The Portland Trail Blazers are set to enter the 2015 NBA offseason with a potential roster overhaul on the horizon. The team only has four players guaranteed to be on the books next year, but as it turns out, one of those surefire returnees is far from a lock to remain in Rip City after all.
According to CSNNW.com’s Jabari Young, Neil Olshey may look to package Nicolas Batum and the 23rd pick to move up in this year’s draft. This 2015 class doesn’t offer superstar-caliber talent beyond the projected top prospects (Karl Anthony-Towns, Jahlil Okafor and D’Angelo Russell), but if Portland can retain LaMarcus Aldridge—or use his salary to sign another cornerstone big to play alongside Damian Lillard—a young third or fourth option could be the perfect replacement to a player who’s been inconsistent at best since his arrival in 2008.
“I can say this was my toughest [season] since I got here”-Nicolas Batum. Season review: http://t.co/uuipBLeOFA pic.twitter.com/vVHFLR2zZS
— CSNNW (@CSNNW) May 4, 2015
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Up to this point, watching Batum has been like playing Roulette in Vegas. Sometimes you bet red, and you’re happy when it hits. Sometimes you need Batum to play the team role, and the Blazers benefit.
Sometimes you put it all down on one number (No. 88 in this case), and it’s all or nothing. Sometimes you need Batum to take over, and you win when he does—you lose when he doesn’t.
In Batum’s defense, injuries plagued him this season. But this isn’t the first campaign this team has dealt with an inconsistent small forward. Portland has endured a passive Batum for too many years now, and it’s time to move on from the thought that a do-it-all swingman is an asset, when (in reality) he only does it all part of the time.
When it comes down to it, Batum will be coveted this summer, and the Blazers can’t miss that opportunity. The $12.2 million he’s owed next year is far from ideal, but it’s the flexibility that comes with it that general managers will drool over.
With the increasingly valuable “expiring contract” label, any rebuilding roster would love to swap mid-rotation players and veteran glue guys for this 26-year-old. In the perspective of other franchises: Option A is that he turns into a franchise cornerstone; option B is that he fizzles and the team capitalizes on approximately $12 million extra cap space in 2016 by letting him go as an unrestricted free agent.
If you’re an advocate of keeping Batum, there’s one reason you’re right: continuity. Portland’s starters have been arguably the best first five in the NBA the past few seasons. Teams like the San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors prove that a solid core can push you toward the league’s elites, and there’s no reason to doubt that process with two of those three currently making up 50 percent of the NBA’s conference finals contestants.
But the other reasons Batum fans want to keep the Frenchman is one word that has kept fanatics and apologists alike in denial for far too long. It’s the one word that hasn’t panned out seven years into his career.
Potential.
The potential is gone. Batum isn’t going to become the All-Star, Scottie Pippen replica that some Blazermaniacs are still hoping for. He’s not going to be a second scoring option, and if Wesley Matthews comes back anything like the player he was before he got hurt, the small forward isn’t even going to be a third option on this star-laden starting lineup.
Could Batum still get there? It’s certainly possible, but not on this roster. Send him to the Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks or Minnesota Timberwolves, and he just might take the next step toward becoming an All-Star.
But on the Blazers—in Portland’s system (next to Lillard and Aldridge)—he’ll never be worth the second-highest salary on the books.
Batum isn’t a bad player, and there’s no use getting mad at his accomplishments thus far. But holding onto hope isn’t doing anything, either.
Flexibility and a potential lottery pick could move this team forward. And whether it be one or the other, it could help put the long-lasting debate of Batum’s potential stardom behind us once and for all.
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