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Sorry if this has been commented elsewhere, but just got it off my RSS feed for O-Live.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazer ... art_s.html

Interesting quote:

McMillan said he went with Batum over six-year veteran Travis Outlaw in part because Outlaw feels more comfortable coming off the bench but mostly because it allows him to keep his second unit together. The group of Sergio Rodriguez, Rudy Fernandez, Travis Outlaw, Channing Frye and Joel Przybilla has shown that it can be a dynamic and exciting up-tempo unit that could pose matchup problems for opposing teams.

The part about the second team I get, but Travis being more comfortable? Isn't this the same guy who six weeks ago was saying how he wanted to start?

This move makes me very happy, good to see nate pull something out of his bag of tricks. Outlaw may have said he wanted to start, but he froze when he was playing in the starting lineup. His skills don't match up with the first unit, Batum slots in more naturally. I think he'll stay in till the 6minute mark unless he's on fire, probably get 20mins max.

I think people REALLY blew Travis' comments about "not wanting to be a 6th man all his NBA career" way out of proportion.

Anyway, good for Batum. There's a great story on Batum at Hoopsworld right now...

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=10365

If Batum plays well, maybe this spells the end of Outlaw in Portland.

^^ Or Webster for that matter

This is freakin' incredible news. I'm really proud of the kid, and you all should be too.

He's come into camp with an open mind, he's done everything the coaches have asked of him, and now he's being rewarded with a starting role on opening night, with the possibility of turning this into a full-season gig. (Don't deny it; it does exist.)

This makes me even more pumped for this season. If team chemistry comes together as quickly as Batum learned the SF position under Nate...Jesus.

I think we're going to be praying for Martell to get back soon. Batum's shooting isn't going to keep defenses honest the way Martell's would, and Martell's d is probably better than Batum's given his young age and lack of nba experience.

Bonzi wrote:I think we're going to be praying for Martell to get back soon. Batum's shooting isn't going to keep defenses honest the way Martell's would, and Martell's d is probably better than Batum's given his young age and lack of nba experience.

Not even close. In the 8 preseason games that Batum has played in, he has shown that he is definitely the best SF defender on the team. Offensively, Webster is easily the better player, but not on defense, no way

PhilipNelsonFan wrote:He's come into camp with an open mind, he's done everything the coaches have asked of him, and now he's being rewarded with a starting role on opening night, with the possibility of turning this into a full-season gig. (Don't deny it; it does exist.)

Sure it exists. But then again, our starting PG the last two season openers was Jarrett Jack, so let's at least it turns out to be less painful than the Jarrett arguments last year and the year before.

I love how some are already writing Outlaw off just because for most part he was not good in preseason. Then to say if Batum plays well that will spell the end of Outlaw. I will admit there are reasons to think MAYBE Outlaw is not a fit anymore but i hope it not because of Pre-season and Batum. I like Batum and unlike Outlaw who if i recall took 3 to 4 seasons to be a productive Blazer i think Batum can do it in 2 or less seasons. I like Batum to be a defensive spark at times and that is about it for his 1st season.

mojomarc wrote:The part about the second team I get, but Travis being more comfortable? Isn't this the same guy who six weeks ago was saying how he wanted to start?

I don't think the two conflict. Travis has a pulse, which means he'd rather be a starter than a bench player, rather be a featured star than an also ran, rather make more money than less, rather achieve than not, etc. How many of us are both comfortable and where we'd like to be?

Travis isn't starting material, at least not for this team. He doesn't have to like it, but he can still appreciate that coming off the bench is a more appropriate role for him. Unless we see him sulking or dogging it--and to date, we've never seen Outlaw do either--we shouldn't start looking for reasons to disbelieve that he is comfortable coming off the bench.

I've not been a Travis fan for some time now. I'm curious is Batum will guard Kobe or Radmonovic? Nate only plans to play him for 10-15 minutes. Could let him go ahead and pick up his 6 fouls, saving Roy some wear & tear.

Thoughts?

I believe Nate already stated Batum is going to guard Rad.

Tim Lehrbach wrote:

mojomarc wrote:The part about the second team I get, but Travis being more comfortable? Isn't this the same guy who six weeks ago was saying how he wanted to start?

I don't think the two conflict. Travis has a pulse, which means he'd rather be a starter than a bench player, rather be a featured star than an also ran, rather make more money than less, rather achieve than not, etc. How many of us are both comfortable and where we'd like to be?

Travis isn't starting material, at least not for this team. He doesn't have to like it, but he can still appreciate that coming off the bench is a more appropriate role for him. Unless we see him sulking or dogging it--and to date, we've never seen Outlaw do either--we shouldn't start looking for reasons to disbelieve that he is comfortable coming off the bench.

Spot on! TROUT always plays well against LA so I wouldn't be surprised to see him go off again on Tuesday and remind us again why this kid can be so valuable.

I'm already loving what I've heard from Batum. I actually went through the french immersion program when I was in school and happened to live and go to school for a few weeks in Le Mans(around 2000 I think). I'm only a year older than Nic so it's possible, wait, make that PROBABLE that when I was playing ball on the school's playground Batum saw me dominate the rest of the kids in my Blazers gear and he decided right then and there that he would do anything to one day start in the NBA . .

After the Blazers traded for Batum on draft night, I felt that was the icing on the cake. He was IMO a lottery talent that just fell out of sight short before the draft. A good amount of other Blazer fans seemed to have more of a "Who cares, we've got Bayless! WHOO!!" type of approach and didn't seem to care about Batum too much.

After he started tearing up in preseason and he became more popular amongst Blazer fans, I was loving it, and obviously I'm liking that Nate has enough trust in him to start him right away as well. The kid sure as heck turned a lot of heads in a short time, big props to him for that.

One cautionary remark though; it's great to be excited, but don't get your hopes up too soon. Unrealistic expectations can really put you down.

Batum is a great talent and it's great to see he's been picking everything up like a sponge, but he's also still very raw (he's 19 I think?). Particularly his shooting and offense I expect him to be flaky at times. If Nate allows him to be flaky at times for 15-16 minutes per game as the starting small forward, I think it doesn't have to be a bad thing for his development at all.

Tim Lehrbach wrote:

mojomarc wrote:The part about the second team I get, but Travis being more comfortable? Isn't this the same guy who six weeks ago was saying how he wanted to start?

I don't think the two conflict. Travis has a pulse, which means he'd rather be a starter than a bench player, rather be a featured star than an also ran, rather make more money than less, rather achieve than not, etc. How many of us are both comfortable and where we'd like to be?

At the moment, I'm both comfortable and where I'd like to be

Travis isn't starting material, at least not for this team. He doesn't have to like it, but he can still appreciate that coming off the bench is a more appropriate role for him. Unless we see him sulking or dogging it--and to date, we've never seen Outlaw do either--we shouldn't start looking for reasons to disbelieve that he is comfortable coming off the bench.

I think he is clearly comfortable coming off the bench, and I agree completely that he isn't starting material for us. I guess I was just expecting him to have adjusted his mentality towards going after the starter job. I agree that he hasn't been sulking and there is no rush to get rid of him, although I do think the sooner the better in terms of his trade value. If Rudy is on the second team, Travis' shots will drop and what we can get back for him might diminish.

Outsider view:
I'm really shocked he is starting after a few of the summer league games I saw. I thought he would need time to adjust.

But man great pick by the Blazers, I really liked it when it was made and this makes me jealous as a Bucks fan

Batum "tore up" the pre-season? He went 4-16 his last 3 games.

His shaky jump shot and inexperience may be exposed more in the regular season.

Anyhow, it's not really a big deal. He probably won't get more than 15 minutes a game anyway.

Not starting material? He was third on the team in scoring last year, and was the most clutch player on the team. How many times did he come through at the buzzer or in the closing seconds. He was the go-to-guy down the stretch. He not only is starter material, he deserves it after what he's done not only last year, but the last couple of years as a big shot maker.