Portland Trail Blazers: Nicolas Batum Will Be Just Fine
The Portland Trail Blazers are not your typical NBA team. Most teams have two or three players who carry the vast majority of the load, with the rest of the team being strictly role players. The Trail Blazers are different.
Portland actually has many important pieces that compliment the main cogs a lot better than your standard role players do. The team is largely powered by two superstar player in LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard, but they are surrounded by a very strong starting line up and supporting cast.
After Wesley Matthews, nobody is more important as a supporting player than Nicolas Batum. Unfortunately, Batum has been on a bit of a cold streak early on this year.
The Trail Blazers need him to be at his best for the majority of the season, especially since they play in the incredibly tough Western Conference. Luckily, it’s early and there’s plenty of time for him to find his stroke. So far, here are Batum’s numbers:
| Season | MP | FG% | 3P% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | 33.6 | .367 | .345 | .900 | 7.7 | 5.7 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 9.0 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/10/2014.
His passing and his rebounding has been stellar, as they usually are. Those two numbers don’t usually decline for players on a cold streak. And it’s encouraging to see that 90 percent from the free throw line. Batum is simply struggling to get it going from the field.
His 36.7 percent is a career worst and it’s a far cry from his career 45.2 percent from the floor.
More from Hoops Habit
- The 5 most dominant NBA players who never won a championship
- 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
- Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
Looking at his three point percentage, Batum is actually quite solid from there. 34.5 percent is not a very high percentage, however, it isn’t a low percentage either. It’s clearly below Batum’s high standards, however. He has a career 36.9 shooting percentage from downtown, being one of the long range marksmen of the NBA.
Those low shooting percentages will rise, especially if he can take good shooting opportunities from the field. Batum hasn’t been taking any shots that he doesn’t normally take, so there really isn’t a lot to worry about.
Shooting percentages for perimeter players tend to fluctuate a lot over the course of the long NBA season. However, they almost always return to the norm. The good thing for Portland is that Batum has proven to be quite the shooter over his career.
His scoring output is down to a meager nine points per game, however, that’s directly correlated to his shooting woes. There is nothing to worry about when it comes to Batum’s shooting. The team is more worried about Batum’s health.
With the news that Batum suffered a leg contusion against the Nuggets, the team might be thin at small forward going into next week. Hopefully, the injury bug doesn’t derail the Trail Blazers next year.
We haven’t seen Portland handle a bunch of injuries over the past few seasons. No other team can afford to have players go down than Portland. No other team is as loaded with difficult-to-replace-role players than the Trail Blazers.
Naturally, they can’t afford guys like Batum going down with injuries. Especially if they want Batum to get out of his slump sooner rather than later.