The Batum tracker thread

Ummmm what? I think you have me confused with someone else

 

You wanted us to trade Aldridge for Monroe, Singler and draft picks. Remember?!

 

No, I don't remember that. I love Aldridge. My favorite player on the team

 

Oh shit my bad! Hahahaha

 

Im pretty sure I never said that, but I understand where people were coming from asking for deals like that. Most of those deals came from when Aldridge chatter was that he wanted out.

Batum is here to stay, at the end of the day I'd be happy if he were here and performing up to his abilities. But dude deserves to be ripped to shreds for his play this year with the money he is making. I'd seriously hope he turns it around, but if he doesn't, it's fair to explore trades if we can find a sucker who still believes he can be an all star level player

 

Looks like Batum will play tonight

 

Let's hope he plays. We'll need it tonight.

 

Every 15 games he'll have a decent game but otherwise tonight is a good example of what has become the norm for Batum:

1-3 FG
2 pts
2 rebs
3 ast
-16

When there are two starters out Nic needs to pick it up. Right now he's a certified scrub. Freeland was a more aggressive scorer than Nic!

 

Batum has a decent game then play like shit today. Dude needs to step it up.

 

Time to unload him to some sucker that will hopefully overpay.

 

I'd start Meyers at SF in that case.

 

Would you do a Batum for Olynyk/expiring contract swap?

 

Batum is beat up right now. Stotts should just let him rest for a few weeks.

 

Time to give him the Josh Smith buyout. He's killing this team.

 

hahaha

 

I'll start by saying that I'm probably one of the longer-tenured not-overly impressed with Batum people. I don't mean that as bragging, but just as a statement that I favored Martell over him because Martell seemed to contribute in other ways when his shot wasn't falling, and I saw more effort out of Webster consistently. Again, not saying Webster is a better player, but I favored him over Batum, so I've got a semi-long standing bias.

At the same time though, let's be real, Batum isn't consistently putting lines up like tonight. Usually the stats are at least a bit more stuffed, and it's not whether the stats are there that's typically in question as much as whether or not his impact lived up to the stats.

Going forward it comes down to short-term and long-term fit. Realistically, you're not going to trade for someone who's a better player to start at the 3 who's also a better fit. Most players that would be classified as "better" are classified as so because of scoring, something that most players wouldn't have as much opportunity in a starting unit in PDX with Lillard/Aldridge getting 45+ and Wes throwing in 15-ish.

So you have to decide what you'd actually want out of a transaction. Is it to get more proven bench players other than Kaman and Blake? It's still weird to count on Blake to be honest. I love CJ and I think he can step up like he did tonight more frequently as he gets back into the rotation, but I would only maybe count on him and Crabbe to be current bench players contributing to our team in two years (I love T-Rob, but who knows with him). So do you try and flip Batum/CJ for a true 6th man of the year candidate and another reliable bench player? Do you hope CJ becomes one of those?

It depends on what your timeframe for results is, and how much you think getting rid of Batum would negatively impact chemistry.

 

Realtalk here. Post of the night. People can say trade Batum all they want but actually getting someone that improves the TEAM as a whole is a different matter. You probably get someone who is a better scorer but doesn't contribute in other areas and even if they score elsewhere they might struggle here being the 4th option.

Batum is not close to untouchable however nothing thrown out so far has made sense to me (or for POR if I had to guess).

 

I wish Kahn was still in charge in minny and they hadn't given him the offer sheet. Brewer and a top 3 protected pick for batum sounds good to me

 

Lots of people under rating Batum because of his slump this season.