Not for a guy wanting to win. At this point you try to upgrade the starting lineup, I didn't enjoy watching Batum for us this year, but I don't think he is the guy you upgrade. I think you try to upgrade Rolo. There just aren't any Batum deals out there that make a whole bunch of sense at this time. If Aldridge leaves, then you can have at it and find a taker for Batum.
I think Leonard can come in and take the 5 spot, that's an upgrade at this point. RoLo can stay if he wants but I'd cap him at 9 million (same as Wes).
Watching his body language huh? So you weren't watching him go after offensive rebounds on CJ/Lillard misses. Nope. You weren't watching him defer to Lillard in game 3, and him being okay with plays being ran for CJ/Lillard/Nards in game 4/5. Lots of moping and pouting about not getting the ball to get HIS numbers. Yup that's what Aldridge was doing. SMH.
Nah, Leonard isn't ready just yet. In no way do I want Rolo back. Offer Indiana Kaman's partially guaranteed deal and a sign and traded Rolo for Hibbert, or resign wes, renounce freeland, gee, dwright and try to get Tyson Chandler for a 2 year 16 million deal after Dallas renounces him to try and get Deandre Jordan
I know it was a calculated risk resigning Batum. I mean the guy was always right there ready to turn the corner but never did. His game has gone way down, and speaking of game, outside of D he had no offensive game but a set 3. He never improved. I was really not thrilled giving him all that money, and man did we pay for it. He was horrible this season. Now the question becomes who the hell is gonna want him? what can we expect to get for him? Sure the boards are nice and the assists, but hes not a pg. He played 43 mins and had 6 points...6 points.
I love the Chandler idea, especially at that price. He also wouldn't need to play 30+ minutes here with Leonard.
It's tough, I would love to keep him at around 15 mins a game on the bench, but yeah, he is not the answer long term starting and I think the team and the fans knew that. He was a stop gap.
I don't think that's necessarily so. It depends what you get back and what other moves you make. As Blazers fans, we are disappointed in Batum and we think no one possibly would want you or we wouldn't get anything good back. But all it takes is one organization to become enamored with him and think he can thrive there and you might get something back that would help the Blazers even more. Or maybe you open up enough salary to get someone like Carroll from the Hawks to take his place. I think he'd be a very interesting replacement at the 3.
Batum was so inconsistent in his run so far with Portland that it's just mind blowing. We're constantly waiting for him to become that legit 3rd option and he has never done so. Shown flashes of greatness yes, but consistent awesomeness? no. I for one am loving a trade idea for him.
The only difference was that Martel wasn't paid Batum money in Portland. He was like the 5th option and wasn't expected to be more. The frustrating thing about Batum is he was much like Sheed, having all the talent in the world to be one of the best but never engaged himself to be the best.
What you all are overlooking is that Batum is essentially our PG. He allows players who otherwise would have to be distributing the ball to be pint-size scorers (hello: Damian and CJ). He is also asked to guard the PG in crunch time when we just can't afford to have Damian on him any more. He's maddening, he's almost entirely forgotten how to score, but he also does things that no other player on the roster can do. He's become the ultimate role player. Get rid of him? Fine, but I think the deficiencies of other players on our roster will suddenly become a LOT more glaring. He may have the best court vision of any player on our roster right now. In fact, I'd bet on it. He certainly averaged the most APG in this series. He looked gassed, frankly. And he never recoverd confidence in his shot after his wrist problems. [Cue: bitching about him playing for France instead of recuperating/working on his shot]
1. I don't think that's what irony is. 2. WTF are you talking about? All Martell ever did was shoot. Batum WON'T shoot, but led the team in assists.
The easiest way would be to hack his twitter account. Put out a couple of pro ISIS tweets when he's back in France. He'll immediately be put on the No Fly List and won't be allowed to come back to the USA.
First, why do people think Deandre Jordan would want to leave LA? Also, the hack-a-Deandre made them lose to the Spurs the other night in LA.
Jordan said he was interested in Dallas. Before his team was eliminated too. Which is a reason why I don't necessarily want him.