There was a Tuesday surprise at the Trail Blazers' practice in Tualatin: Nicolas Batum, the 19 year-old rookie forward from France, spent the bulk of the workout running with the starting unit.
The unexpected development, which comes after Batum's impressive exhibition performance Sunday against Utah, is the latest experiment by coach Nate McMillan to plug the hole at small forward created by the injury of Martell Webster.
The Blazers will be without Webster, who had surgery last week to repair a stress fracture in his left foot, for roughly two months and McMillan is searching for a new player rotation to get the team through the 25 games Webster is likely to miss. Travis Outlaw, who was competing with Webster for the starting small forward spot, figured to be the likely fill-in, but McMillan also has been toying with the idea of starting rookie Rudy Fernandez at shooting guard and sliding All-Star Brandon Roy to small forward.
Now, at the very least, Batum appears to be in the mix.
"We have a small forward that's down so we have to put somebody there," McMillan said. "And (Batum's) done a good job. I wanted to take a look at him in that position. I think it's really early to (rush) to judgement; he's doing some good things (but) we have three games to go as far as preseason games.
"Who knows who will be there tomorrow?"
Bruce Ely, The OregonianBatum has advanced defensive ability.
Batum has earned the look with a better-than-expected exhibition season in which he's averaging 8.8 points, 1.8 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.8 rebounds in roughly 20 minutes per game. He's grown more comfortable -- and more impressive -- recently, epitomized by his performance against the Jazz on Sunday, when he scored a team-high 16 points and added three blocked shots, two steals, two assists and three rebounds in a versatile effort that demonstrated his multi-faceted skill set.
Batum made seven of 11 field goals, including both of his three-point attempts, and played sturdy defense against Utah forward Andrei Kirilenko. Batum, a lanky and long 6-foot-8 player, is ahead of the rookie curve on defense and McMillan said prior to Sunday's game that the only thing preventing Batum from being and NBA starter was his shot, which despite his play Sunday, has been erratic.
That Batum is even receiving a look with the starting unit is especially surprising because of his discouraging performance during the Las Vegas Summer League in July, when appeared overwhelmed and unprepared for the NBA. One of three feature players on the team, Batum -- who called his summer league play "bad" -- averaged just 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds, while committing a team-high 17 turnovers.
So what's changed?
"I think he's playing basketball," McMillan said. "He's making plays; defensively he's been good guarding the ball. His weak side help has been pretty good. He's just anticipating on the defensive end of the floor. Offensively, he's doing a nice job of playing off the ball. We're not calling plays for him, and he's getting to the offensive glass. He's made pretty good decisions passing the ball. When guys are open, he's trying to get the ball to them. So he's just playing basketball right now. And I think that's the thing that makes him look pretty good. He doesn't try to do anything that he can't do. He's just making reads and making the right plays."
In the long run, however, it seems more likely that Batum will find himself competing for a spot in the rotation rather than a spot among the starters. Even he was caught off guard by Tuesday's surprise.
"Coach Nate called my name and ... I was surprised," Batum said after practice." I work every day ... I've just tried to play my game, work hard on my game. That's it. (I've) tried to enjoy it."
I found this interesting. I know that McMillan has said he wants to try a rudy/roy first unit, I think we can safely say he is going to try this unit sometime this preseason. I would like to see how this preforms compared to the other starting packages and how the other potential starters will react (i.e. outlaw). If this does turn out to be the starting lineup: Blakey, Roy, Batum, LA, Oden; how long would they wait before turning over to bench given Batum's inexperience.
Nic Batum: Sleeper ROY Candidate!
