Charlotte Hornets: Nicolas Batum

Good grief, Nicolas Batum. What was that?

It’s never wise to make conclusions about a player after his first game in a new uniform; then again, that was said after Lance Stephenson‘s 40-minute, 3-for-12, seven-point opening outing for the Charlotte Hornets last year as well. Only after months upon months of a “he’ll figure it out” attitude did team management pull the trigger and move Stephenson during this past offseason.

And as scary as it sounds, the Nicolas Batum that showed up for the Hornets’ opener looked eerily reminiscent of the Lance of last season: lost, timid, and — bluntly stated — just bad.

Batum logged 33 minutes in last night’s contest, but his hefty share of playing time proved fruitless for the most part. When it was all said and done, the former Trail Blazer had posted nine points on 12 shots to go along with three assists and six rebounds. It’s okay to have a poor shooting night — it happens. Unfortunately though, Batum’s issues extended beyond missing shots.

The scary reality is that for a second consecutive season, Charlotte’s supposed do-it-all man has looked thoroughly uncomfortable in the team’s system. What’s even more disconcerting is that unlike Stephenson, Batum is far from a ball-dominant player. Very rarely does the Frenchman call isolation plays for himself the way Stephenson did, and Batum is highly praised for his tendency to make smart, quick decisions with the ball.

Last night, that skill was absent.

Batum was unengaged offensively last night, electing (in a very Stephenson-esque nature) to camp on the perimeter most possessions instead of actively attempting to create opportunities and get the offense chugging. Ironically, Batum seemed to understand what his role was for the team when he spoke with Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer earlier this week:

"He doesn’t equate ‘first option’ as necessarily taking the most shots. His skill set is as much facilitator as shot-maker. Cho and Buchanan have reminded him there may be nights when he’ll have to take 15 to 18 shots a night, and no one will see that as selfish…."

"“When I hear the coach say, ‘Nic is going to be the first or second option’ it’s not about taking 25 shots. The first option is to find the best shot,” Batum said."

Batum has talked the talk, but last night, didn’t walk the walk.

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Off-ball play is centered around movement, and Batum wasn’t very mobile in the Hornets’ loss to the Miami Heat. A big part of Charlotte’s offense revolves around Al Jefferson, and making cuts after tossing him entry passes is a cheap way to get an easy score (worth the same amount as an isolation bucket, mind you) before asking Jefferson to bang around down low.

Yet surprisingly, even after playing a similar role with LaMarcus Aldridge for his entire career, Batum’s post-lob cuts were unconvincing and ineffective.

Gerald Henderson was usually the man throwing lobs in to Jefferson last season, and boy was he good at his job. He recognized the use of Jefferson’s wide body. If Henderson’s man double-teamed or cheated towards Big Al, Henderson would explode and often find himself wide open under the hoop. If Hendo’s defender stuck to him, Al could go to work one-on-one and if a double team came, kick it out (often to Henderson in the right corner) for an open three. Henderson’s cutting can be seen in the first two clips of the video below.

Batum, however, was guilty of simply jogging into his defender, slowly pushing him out of the way to isolate Jefferson right away instead of inviting the double. Although the Hornets often ended up isolating Jefferson (rather than dumping it to the cutter) last season, Batum didn’t even provide an opportunity for an easy basket.

The absence of these could-be buckets really added up, considering Jefferson attempted 14 field goal attempts last night and was given the ball on the post even more frequently than that. Batum’s lackadaisical cutting was especially frustrating because he has shown to be a very good cutter in the past when he’s gives a legitimate effort.

While Batum isn’t as explosive as Henderson, the former’s length makes him a much easier target for Jefferson’s passes, which are almost always one-handed bullets that fly over defenders’ heads. With good hands and a 7-foot-1 wingspan, Batum should be the perfect fit for this role. Alas, he doesn’t seem to embrace it, at least not yet.

Sadly, the half-assed cutting was far from Batum’s biggest issue. Someone who has always been known to make quick decisions with the ball, the 26-year-old showed an unprecedented indecisiveness that clearly demonstrates his discomfort with Charlotte’s system. This, of course, could be due to the differences between the spacious and fast-paced Portland attack and the suffocated, methodical and unpolished offense Charlotte employs.

The Trail Blazers were such a deadly force last year because their three-point shooting gave them a lot of leeway when it came to positioning. The Charlotte offense, though certainly modified for the better this year, requires near-perfect, by-the-book execution for everything to work right since they lack the star power and snipers that Portland had for much of Batum’s career.

Defensively, Batum wasn’t great. What’s interesting is that it seems like he has a good understanding of the schemes, and did so even before he donned Hornets colors (per Rick Bonnell):

"Coach Steve Clifford tells a story from the preseason about Batum asking a question about a defensive wrinkle. Except this particular strategy hadn’t yet been covered in the installation phase of training camp.So Clifford asked Batum how he knew the strategy. Batum replied that he spent the summer watching Hornets video from last season.Coaches love that stuff."

Batum is regarded as a highly skilled defender to begin with, and presumably, his preparedness would only improve his play. Yet time and time again, Batum got lost under screens or didn’t recover fast enough.

He ended the night allowing Luol Deng — his primary cover — to post a modest 13 points, but on 62.5 percent shooting, including a perfect percentage from deep on three attempts. Defense has been a staple of Batum’s game, so there’s really no excuse for him to get consistently burned.

The absence of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist leaves Batum as the best healthy defender on the roster, and Charlotte needs a consistent effort from him every night. Even if the offense isn’t there, Batum’s half court defense should be an unwavering force.

It really is important to not overstate the importance of one game, especially when it’s the first of Batum’s career as a Hornet. Still, while he’ll be given some slack early on, the relationship — if it ends up going stale — shouldn’t be forced. The great teams in today’s NBA focus on creating lineups that work well together, even if they aren’t comprised of the best players on the team. If this version of Nicolas Batum shows up every night, his tenure as a Hornet could be short-lived.

Boy, that would be a special kind of nightmare, wouldn’t it?

Next: NBA: 10 Bounce-Back Candidates For 2015-16

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