I don’t know about you, but I am over the pre-season.
All it took was Martell cracking his foot and Rudy rolling his ankle to make me want to hop in the DeLorean and jump to October 28th. To keep my sanity, I’ve washed my hands with the Blazers pre-season. Before you call me a traitor, I don’t think it’s such a bad thing. I’m either going to speculate left and right, overanalyze or damper my spirits. I’m happy with my knowledge right now…let’s all just stay healthy. Rudy is a playmaker, Sergio is re-energized, Bayless may need more time than we thought, Oden is Oden, Big Joel is Big Joel, Batum is about a million times better than we thought, Ike is rusty, Luke Jackson won’t shoot, Steven Hill’s beard rocks, ..am I missing anything?
Sticking with this Batum thing…who could have seen this coming? If you raise your hand you are a dirty liar. I ask this question: Is no one else deathly afraid that this could be our starting 3? Him trying to guard Kobe scares me about 50 times more than Rudy or Outlaw…and they both scare me. I mean let’s be realistic, Batum looked years away from even being decent this summer. And now he’s an NBA starter? It’s highly possible that he just completely crapped the bed in Vegas, but how many players have made the reverse Vegas leap? Aka horrible play and then being great. Guys like Qyntel Woods and Marco Belinelli dominated Vegas but couldn’t do much of anything… so forgive me if I’m a bit hesitant. I’ll give him credit though. He’s looked better than anyone could have expected, he has the length and activity to be a defensive force. But…to expect to thrust him into a starting role is just beyond me right now. I don’t see Nate handing things over to an 18 year old quite yet. I’ve been wrong before so we’ll see. The funny part is…Coup’s post below me is spot on. In a perfect world, Batum could start for us for the next couple months and we’d be more than ok. The starting lineup would be unaffected as all Batum would have to do is not turn the ball over, feed the ball to the post and cut through or swing it to Brandon Roy. Add an occasional backdoor cut or penetration. Not hard. He’s clearly a team player and looks to hit the open man. If anything Batum would probably ensure Oden, Roy and LMA get their looks. Rudy and Outlaw would remain super subs and not see a major cut into their offense which would allow one of them to catch fire and take those 4th quarter minutes. And I’d expect Rudy and Outlaw to play more minutes than Batum. He’d be a great energy guy to start the game.
But that’s all wishful thinking. And wishful thinking can only go so far. Playing devil’s advocate to balance things out here…If you’re an opposing coach and Batum is in the starting lineup…what do you do? You make him beat you. You sag way off of him Rondo style. Teams will want you to kick it to Batum in a double-team. They’ll be more eager to crowd Oden in the post or help off Roy’s penetration. It could throw a monkey wrench in the offense. We don’t need Batum taking things off the table. Also he’s a rookie, and what happens when the intensity turns up a couple more notches. He has the potential to disrupt defensively but…do you really want him guarding Kobe and co.?
All of this is of course speculation as I’ve yet to see Batum’s work with the first unit with my own eyes. I’m very curious as to how this is going to play out. And my brain is about to explode trying to figure this out.
Preseason = the end of me.