I would rather Batum rest his shoulder. http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=NBA&id=1520
He seemed to improve from playing in them last year, so as long as the shoulder is good to go, this seems like a good thing.
all i care about is his shoulder being good! if hes good to go for the season i see no problems with it.
I'd like to see him be a featured offensive weapon for the French team. It would be great to see him work on his shot off the dribble against good competition. His shoulder should be fine by August or there's some serious issues that only surgery will remedy at that point anyway.
Over who? Tony Parker? Michael Pietrus? Boris Diaw? He needs to show he can step up at that level before being a featured offensive weapon of that team.
Over Diaw and maybe Pietrus. Plus it's not a lock that Tony Parker will play for the team depending on his health and how he finishes the playoffs.
IF IF IF his shoulder is absolutely 100% then I think it's OK. IF there is even a minor lingering pain in his shoulder he better not play...
Absolutely ... it's not like his body should be worn out after only playing for half of a season either. Frankly, the more experience Batum logs as a go-to guy on offense the better it is for this team, because I think it's pretty clear that the roster at this point is minus a clear second fiddle to play behind Roy -- LMA doesn't have the physicality/handle, Greg's health is too much of wildcard and after that we have a lot of OK complimentary scorers, but nobody that I see as having quite the ceiling Nic possesses.
He was already the featured 'point-forward' for that team last year in the European championships with Parker out and he did just fine.
Absolutely over Pietrus and Diaw. Parker is the only player better than him on that team. He did show that, last year. He was a big part of their success and even took on some lead ball-handler responsibilities when Parker was out.
Normally I'm against our guys playing summer international basketball. But after the next three months off, he should be fully healed, and the Euro championships should be a good tune up for him before training camp. He could use the experience after having so much time off this year.
It will be good for his growth as a player. Competition sure beats sitting at home taking the summer off. Plus, it's refreshing to have a player that will play with little pain and not rush off to surgery or sit it out.
