I was never in favor of getting rid of Nic. People like to bring up the Minnesota bullshit a while back but that was his agent pushing that one. You could tell he really loved Portland and he would of stayed here. The one dude we got rid of who would of stayed here and we are sitting here in free agency trying to get free agents at the same position just like him. Vonleh isn't a promise. I would of stuck with Batum, kept him on.
I see a lot of short memories in this thread ... Nic drove a lot of fans crazy with his lazy passes, inconsistent play, and constant nagging injuries coming from his infatuation for playing overseas during the summer. 5 years/120 million for Nico? NOPE.
Yeah I'm pleased with Turner as Batum's replacement. Saves us about $50 million overall to spend on CJ next year.
I remember batum being very excited about going to minny. He said he thought it was going to be a better fit, more fun, etc. he definitely wanted to leave.
Maybe Batum disliked playing with Aldridge more than vice versa? It really bugs me that people state it like it's gospel that trading Batum was an attempt to please LA. Give me ONE source that is remotely reliable for this. And even if it was done for that reason 1. it failed, so it was stupid 2. you don't do that. If your star is that petulant (which I don't actually believe of LA, although we all like to badmouth him now he's gone) he's not worth keeping.
Maybe, I think that might've been true for dame as well. I actually got the vibe that Aldridge didn't like batum before I ever started posting on here, but I'm not sure if that was the reasoning behind trading him. I think terry and NO were really sick of his inconsistency. But regardless. I'm glad we're not paying him all that money.
Lol. Dude, multiple members on this board heard that aldridge hated batum.and said he was never gonna play another game with that pussy again after we lost to memphis. We cant throw the persons name who told us that info out because we arent trying to throw them under the bus. Believe us or not, but it happened. Also, why arent you accepting that lakers blazers bet bud? Scared?
I really wish we would of kept Batum. He's so much better than Turner and Aminu, especially considering the contract we gave Turner. We wouldnt of signed him if we still had Batum.
He would be our 3rd best player by a long shot...and given the way Dame has been playing lately, maybe even our 2nd best player.
Damn, WTF is it with the Dame hate by some of you lately? Please remind me of the year that Batum averaged 26 ppg? He's at 14.9 for this season. His career average is 11.9 ppg. As far as Dame's play of late, in his last 5 games he's averaging 23.4 pts, 5.4 reb, 5.4 ast , and only 1.8 turnovers. He had one sub-par scoring game, the 13 points in the previous Dallas game. Throw out that one as the occasional bad game that every player has and in the other 4 he's right at his season average of 26 ppg. CJ's played great lately and I'm not taking anything away from him. That said, he's behind Dame on the season at 23.5 pts, 3.7 reb, and 3.6 ast. His past 5 games he's nudged his scoring up to 25 pts, 5.2 reb, 3.4 ast on 2.4 turnovers. I'm damned happy to have both Dame and CJ on the roster.
I'm happy we have both Dame and CJ, and I don't want to trade either of them at least until we've seen what a different coach can do with them. But to your question/response, the game has a lot more to it than PPG average. I was perhaps hyperbolizing a bit, but Nic is far superior defensively and is at least equal as a play-maker.
GTFO.... Just Stop. Batum's SOFT ASS NEVER averaged 20. And yes that makes Dame better. You're trippin...
I don't think he'd be " by far" our 3rd best player. He's still roughly the same player he always was. Plumlee is about as good as he is, imo.
Batum is averaging 14.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1 steal this season. Like I said, much better than Turner and Aminu!! And he only gets about $3 million per year more than Turner.
Batum re-signed for 5 years, the Blazers could only offer 4. Why lose sleep over it? I would lose sleep over trading Dame or CJ.
Since 12/23 (the SAS game in which Dame was injured), Dame's averaged 23.5 ppg on 41.6% FG, 33.6% 3P, with 5.5 reb & 5.3 ast, with TS% of .541 and an average GmSc of 16.54. Good, but not "Dame-level". Batum on the season is 40% FG, 14.9 ppg, TS% of .533, and an average GmSc of 13.21. So even during (arguably) the slumpiest stretch of Dame's career, Batum is well beneath him.
