They have no reason too right now and unless we really become contenders every season that won't change
Scoring is directly proportional to PER. If he was our main scorer at 25 PPG his PER would be nearly 25. I'm not concerned, am completely happy with what he does, and hope he's a Blazer for life.
my only dream is for the blazers to offer everyone below market rates, and assemble the cheapest team of all time. then they could lower ticket prices and serve dollar hot dogs for 75 cents.
Scoring is not directly proportional to PER. That said, I think Nic and LMA get excessive criticism on this board.
Disagree Ginobili has been injury prone for his entire career. After the 2013 playoffs where he was basically absent I seriously doubt he could have got more than 7mil per year from any team. I even doubt he could have found another team besides the spurs willing to pay him 7mil per year. That's not even mentioning the regular season where he shot 42% from the field, and 35% from three. The year before that he only played 34 games. Ginobili would have struggled to get 7mil from any other team. I don't like Batum, I think he's too soft. I give him credit when he makes good plays. But more often than not he's absent when his team needs him, or falls asleep when he is defending off the ball.
A guy who put up 15/8/6 in the playoffs is worth 11 mil. Good lord, people. Step back for a second and think about that. He's a glue guy who does a little bit of everything. He's not a scorer like some of you want him to be. And in reality, we don't need him to be one.
Batum's deal is a big reason we don't have money for a bench. Management let the TWolves set the market value, which was a huge mistake. These are the same Twolves that paid Pek 12 million per year last summer. Is Pek worth that much of your cap? IMHO he isn't. It's my same take on Batum. He's impact on the game isn't worth his overpaid salary.
It is hard enough for a small market team to get players with Batum's talent. When the Blazers are fortunate to have a draft pick actually develop into starting NBA talent . . . you don't let talent like that just go. Blazers messed around with Batum during the time they could have extended him and basicaly waited to see what kind of contract Batum could get. Batum went out to the open market and got a nice contract . . and the Blazers were wise to match at that point instead of losing a talented player for nothing. Without Batum, Blazers don't make it to the 2nd round of the playoffs this past season.
Among SFs in the playoffs, he was ranked 11th in PER. Behind dudes like Paul "Old Man" Pierce, Chandler Parsons, Trevor Ariza and Draymond Greene. He did rank slightly higher than Andrei Kirilenko (14.57 vs 14.43), so he does have that going for him and his 11 million.
Batum isn't an elite player. You pay guys like LA and Lillard to stick around. You can get a 15.86 PER SF via trade or free agency every year. The problem with Batum is that his contract was paid in the assumption that his improvement would continue. Unfortunately for the team his PER peaked at 17.32 in 11-12 and hasn't been near since.
Batum has continued to improve each year as coaches ask different things from him and he responds. It may not show up in PERS, but Batum is doing what is asked of him. (Love Lillard and Matthews but they need help in the assist category) If they let Batum go, who do they sign to fill the SF spot . . . whoever was available that summer would have been a drop off from Batum
You can't get above average wings with defensive value via trade or free agency every year; especially not cheaply as you seem to be implying.
I am sure you can find someone with a 15.86 per every year in FA. And that would be important to your argument if one's PER was a major indicator of a player's importance to their team, instead of the microscopic indicator that it actually is. It is unbelievable to me how these 3 fucking letters continue to dominate NBA message boards. I would love to see Pop's reaction if someone ever asked him about his player's PER after a playoff series.........
not saying the Blazers could get these players but if Melo/LBJ opt out of his contract those players are far from a drop off from Batum. Bottom line is Batum needs to be the 3rd option always and 2nd option sometimes on the Blazers for them to be successful. I love Wesley, my fav blazer atm... But if Batum continues to allow Wesley to be the #3 option on the team the Blazers will never win it all with the core of Aldridge/Lillard/Batum. Being I think they can with the right pieces around them Batum needs to take an ownership role of scoring the ball. Not passing into turnovers.
So then replace Wesley. Move him to the bench where he can get 30 minutes backing up both spots. Then Batum becomes your 4th option and you have a pretty damn good starting unit and a better bench. I know...... easier said than done, but it should be the ultimate focus IMO. Eventually
People really can't look at PER in a vacuum. It bugs me that even now, after it's been around for so many years, people still use it as the end all be all stat. Even Hollinger doesn't do that he came up with it!
