Just trying to emphasize your point. At 20 years old Pippen was a 6'4 sophomore struggling for minutes on a talent starved team. One bad game, or ten bad games from Batum doesn't ruin his potential as a prospect.
I don't think seeing Batum as an 'Pippen like player' is absurd. he's still but just a pup in terms of his career. He has all the tools to be a very special player, and I hope he's a Blazer for years and years to come.
I've yet to see any reason to think that Batum can even dribble the ball from the perimeter into the lane within a set offense, let alone run the point, defend players from Magic Johnson to Clyde Drexler to John Stockton to Gary Payton to Kobe Bryant, and intiate an NBA championship offense. I just can't believe the expectations put on the young players here.
I love Nicolas' game, but he's going to be more Tayshaun in his career IMO, filling in a nice role and will make highlight plays defensively. I don't think he'll be a vocal leader on the floor like Pip, and be able to play extended minutes as a point forward. But, I'm still a big fan of Nicolas and can't wait to see what he'll be like in a couple years.
I think the Pippen comparisons are rather off. His offensive game shows no similarity to Pippen's. Pippen had point guard skills in a slashing wing's body. Right now, it's anyone's guess what Batum's offensive game is going to be, but assuming point guard skills would be a huge stretch. Defensively, there are similarities in terms of his defensive versatility, but even a rookie Pippen (who was older than Batum, to be fair) had a stronger frame. Also, Pippen not only had defensive versatility in his man defense, he had the (unique, IMO) all-court defensive ability to rove and disrupt, which came from a combination of instincts, athleticism and intelligence. Pippen was the only non-big man I've ever seen who had the ability to disrupt the team offense of opponents, not just lock down his own man. Batum shows signs of the man defense that Pippen had, but not the team defense and, again, it would be a huge stretch to project it as I haven't seen it from any perimeter player other than Pippen. My upside projection for Batum is Gerald Wallace (he'll need to add muscle) and my mean expectation for him is Tayshaun Prince. At worst, I think he'll be Mickael Pietrus (the French nationality is coincidence!).
