I can feel their frustration. Batum is a very good 3rd option when it comes to running an offense. But allowing him to do more was a mistake for the Blazers, and it is a mistake for Charlotte. It is the same issue with ET. You need that 3rd ball handler on the floor at all times IMO, but that doesn't mean they should try to do too much. And Batum often tried the "tough /cute/lazy " passes. Nurk did this to some extent also early in the season, but got better IMO later in the season.
See Batum's performance against the Grizzlies when Wes went down.....it's when CJ became a star and Meyers got a contract...he was horrible and he admitted it afterwards....when it was time for him to step up and contribute he stunk up the joint.
I disagree. Batum was never an alpha. He'd fit in just fine running pick and roll with Nurk. Dame and CJ would play MUCH better off ball. Batum's skillset is exactly what we need. That still doesn't mean HE is a good fit. He's soft. He isn't physically strong. He doesn't like or initiate contact. He's an overrated defender.
I actually think OP's trade is a pretty good one for both teams. For all everybody complains about Batum's inconsistency, we'll, it's not like we're giving up paragons of reliability in this trade with Turner/Leonard. Add in that we'd be benching Harkless, who is more inconsistent than everyone else listed, it's a really damned good idea. Charlotte has been playing Batum out of position at SG, and really been giving him PG duties. It's really not his game to bring the ball up and run the entire offense. He's more of a secondary facilitator--a guy who can run a pick and roll in a half court set, and a guy who knows how to throw the occasional lob. He's a better decision-maker than Turner. When guys double Dame and CJ, he's just a much better option to take over the offense than anything we currently have. I'd also be pretty excited to see what he could do with Nurkic. Batum was always really good at feeding Rolo easy dunks to get him going. I always thought Batum's game had kind of an effortless look about it that made him seem lazy, but the stats don't lie--he was always a league leader in Portland in miles traveled, just like CJ is now. It sucks that his contract is a year longer, but hey, that's why Charlotte does it. It's all well and good to say we should just play out Turner and Leonard's contracts, but that's using up 2 of Dame and CJ's prime years. LeBron James isn't walking through that door, so you have to make incremental moves to get better better vets sometimes. In his third year he'll be 32--probably still a decent bench player that's at least as good as Turner is right now.
....all of the above said, I can easily understand why we don't do the deal purely from a financial perspective. He's owed $27m in the last year of his deal. That's a ridiculous amount of money. The first rule of getting out of a hole is to stop digging.
The idea of paying Batum close or more than $25M a year for the next three years is just frightening.
Yes it is, but the first 2 years is actually a little less for the Blazers. In fact, the first two years of Batum's contract would be about a 4.5 mil savings per season so essentially it would be comparable to an 18 mil contract. Not great but it does soften it a bit.
