How would you feel if they wanted Matthews or Batum and Leonard for Monroe and Villanueva (for making the salaries work)?
Do you remember way back when people were arguing Batum v Rondo? Now Mags is suggesting Batum for Monroe, when Detroit wants Rondo. Batum wasn't equal to Rondo then, and he's not now. Both Rondo and Monroe are worth significantly more than Batum.
I understand your point and I agree for the most part. But Detroit is in an unusual circumstance right now. They lack wings and have a ton of talent at bigs. Sometimes just being in the right place in the right time can give you a great return. It's like a perfect storm because Monroe will want big money, and they already blew their money on smith. They have a discounted Drummond; which makes it too much of an overlap.
He'll sign the QO this year (Minny froze everyone out by signaling they'd match) and then get something close to the max, if not the max itself.
Batum and LA have all the qualities that should make them top-flight defenders (quick feet, long arms, mobile, nimble), but Stotts and our coaching staff doesn't seem to give a shit about defense.
http://stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com/teams/POR.html These stats show our teams RAPM numbers, and it appears Batum isn't the defender some think he is. It also shows Hickson might not be as bad as some (me included) thought he was. For shits and giggles Robin Lopez 2.07 defense Omer Asik 5.37 defense
I could see Detroit wanting a wing like Batum, but I also think they're going to want a point guard like Rondo. That dude would fit in there like a glove. We don't have a guard to offer them outside of CJ.
I have said this before, Just remember that if you trade Batum your trading one of the few SF in the league that can keep up with guarding the best point guards in the NBA, That can come in very handy in the playoffs. Just keep that in mind when your talking about trading Batum. I think that is a big underrated asset that not a lot of people think about.
And people seem to vastly overrate his defense. He's really not that good. The stats don't seem to back it up.
Batum is still one of the few SF that can keep up with the best PG in the NBA. He did a good job on Parker and Nash in a few previous games.
Okay.... or Dame is stepping up his defense and we won't need Batum to guard the opposing point guard.
Batum is longer than Lillard and they could maybe switch. I'm just saying it can come in handy in the playoffs to have someone long like Batum to bother the opposing point guards. Don't you remember Pippen and Stoudamire? Sometimes they would switch.
Lillard "stepping up his defense" would be a step up to mediocre from bloody awful. I don't blame him; he was a rook learning the lead and we put a huge burden on him offensively, both to run the offense and to score.
Ya lets not act like Lillard will be one of the best defenders in the league just because he says he's stepping up his D.
We should acknowledge, however, how rare it is for a 2nd year player to acknowledge he needs to focus on something that will make the team better, but won't be reflected in personal stats for him. In comparison, our 7'1" interior anchor thinks he needs to work on threes. We have a keeper in Dame.
