All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge is not the only Portland Trail Blazer that has been playing through injury. Do-it-all forward Nicolas Batum has endured a very difficult year shooting the ball, mainly due to a nagging right wrist injury.
As important as Aldridge, fellow All-Star Damian Lillard and long-range bomber Wesley Matthews are to the Blazers’ season, Batum’s contributions cannot be overlooked.
The acquisition of Arron Afflalo has given the Blazers depth on the wing, but they need Batum to regain his shooting touch if they want to reach their potential as a team and make it out of the murderous West. Last year, the Trail Blazers had the fifth-best offense, but were a middling 16th on defense.
This year, the Blazers’ defense has jumped to fourth, but their offense has fallen to 10th, per NBA.com. There are a couple of reasons for the Blazers’ slump on offense, one is Lillard’s three-point shooting and another is that Batum’s overall shooting has cratered.
How Bad Has It Been?
Batum has never been a big-time scorer. His highest season scoring average is 14.3 per game in 2012-13. He has normally be a fairly efficient scorer though, posting a career line of 44.6 percent from the field, 36 percent from three and 83.1 percent from the line.
Batum’s averages this year are well off his career numbers as well as his numbers from last year when he helped the Blazers to the fifth-best offense.
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/27/2015.
His shooting has plummeted from 46.5 percent from the field and 36.1 percent from the arc last year, to 38.9 percent overall and 28.4 percent from three this season. Not only has his shooting percentage dropped, he has also been less aggressive with the ball. His shots per game are down along with the number of shooting fouls he draws per game.
His free-throw percentage has remained high (83.1 percent), but he’s basically only getting to the line every other game.
Batum has played a few less minutes per game, but the biggest reason his number of attempts and aggressiveness have dropped off is because of confidence and pain. From Jason Quick of The Oregonian,
"His right wrist — the one that directs his shot — can cock back only so far. He also said the right side of his hand, including the ring and pinky fingers, remains tender which is causing his ball to drift right upon release.He says he continues to experiment with his release to compensate for the injury …"
Any player’s shooting percentage would take a tumble if they were forced to change their shooting release because of injury. Shooting the ball effectively is all about confidence, rhythm and repetition. The act of shooting the ball becomes muscle memory.
Once a player’s rhythm is broken and they have to think about how they are shooting the ball, it becomes much more difficult to remain confident and shoot the ball accurately.
The Injury
On Dec. 17, in the fourth quarter of a home game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Nicolas Batum was completing a transition dunk when Larry Sanders gave him a push with his left hand at just the wrong moment. In the video below it is difficult to tell at first what happened. Looking at the replays, you can see it more clearly.
Sanders was suspended for one game because of the push. At the time, people were more concerned about the possible head injury. As it turns out, the injury to the wrist would go on to have longer consequences.
To be fair, Batum had been struggling shooting the ball even before the injury to his wrist. Batum, shortly after the injury via Joe Freeman of The Oregonian, “I already can’t shoot,” he said, laughing. “And now I’ve messed up my right wrist.”
Batum began the season in a slump, shooting 37.8 percent from the floor and 22 percent from three-point range in November. Of the many different slump busting methods that have been tried, injury is not one of them. With a few bright spots, Batum’s poor shooting continued.
- December, 14 games, 42.5 percent from the field, 28.1 percent from three.
- January, 14 games, 35 percent from the field, 30.5 percent from three.
- February, eight games, 41.8 percent from the field, 32.4 percent from three.
It was later revealed that Batum had a torn ligament in his wrist and that he has “aggravated the injury several times,” per Jason Quick of The Oregonian. Despite injury and re-injury, Batum has only missed seven games so far this year. Four of those games were missed in November due to a right knee injury.
Playing Through It
Event though Batum has struggled to shoot the ball, he has continued to do other things well. From Jason Quick of The Oregonian, “I feel like I’m still doing things out there — rebounding, getting assists — it’s just my shot is horrible,” Batum said. “But I will get it back.”
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/27/2015.
Some of his numbers are down from last year, particularly his rebounding, which has dropped from 7.5 to 5.5 per game. Even though his assists have dropped a bit as well, he is still fifth in the league among forwards, trailing guys like Cleveland Cavaliers‘ LeBron James and Los Angeles Clippers‘ Blake Griffin, per NBA.com.
While his individual defense seems like it might be better than it was last year—holding his man 2 percent below their average compared to no difference—the team’s defensive rating has suffered somewhat with Batum on the court. When Batum is on the court opponents are scoring 101.4 points per 100 possessions.
While Batum is off the court that number falls to 97.3 points per 100 possessions. That trails only Chris Kaman for worst defensive rating on the team. For full disclosure, Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge are right behind Batum.
To be fair, it may have more to do with the lineups that Batum is a part of than any particular failing on his part. Batum is a member of the Blazer’s most used lineup, their ideal starting five of Lillard, Matthews, Batum, Aldridge and Robin Lopez. That lineup has posted a defensive rating of 98 points scored per 100 possessions and a net rating of 10.9, both of which would rank second in the league, per NBA.com.
Batum is also part of the Blazer’s second most used lineup that switches Kaman for Lopez. (Lopez was out for 23 games with a fractured hand.) That lineup’s defensive rating was a much more porous, 104.6 points scored per 100 possessions. That number would rank 22nd in the league, per NBA.com. It is the minutes spent in this lineup alongside Kaman that drag Batum’s personal defensive rating down.
Getting Better
Batum hadn’t been able to completely overcome his injury woes by pushing through them. Then the extended All-Star break hit and he spent six days doing anything but playing basketball. From Joe Freeman of The Oregonian,
"During the All-Star break, Batum did not pick up a basketball. Not once. In fact, he only watched basketball once — when he tuned into the All-Star Three-Point Contest to watch Matthews compete."
Rest and relaxation in Mexico helped refresh Batum. More from Freeman, “I needed that,” Batum said. “Just to refresh my mind. Just to go away from the stress. No disrespect for media, but all the pressure that we have around us, I just needed to do something else. Just get away.”
He has responded by averaging 11.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists while shooting 54.5 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from three in the four games since the All-Star break.
The Trail Blazers have gone 2-2 in those four games losing to the Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies and beating the San Antonio Spurs in one of their best offensive games of the year and earning a playoff-like victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“It looks like he’s playing with a lot of confidence,” coach Terry Stotts said, according to Freeman. Damian Lillard also had this to say, “He looks like he’s in rhythm and he’s comfortable. It couldn’t happen at a better time.”
It is also encouraging to know that he has overcome an injury to his shooting wrist before. During the 2012-13 season—the same one in which is averaged a career high—he battled through a right wrist injury that he sustained in practice. It may not be a coincidence that the 42.3 percent he shot from the field that year is his lowest outside of this season.
Batum seems healthy and is shooting the ball well again. His season field goal percentage won’t fully recover, but with the playoffs looming in the near future, he could erase a season of struggles with a hot-shooting, deep playoff run. Like Lillard said, It couldn’t happen at a better time.
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