And what inspired you to want to undertake this project?
A: “It’s a long project in Africa. It’s not really easy to do. My mom (Sylvie Batum) is in Africa right now. She’s there working on it. She’s coming back next week and she’s been there four weeks, I think. That’s a long project, but it’s doing good right now. We’re moving along. We’ve got land. We’ve started building.”
What inspired you to do that?
“Me and my mom, we wanted to do a foundation a couple years ago. Didn’t know what we were going to do. My mom was on vacation in Senegal four years ago, and she went to Ngaparou and she saw those moms give the babies away and she said, ‘OK, we’re going to try working with them on this city.’ So we started with them, started the foundation, and that’s how it started. We’re about 25 percent done (with the project). It’s a long project. We want to do a clinic, a nursery, a school; it takes a while to do all that.”

THE FELTDOWN
Q: Do you plan on looking for your shot more even when LMA comes back? I hope so ... great season so far keep it up!
A: “I won’t say I’m going to be the same, because LA’s coming back. So he’s going to get a lot of easy shots and rebounds. But I don’t think I’m going to step down. I’ve got to keep the same aggressiveness I’ve had the last couple games, because we need that. I can’t step down. I won’t say I’m going to average 15-20 rebounds a game. (He laughed) Maybe. But I don’t think so. He’s going to get some rebounds, too. But I’m going to keep playing with the same aggressiveness.”

Aidan Smith
Q: Coming from a culinary capital, how does the Portland food scene stack up? What are some of the "Portland" places you like to go to? Any city with better food in the NBA?
A: “It’s different. But Portland is not bad. I’ve got a lot of places. My favorite burger place is Tilt in the Pearl District. I know burgers are not good, but I love Tilt. I love Piazza Italia, good Italian food. The Pearl District has the best restaurants in town. It has everything you need. You want a good steak, you can go to Morton’s, I love Morton’s. I love all the food. I’m very curious about food.”
And another NBA city with good food?
“New Orleans.”

TheNaturalNumber6
Q: You’ve mentioned that you are still a big fan of Brandon Roy and that when you think of how his knees betrayed him it makes you sad. Can you share a nice moment or story between Roy and yourself? You know Rip City loves B. Roy
A: “Just my rookie season, I was his rookie. I came in and I didn’t know him. He was the All-Star, a superstar, and he said, ‘You, Frenchie — you’re my rookie.’ I thought he was going to kill me all year. But no. All I had to do was bring his big to his room on the road. (He laughed) Just get his bag from the truck and bring it to his room. That’s all I had to do. But he took me under his wing. He told me he wanted me to be on the court with him, he wanted me to start with him.”

Softkittyyy
Q: What kind of music do you like?
A: “Actually, I love a lot of music. I don’t listen to one type of music. I can listen to rap, French rap, Europe rap, African music, classical sometimes.”

1MichaelWayne
Q: What is your favorite show? Do you watch shows like "The Walking Dead?"
A: “Right now, 'Scandal.’”
He said he does not watch “The Walking Dead.”

Echatred
Q: What do you think of France’s chance in the World Cup. Nasri, Benzema, Ribery, those guys give the squad a punchers chance? Your thoughts? P.S. go MAN CITY!!
A: “Yes. We have a chance. They struggle the last two years. The way they’re playing lately, they’ve been through a lot. They had to go to the playoffs and had to qualify for the World Cup and everything. That was tough, but they did it.
I asked Batum if he follows soccer closely. He scoffed.
“Of course. If I can watch, I watch every match. The last one was two weeks ago and I watched it. But (winning the World Cup) won’t be easy. Because Brazil will be huge favorites. Don’t get me started talking about soccer. I’ll talk for like 50 minutes.”

Slavik Lungu
Q: Do you think European players (as I am, currently living in PDX), have a certain advantage or something that we generally specialize in with our basketball skills compared to the other non-European players; American, African-American, etc.? Appreciate your answer, and keep representing Euro!
A: “The way we learn the game, as a young guy, it’s different than here. We don’t like play in college or in March Madness. When you’re 16, if you’re good, you start practicing with the pro guys. I started with the pro guys when I was 15-16 years old. I played against American guys, like ex-NBA players, and guys who were like 30 or 32 or 28 (years old) — grown men. So the thing is, that helped me a lot when I got here my first season. My first pro year, I was good and on a young team. But I didn’t play. That was tough for me because I used to be good, The Man, and then I was on the bench and I didn’t play for two or three games in a row. So that was tough for me at that time. But I learned from that and what to do to be on the court. The thing is, you learn that when you’re in Europe because almost all the European players went through the same thing. You learn what you need to do to get on the court.”

 

I demand that our forum ask better questions! We're the better forum.