Just as long as he sticks to the light side of the force. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

It’s easy to forget just how unique of a situation Nicolas Batum is in. He’s a unique player, sure, as we’ll get to later, but how many success stories come out of the late first round? How many of those are international players? How many still couldn’t drink an alcoholic beverage in the United States until a month into their sophomore season. And then how many of those started 101 of their first 116 career games, on a two-time 50-game winner, while dealing with shoulder injuries throughout?

There’s only one Nicolas Batum.

And that’s why he’s one of the three most untouchable players on the Blazers, over even $65 million-dollar man LaMarcus Aldridge. A year ago, Portland wouldn’t trade Batum for Gerald Wallace because Batum might be the perfect role player to play next to Brandon Roy and the Blazers’ large frontcourt. He can spread the floor as a 40-percent three-point shooter, he can run the floor as someone who scores 1.48 points per transition possession, he has the length and speed to defend most any situation — allowing scores in both pick-and-rolls and isolations under 40 percent of the time — and doesn’t make a fuss about darn near anything.

Shoot, he even shoots better than 80 percent from the free-throw line, rebounds well on the defensive end, gets the occasional assist, hardly ever turns the ball over (1.1 turnovers per 36 minutes) and doesn’t need plays ran for him, using up just 16.4 percent of all offensive possessions while he’s on the floor.

Add in that Batum doesn’t back down to defensive challenges and, despite a slender frame, has shown remarkable mental toughness for a 21-year old, and you aren’t finding a better small forward for this team outside of the likes of LeBron James or Danny Granger.

Still, there’s plenty we don’t know about Batum, primarily just how good he can be. With just one offseason under his belt, Batum has shown exceptional growth, raising his three-point percentage 40 points and his overall shooting 73 points while improving his ballhandling, allowing him to occasionally take opponents off the dribble, or at least step in for a closer shot. Essentially, in one offseason spent with the French National Team and a bum shoulder, Batum improved in the areas you’ve been waiting for Martell Webster to improve on for the past five years.

Again, he doesn’t turn 22 until December.
(more…)

This is just a funny photo. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Moving into veteran territory now, there’s not a whole lot of mystery left with a 34 year old point guard now on his fifth team in the league. For Andre Miller’s career, he has a flat PER of 18, an assist rate of 35 percent and an effective field-goal percentage below 50 percent because he can’t make threes all with good decision making, a manageable turnover rate and heady defense despite physical limitation, especially against the screen-roll.

His numbers last year, despite a rough start, weren’t all that far off from those career marks, and that helped put him into the discussion for MVP of Portland’s season. No, he wasn’t Brandon Roy, but he’s crucial to the Blazers, and having consistent goodness and aggressiveness — as opposed to Steve Blakeness — helming Portland going into next season is a comforting thought.

Thing is, there are still a ton of unanswered questions with this team, largely stemming from the expected reappearance, and hopeful reemergence of Greg Oden. As well as Oden played in his 20 games last season, Portland’s offense never quite gelled, and no bankable rapport developed between him and LaMarcus Aldridge. Combine that with the fact that Nate McMillan was having fun with his easy bake oven, shoving Blake and Miller into the starting lineup and seeing what came out, and none of the time Miller spent with a healthy Oden was consistent in rotations, lineups or even offensive philosophy.

Clearly, for Portland to ascend the steps of contention, they will need the consistency that health provides, but it’s on Miller, co-keymaster of Portland’s offense, to build the machine. In the offseason and early months, he’ll have to perfect the pick-and-roll with Oden, keep Oden diving to the rim and finding takeoff space for alley-oops. He’ll have to direct Aldridge so that LaMarcus stays involved, and within 17 feet, of every offensive set. And above all, while everyone is figuring things out, he’ll have to keep all those important point-guard items — passing, timing, efficiency — consistent, just like him.

Yes, we could nitpick a few things here and there. Sometimes Miller needs a better sense of when it’s absolutely necessary to use that generous space allowed him by the defense for a jumper. Sometimes he’ll need to sacrifice his own herky-jerky, pump-faking scoring to earn Oden and Aldridge confidence-boosting buckets in the paint. Sometimes he’ll have to…no, he can keep yelling at the coach a couple times a year, that seemed to work out well enough. But mainly, there’s not enough changeable about Andre to warrant a bullet-pointed list like all the other young guys got. He’ll need to adapt, some, but the evolution of those around him is the bear (sic) necessity.
(more…)

The easiest way to describe Martell Webster’s 2009-10 season is to say he did not progress like we all thought he could. So far in this ‘Summer Reading’ series we have talked about Blazers who took step forwards in their game and ability to contribute to their team. I don’t think there are many who would argue that in a sense, Webster took a step backwards.

Dating back to the beginning of the year, it has been a long road for No. 23. Coming into the season, Webster was already in an odd place. He missed 81 games of the 08-09 campaign which opened the door for the emergence of Nic Batum. Combine that with the presence of Travis Outlaw and Rudy Fernandez and it was easy to lose him in the shuffle. At the same time during that 08-09 season, many Blazer fans had to wonder the possibilities of this team with Webster in the lineup. Ideally, he had the skillset to push this team to a different level. His athleticism (and ability to slash) along with his ability to shoot the ball (and thus space the floor) made many believe he was a dangerous weapon that could give Portland another look.
(more…)